Before I get into anything, I apologize for my recent hiatus, I had stuff going on, simple as that. Also, a belated Happy New Year! Now...
Let me explain… This is a quote from my online sister’s Twitter:
“I never realized how weird the English language is. So we use almost a singular word hair to indicate multiple hairs if we're getting say a haircut/hairstyle/etc. Yet in other foreign languages they automatically use the plural versions of these words. Think about it.”
Source: https://twitter.com/avp60685/status/1483523780978880513
Now, let me put this in a little better context with a little bit of backstory. We’re both writers. Neither one of us is published (yet) but one of us is working on it. She’s also bilingual, she is fluent in French. She also knows some words in like 5 other languages, I think? So, I think it’s safe to say she is much better than I am, oh and yes, English is both of our first languages. And here I am still struggling to learn my second language, which is ASL, which I posted about back in October of 2020, Jeez.
So, I did a little research, as I usually do, so I don’t sound like a fool and spread misinformation and found a few articles on how English really is a strange language, and yes, this is really two native English speakers confirming this. So, if two native English speakers are saying this, I wonder what it’s like for people learning English as a 2nd or 3rd language, or so on? Here is an article on the weirdest English rules:
https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/weirdest-english-rules
I mean, sure, I have a way with words, but so does Alysia, the online sister I just mentioned. She’s the linguistic one. I’m the one having trouble continuing with a novel while she probably has 3-4-5 novels already written! How does she do it? I need to know her secrets, especially with all these weird rules. Just google why English is weird, you’ll get a kick out of it.
On the other side of it, signed languages are unique in their own ways too. For instance, each country has its own signed language, maybe more than one, depending on the region, I am not sure. I’m only focusing on ASL for this post, which is American Sign Language, because I live in America. I will admit, I’m still trying to learn ASL, I’m still trying to immerse myself into the culture, but as I was learning, I’ve learned a few unique things, which might be more normal than the weird spoken English rules I talked about earlier in the post. This is just my perspective from a hard of hearing person who is learning ASL as a second language while in her 30s.
One thing I learned is that some signs are the same but they mean different things. This confuses my mom a lot, she knows more SEE and while I know some SEE, I’ve been trying to learn more ASL, but this still confuses me sometimes. Let me show you an example:
https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/someone.htm
https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/c/clean.htm
As you see here, if you click the first link here. You’ll see the sign for “someone”, BUT it also means “single”, “something”, “alone”, and “only”. Now, how can we tell the difference? CONTEXT. How can you tell the context? Facial movements, that’s a big thing in learning signed languages, all signed languages, not just ASL, I am still trying to learn the right facial expressions, still trying to learn my style, etc.
The second link is the sign for “clean”. It also means “nice”. I added this one because there is another way to tell the context. Now, when you sign “nice” it could be accompanied by “nice to meet you”. That is a standard greeting, right? Now, if you sign “clean” it could be signed as “clean-up” like the person signing is trying to say “clean up your room” for instance. That’s how you can tell context as well, by watching the sentence as a whole, not looking at it sign by sign.
Another thing I learned is that some signs can look similar, but they mean different things. Here are some examples:
https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/c/clean.htm
https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/s/school.htm
https://lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-signs/p/paper.htm
Just note, the first link is supposed to be “clean-up”, it tells you how to sign it towards the bottom of the first page. The other two signs are “school” and “paper”. I showed you those three because those are similar. Of course, there are others that are similar, like “coffee” and another sign that is signed very similar to that, not repeating the word here, but hopefully you can see what I mean here.
That is my experience as an ASL “student” not really a student, but somebody who is trying to learn, later in life. I get signs confused all the time, heck, when I’m speaking, I get tongue tied all the time as well, and that’s with speaking English. That’s because I have slow processing disorder and my brain sometimes goes faster than I speak or sign. Anyways, I’m trying, and hopefully, you learned something here today.
Until next time, stay happy and healthy.
- Chloe
