ASL

[pne]

I wish I knew ASL.

Unfortunately, getting there is hampered by several problems:

• Resources for learning ASL here in Germany will be limited (I'd probably have to settle for recordings on DVD or the like, rather than being able to work interactively with a teacher)
• Resources for using ASL here in Germany will be limited (both to practise while learning, for maintenance once I've got to a decent level, and for actual "just for fun" communication), since most people don't know sign language of any kind and those who do will know German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache, DGS)
• I'm lazy.

One way (partly) around #2 would be learning DGS instead.

I'm not sure which would be "better". DGS would probably net me more speakers here, but on the Internet, I'm more likely to come across ASL. (For example, on YouTube—or on the LDS website, which has some things, such as General Conference sessions or the monthly home teaching/visiting teaching messages, available in ASL [or [US] Braille, for that matter] but none in DGS or other signed languages [or non-US Braille].)

In summary, wibble.

(And I suspect that the biggest issue might actually be #3 rather than #1 or #2....)

Comments

[otana.livejournal.com]

I'm actually wanting to learn ASL myself. My grandmother is very hard of hearing, and I'm developing the same ear issues she started with a few decades ago, so I figure it's best to start learning now.

[pthalo]

Go with German sign language. Once you get it down, branching out to ASL won't be too hard. I live in Hungary and I know ASL and it's so useless here. absolutely useless. :)

[sedesdraconis.livejournal.com]

ASL is a pretty fantastic language. Spatial anaphora is just the coolest thing. Especially when they're used as incorporated verb affixes.

My sign education is pretty ASL-centric, but what I've been taught is that the Oralist won out bigger in Europe for a longer time than in North America, with the implication that the signing communities suffered loss as a result. Do you have a sense of how dynamic and... self-owned, as it were, DGS is?

(this is my ASL icon. Based on an ASL pun my friends and I amused ourselves with when we were studying.)

[pne.livejournal.com]

Do you have a sense of how dynamic and... self-owned, as it were, DGS is?

No - no idea.

I occasionally see people sign in public, but very rarely; and there's one public TV channel which rebroadcasts the main news programme[*] with a sign interpreter in the corner; but I have no real sense for how widespread use of sign is in Germany, not even for how widespread it might or might not be among those who are deaf or hearing-impaired.

[*] the one that is so influential in German TV-viewing culture that even on non-public/ad-supported channels, the main film of the evening starts not at eight but at quarter past, because the timeslot from eight till eight-fifteen was traditionally taken by the Tagesschau on channel 1.

[pne.livejournal.com]

what I've been taught is that the Oralist won out bigger in Europe for a longer time than in North America, with the implication that the signing communities suffered loss as a result.

I just found a short introduction to DGS (http://www.visuelles-denken.de/Schnupperkurs.html), and one of the pages was a brief history (http://www.visuelles-denken.de/Schnupperkurs8.html), which corroborated what you said -- that sign communication in Germany suffered great losses due to the attitudes of teachers. (And that many older signers have a very limited education, due to teachers who were more interested in getting children to speak than to actually convey knowledge.)

Apparently, things have started looking up since around the 70s or so.

[lydiabutterfly.livejournal.com]

everyone should learn ASL

[sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

If you need help with ASL, contact me. I have many resources and have a working knowledge of the language. I can give advice too, etc.