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> Reading this book inspired me to learn sign language, which I expected to be radically different from spoken and written language, and more powerful in many w
by Filligree 10y ago
> Reading this book inspired me to learn sign language, which I expected to be radically different from spoken and written language, and more powerful in many ways, as you can physically describe things in ways that has little parallel to spoken and written languages.
Was it?
- pmoriarty 10y agoYes and no. Yes, it's really different from spoken and written language, that's true. But I was disappointed in that a lot of it was really obvious, and I didn't get much insight from it. For example, to make a sign for a house you take both hands and kind of make the shape of an prototypical house (a peaked roof and two walls)... hard to describe in words, but obvious when you see it. Or when making the sign for drive, you move your hands as if turning a car's steering wheel. Those kinds of signs didn't give me the aha moments I was yearning for. But perhaps part of my problem was that I only took a couple of introductory sign language courses. Maybe with exposure to more advanced sign language it would be different. I've considered taking some more courses to see what I'm missing.
- Filligree 10y ago> Those kinds of signs didn't give me the aha moments I was yearning for. But perhaps part of my problem was that I only took a couple of introductory sign language courses. Maybe with exposure to more advanced sign language it would be different. I've considered taking some more courses to see what I'm missing. Given that, I would say there's a good chance you aren't missing something; that sign language really isn't much different from any other language. I'm sure you've considered that yourself, though.