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Aug 30, 2005, 8:41pm

No, not Age Sex Location. My American Sign Language school, a visual aid
program allowing two people to practice fingerspelling together and basic
words to enable 'talking' to the hearing impaired, is now copied and running
on the PG world Alliance.

The original being on an X world, I hope now being available on a PG world,
it can be enjoyed by all ages.

sweets

Aug 31, 2005, 5:11am

13/m/uk

Sounds good, AW can actually be used as something educational after all =D
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Aug 31, 2005, 10:23am

lol ^_~


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Aug 31, 2005, 4:57pm

Have had many questions and comments since posting about the ASL school.
Does my heart good to know people are interested. I have been interested in
sign language since very young when I read a book about Hellen Keller. I
tried when young to learn but lost interest due to not having a 'reason' to
use it or learn it.

Many years ago I decided to drive Canada and Usa, meeting 19 people from AW,
living in my van and sleeping in their driveways . Not having travelled
before, those 48,000km that I did in those 4 months was amazing and eye
opening. USA has so much to see. I only met and stayed with people that I
had known here for at least 2 years (remember please that meeting people
through internet can be very dangerous, and although I did it, I do NOT
recommend it to any others).

One family I stayed with was a deaf family. I knew then what it felt like to
be an outcast. I could not understand or make myself understood, as they all
spoke sign language. One day my friend came to me in a panic, hands flashng
so fast, and I c ould not understand. Still in a panic she had to race
around to find pencil and paper to write to me what was wrong. The baby was
bleeding and she need a ride to the hospital. I realized then how important
this language was, she should never have had to feel such panic and fear
that no one would understand her. We went to the hospital and the baby was
fine btw. I left there determined to learn. What a beautiful and important
language.

When home I started surfing for sites that could maybe help me. I found the
dictionary site with the small videos to show how each word was done. Each
morning I would wake, do the alphabet letters from A to Z, by memory but
checking if I could not remember the letter. After the Alphabet, I would go
to the dictionary site, do one letter per day (approx 20 words). I would
watch the videos for each word of that letter once through then start again
trying to remember what I had seen in the video, only checking if I c ould
not remember (whch was many). I did a letter per day, 26 days, then started
at A again to repeat....then again.....for 3 months.

The next trip there I realized I had a problem. Although I could understand
simple words, and spell my thoughts to others, I could not 'read' them. In
practicing my alphabet I had become too used to seeing the back of my own
hand. Wrong angle to 'see' what the other was saying. I felt just as dumb
after all that learning.

Feeling a bit depressed about it, I came up with the ASL room as an aid.
Dictionary words with videos on the walls and fingerspelling table for
learning the alphabet. At first just for one person, to be able to see the
letters from the proper angle. Then I thought maybe to do it to practice
with another. HAH bot scripts. I am not a bot person (smiles at Andras and
Alex) and it was one of the hardest things I have made. Ran into trouble
with the script, it worked except for one key. Contacted bot people but
they also could not figure out the problem. A good friend here finally
figured it out, and with a simple code change in the bot programming, my
dream finally came true. Now 2 people could practice together seeing what
the other was doing.

I have travelled many times since then, still meeting and staying with AW
people. Now when I visit my deaf friends I can communicate. OK not
bilingual, maybe on the level of a small child, but enough to communicate.

Yes AW can educate us, inspire us, make us better people. I just wanted to
share my dream and hope others may enjoy the feeling of 'talking' with their
bodies and hands as I have.

sweets

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Aug 31, 2005, 5:18pm

Nice story to share :) I enjoyed reading you post. I also think ASL is a
beautiful language. I learned it in night shool for 2 years. That was
probably about 15 years ago. I never knew any deaf ppl so I never really got
to use it to keep in practice. I am sorry to say that I have forgotten most
of it. Still know the alphabet and a few words but most is all gone :(
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Aug 31, 2005, 5:26pm

AHHH you learned in school. Now if THAT was taught in the regular schools as
a second language (or third in some Provinces, or States) we would all
benefit : ))

You are welcome to 'refresh' on Alliance anytime.

sweets

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Aug 31, 2005, 6:34pm

My high school offers ASL for foreign language credit; I'm not entirely sure, but I believe there are at least two levels available. By now, there should obviously be more.

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Feb 18, 2006, 8:24pm

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen!

Sorry for belated reply to this thread (due to the fact that I have to leave
for college before the date this thread was created and I was practically
without freedom of access to internet at this time), but I want to just let
you know that, as a deaf person, I am grateful and pleased for your effort
to make ASL learning possible and accessible for everyone who may be
interested in learning about ASL. I would like to point out, though, that I
don't use ASL entirely.

I use another one called Signing English for most of my life and one of the
major difference between SE and ASL is that SE are closer to English grammar
and language than ASL is. In other words, SE users would signs exactly as a
normal English sentence is ordered or patterned in a way. For instance, it
does use elements such as "is" "are" and etc. ASL is relatively easier to
learn because it doesn't use those elements in order to be more quicker
because signing tends to be more slower than spoken English if it is done
exactly like spoken English in terms of ordering of sentence and etc.

