Language intensive: ASL Week 2

This week I covered lessons 6-10 in ASL 1. Topics covered through vocabulary included numbers 101 to 1 billion+, cardinal and ordinal numbers, time and colors, food, clothing, animals.

I was surprised on how quickly I picked up the word order and grammar of ASL, since that is normally something I struggle with other languages. It is much easier for me to pick up ASL grammar for some reason! It is very different from English and reminds me a lot of German or Spanish grammar.

One way I know I'm picking up a language (instead of merely recognizing words/signs, etc) is I begin to divert from the "script" during a lesson and put together sentences on my own using what I know.

For example, Lesson 7 covers food and my work serves cookies for guests in the evenings. I learned the sign for cookie, different types of cookies, etc. Should I have a Deaf guest, using what I know, I can tell them that we will have chocolate chip cookies at a certain hour for them. That particular sentence is not something I learned as vocabulary from ASL U, but it is showing several things:

I am remembering vocabulary from past lessons

I am not only comprehending grammar, but able to accurately use it in sentences I create

I can apply the language to my life instead of sticking with topics only covered in lessons

Part of the lessons includes reading a story in ASL gloss and being able to sign it and understand it.

I don't believe grades directly translate to comprehension, but I do have 100% on every quiz and test, so I'm' at least retaining the material presented. The true test is when I can talk to someone more advanced in ASL than I am and be able to communicate with them.

I put together a little video so I can watch myself sign and see where I can improve.




What do you think?? Let me know if you see anything that I can improve, if you're familiar with ASL.