Question:
I've been taking sign language classes for a couple of reasons: one, my
college and university systems here count them as foreign languages, so
I can get credit for that, and two, I'm slowly but surely going deaf, so
I know I'll need it later on.
But I just found a new use for it.
We went to get dinner and groceries the other night. Dinner was a
mistake. It was crowded and noisy and about halfway through the meal I
found that I couldn't speak. I was definitely overloaded. But I could
still make sign language to Danny (my boyfriend), so that's what I
did... for another 45 minutes. I couldn't believe I'd run out of words.
Danny says before I had sign available to me, I used to just start
shaking and then crying in frustration because I couldn't get the words out.
I vaguely remember that. I just wonder why I can speak in sign when I
can't speak in words. I don't see why one should be easier than the
other, but it is.
Anyone have similar experiences?
Answer:
Less verbal intonation and whatnot required? I guess you need less body
language, because the language itself is body language - so you only
have one thing to work out, instead of two.
When I was learning German, there was a time where I found it much less
draining to use German instead of English. I'm not sure why, but I think
it was because I found the intonation (etc) much easier to do... the way
you have to say vowels and things almost has it's own intonation, so you
just need to think about the words and the rest comes by itself. Also,
people don't expect you to be as good in a second language ;-) I'm not
fluent anymore, though, so it requires *more* effort than English, which
is a shame... I've actually been thinking about sign language, though.
I mean, I've been having some odd hearing problems on and off, but I
just think it'd be great to know a *real* universal language
Submit Your
Own Answer!