ASL is far, far more common in Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
which is the world's only university fully dedicated to college education
for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. It is also more common in almost all
state's school for the deaf (although I don't have any evidence of it, since
I only have been actually enrolled at Kentucky School for the Deaf for
relatively short period prior to my return to public school during my middle
school years and have not visited any schools for the deaf at all). I was
also quite fluent in spoken English, which is really a extremely rare gift
or talent for any deaf folks to actually attains, although I was practically
unable to understand other people speaking in English during conversation. I
suspect that my growing up have something to do with this particular
difficulty to understand other's spoken English.

At any rate, I am not good at explaining anything so if you want to
understand what I'm trying to explain the major difference between SE and
ASL, you should check out this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signed_English .
I should also note that it is common for me to speak English while signing
at same time. This probably places me closer to either SSS or SE - American
as mentioned in that particular article. Yes, I know, Wikipedia may not be
reputatable encyclopedia but I know how to spot suspicious information that
may not make sense and thus may not be neutral piece of information. You
just have to use common sense to spot it. Of course, I don't recommend using
it as a source for your research projects, not even in schools or college.
;)

Anyway, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to sweets and other
folks involved in this whole project for their efforts to bring ASL to
Active Worlds community. With that in mind, I think it should be (if not
already) nominated for Cy Awards (or whatever equivalent is to it, since I'm
still getting conflicting information about whether Cy Awards is still alive
or not...). :)

--
Respectfully Yours,
Legion
Chief Executive Officer and President of Operations
Circle of Peace Inc. Management

"Cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) - Rene Descartes, 17th century
French philosopher, Terra (Earth)

"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the
problem." - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States (1981-1989)

"And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask
what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the
United States (1961-1963)

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have
to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." - Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, 32th President of the United States (1933-1945)

"Gentlemen, get the thing straight, once and for all: the policeman isn't
there to 'create' disorder; the policeman is there to 'preserve'
disorder." - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chic

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Feb 18, 2006, 9:35pm

I took a year of ASL and the hardest thing for me to learn was that it is
signed backwards than what u actually speak in the English language.
Unfortunately I have forgotten most of it because I didn't have anyone to
sign with. If you don't use it u lose it. I took the class because I thought
it was a very beautiful language to learn and I hoped it would be useful to
be able to speak to the deaf. However I never knew anyone to use it with
:( But if anyone has the chance to learn it its really neat :)
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Feb 18, 2006, 9:41pm

By backwards I mean some of the words that u would normally use at the
beginning of a sentence is at the end of it.
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Feb 18, 2006, 11:05pm

thanks so much for those kind words of encouragement, Legion

I do know there are many different way of signing, including the Australians
that use 2 hands to do the alphabet.

ASL is based on french language originally. So yes many things are
'backwards' as there is a difference in french and english for sentence
structure. (blue jeans = les jeans bleu LOL)

What I tried to do is give people a base, maybe a 'common' base if possible
of the most widely used. I live in a french province, so my sign language
when I used it in California had a bit of an 'accent'....but I was
understood, even with the limited amount I knew back then. I knew the
alphabet, and that is a big start to communication.

Hopefully it will encourage people to learn the sign language of their own
area. With the body motions, hand movements, facial expressions and almost a
dance with words, it has to be one of the most beautiful languages I have
ever seen.

sweets

**who knows, they may be using the sign in California that I made up in
desperation for the word Jello because I could not remember how to do the
letter J....

Feb 18, 2006, 11:45pm

Nice signature, Legion. :P ...............

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Feb 22, 2006, 8:31am

Hey im deaf too! I use sign language all my life. I was born hard of
hearing actually but without my hearing aid I'm completely deaf and I cant
hear crap! It is very good to introduce ASL here in this newsgroup. I am
quite sure there is others who are really interesting in this wonderful
language for hearing people to learn. Also hearing parents can even use
sign language even their child is too young to speak at very young age
before age of one. This is easy for parent to communicate with babies and
see what their needs such as sign language for "milk" or "doll". Lot of
basic sign language for baby to understand and communicate with parents. I
am sure there lot of info if people can use Google and find the info on
parents using sign language for babies. :-)
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Feb 22, 2006, 8:36am

Thats a great idea :)
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Feb 22, 2006, 10:46am

As I was world hopping I just discovered a place to that can teach you sign
language which it is in Taurius 7s 11w. Great place to learn. But the sgin
i saw inside says "Academy of Sign Learning" It sounds ok but think can
change Academy of Learning Sign Language? Just wondering and just a
suggestion. Don't have to change it. It is your build. :-) By the way,
to whoever made the build, excellent job. I applaud you for that. :-)

Feb 22, 2006, 2:56pm

I made the build to help me to learn sign language and be able to practice
on my own or with a friend when not with my deaf friends.

As for the name of the School, it is a little play on words.....Academy of
Sign Language spells ASL .....and yes highschool is spelled wrong also to
read Hi-School, also a play on words (school to teach you to say 'hi')

sweets

Feb 23, 2006, 3:03am

ok that a excellent idea. Thanks for making it clear for me :)
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