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German Sign Language
Saturday, November 23rd, 2013 11:35 pmDGS is a lot of fun, not only because it's intuitive, but also because it's so quiet in that classroom. Of course we talk orally during the break, but it's signing all through class. Crocky and I did our third course today. They're intensive weekend courses, and right now we're on our way to level A2. Or at least that's what the themes we're covering would have me believe.
Sitting in language classes always reminds me of the fact that I'm a better language learner than language teacher (and god, I'm such a perfectionist little suck-up), but also how lost you can feel in a classroom in which people speak in a language in which you cannot communicate, or how much fun it is to try and make up sentences with the few words you know.
As always in this sort of course (at the VHS), there were a variety of other people of various ages and backgrounds. Many seem to be educators of various walks of life who want to work with hearing impaired or deaf children in future, but some were just there because they're interested. Others, like the other gay person in the course, have hearing impaired loved ones and relatives. People also sign at very different speeds. One person has a visual impairment which makes him slow, another person (whom I was partnered with this weekend) is fluent in ASL and is in the course to learn DGS. I was not able to keep up with him at all, but I like to believe that I didn't make too much of a fool of myself.
What is most difficult is remembering a language, correct syntax and vocabulary especially, without any form of meaningful notation system I can use. Due to my Alma Mater I'm vaguely familiar with the phonetic transcription system HamNoSys because I once attended a course on comparative phonology, but can't write it. Right now I'm using my own garbled version of the Stokoe notation and I doubt that I'll ever get behind SignWriting. I'll have to practice a lot before we're on to the fourth course in December, and it'll be long before I attempt to speak to anyone in this language. Other than Crocky.
Sitting in language classes always reminds me of the fact that I'm a better language learner than language teacher (and god, I'm such a perfectionist little suck-up), but also how lost you can feel in a classroom in which people speak in a language in which you cannot communicate, or how much fun it is to try and make up sentences with the few words you know.
As always in this sort of course (at the VHS), there were a variety of other people of various ages and backgrounds. Many seem to be educators of various walks of life who want to work with hearing impaired or deaf children in future, but some were just there because they're interested. Others, like the other gay person in the course, have hearing impaired loved ones and relatives. People also sign at very different speeds. One person has a visual impairment which makes him slow, another person (whom I was partnered with this weekend) is fluent in ASL and is in the course to learn DGS. I was not able to keep up with him at all, but I like to believe that I didn't make too much of a fool of myself.
What is most difficult is remembering a language, correct syntax and vocabulary especially, without any form of meaningful notation system I can use. Due to my Alma Mater I'm vaguely familiar with the phonetic transcription system HamNoSys because I once attended a course on comparative phonology, but can't write it. Right now I'm using my own garbled version of the Stokoe notation and I doubt that I'll ever get behind SignWriting. I'll have to practice a lot before we're on to the fourth course in December, and it'll be long before I attempt to speak to anyone in this language. Other than Crocky.
