So this YouTube video came across my desk… it’s not at all serious or educational (put a shirt on!) but I like it because it’s in ASL — and so rarely are music videos made for deaf people. I took ASL a few years ago when I was volunteering in a community with a lot of deaf people. I love ASL… it’s visual poetry, it’s so emotive (and for someone raised WASP, that was a challenge to overcome). I wish I could use it more often. I tend to drop a few signs in conversation, often without realizing it.
The other thing that made me smile about the video was that it’s the way I practice ASL… while listening to the radio I will try to sign the song. ASL is never word for word so it’s not as hard as it sounds; a lot is derived from context. It’s the way I prepared for living in Switzerland, too… I used to try simultaneous translation of songs into French while driving.
