As hard as this is to believe, I am at my last learning post. It has been a challenging three months. Sign Language is like any other language in that it requires practice and commitment to learn. I have enjoyed practicing sign language, and I feel encouraged to continue learning. It has also given me the opportunity to reconnect with this wonderful lady below. We live in different provinces now, and it is sometimes hard for us to connect online. My final post will be this video, where I attempted (haltingly) to have a brief conversation with her online. (The rest of the time we chatted off video I used a combination of sign language and the chat section to express deeper ideas. ) I used screencastify to capture our conversation on facebook chat. This isn’t a long video, I find it difficult to be recorded, but I wanted to show a little of what I had learned.
Me: Hi!
Debbie: Hi!
Me: The chat is off, I am recording. My sign language is bad.. (laughs) I am recording sign language for (I can’t remember the word for) Debbie interjects to show me the sign “for” school.
Debbie: Oh I see, school.. good.
Robyn: so children see it. ( I believe I was thinking students, but that wasn’t what I said.. )
Debbie: Good.
Robyn: How?
Debbie: Right How. How are you, I am good.
Robyn: I am happy. I am happy I phone you.
Debbie: Me too. I was glad to see you.
Robyn: Long time. My sign language is slow.
Debbie: No, You doing fine.
Robyn: Thinking of questions I ca ask…”How old are you? ”
Debbie: I am 53 years old.
Me: You are an old lady… ‘
Debbie: Shut up.. Laughs I will be 54 on December 27th.
Robyn: Same. —- (someone we know) is fifty four or fifty Three?
Debbie: Fifty three
Robyn: Fifty four in December. How you say December?
Debbie: Shows me the sign for December.
Robyn: Repeating the sign for December.
Debbie: December 27.
Robyn: I know that. LOL
Debbie: I know you know that. I’m 42…..
Robyn: How you sign April?
Debbie: Shows me the sign for April
Robyn: December….April… 9getting ahead of myself and gives the wrong sign for May)
Debbie: Gives me the correct sign for May.
Robyn: May
Debbie: Shows me the sign for March… nods
Robyn signs: December, April… I am 53… No. 54 in April.
Debbie: Teasing,,, Baby. You are baby.
Robyn: I am old.
Debbie: You’re a baby. I am older then you… LOL
Robyn: I am so old
Debbie: You are not old!
Robyn: 54!
Debbie: You are not old!
Robyn: I have four kids (at home)
Debbie: I have three kids… I’M DONE!
Robyn: Me. No more.
Debbie: More…No more kids. Money!
Robyn: I know.. Thankyou for talking to me!
Debbie: Thumbs up
Robyn: Call me… video.. Love you, bye!
Debbie: Shows me the sign for video… Love you, bye
I definitely need more practice with a living person.. right Debbie! you can learn by various means, but there is still nothing like being thrown into a live conversation…
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2 Comments
Bárbara · November 28, 2022 at 1:25 am
Hi Robyn! I congratulate you for taking this beautiful challenge and getting so far. It is not easy to learn sign language (in any language). I learned some Chilean sign language myself, and I remember thinking how much I would love to learn English sign language one day. Again, I congratulate you, as I feel your project on a personal level. I wish you success!
jones13r · November 28, 2022 at 2:38 am
Thank you Barbara… Until I did this project, I didn’t even realize that there was more then one sign language. It was an interesting discovery! I have enjoyed this, and I will continue it in the future.