become fluent in ASL

I feel it is my personal and moral obligation to my English-speaking deaf counterparts to study, understand, and communicate in American Sign Language. There is more than a certain tug at my heart strings when I am unable to fully interact with someone who is deaf.

The difference between someone who is deaf and someone who legitimately speaks a foreign tongue is that those in America using ASL are speaking the same language as I am, only using their hands, fingers, and facial expressions, not their tongue and lips. If a Frenchman were to approach me, asking “Parlez-vous francais?”, I would politely shake my head, saying “Non”, and moving on. I do not expect a French person to learn English to speak with me, as he should not expect me to learn French to speak with him. Someone who is deaf, though, speaks the same language as me. I feel an utter shame when I am forced to use a pen and paper to communicate with a deaf individual.

So, in my attempt to become fluent in ASL (as well as German and Spanish by the age of 30), I have enrolled in a night-time ASL course at Evergreen state starting in September. I will take ASL I until December, and plan on taking ASL II during the winter quarter. As of today, Evergreen plans to offer ASL III in spring, which I may have to take as well. After that, it will only be a matter of continuing to use (and market) that skill so I don’t lose it.

I took ASL 1 but am already starting to forget signs. Hopefully I can do ASL 2 but as I don’t want to become an interpreter most of the further programs available don’t apply to me or conflict with my required classes. Maybe if I get the reminder e-mails it’ll keep me on track with reviewing.

I’ve taken a 6 week course (once a week, it was a leisure course at LSU) and I frequently visit www.aslpro.com
I sign a few songs, and I can ‘get by’ with what I know.
BUT I really want to take some advanced classes and become really fluent. I’d like to hold conversations with Deaf people and maybe one day interpret our church services. That would rock.

I just graduated from an ITP. Gosh I sure hope I’m fluent. Haha well, an important realization is that language is dynamic. It’s always changing and people in different areas have different ways to express themselves. I will ALWAYS be learning. hey it makes life interesting. Woot! “Life long learners.”

I just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and don’t know where I can take advanced ASL courses, does anybody have any info on this?

I started learning this a while ago, but had a short break that turned into an even longer break and I have now decided that I need to start up again. This is something I really want to do. So what is stopping me, right?

I have already completed 3 ASL classes but want to furthur my understanding of the language. Maybe one day become an interpreter!

For work and to teach my kids.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get there but I’m still working on it. This Summer I will have to set some major goals for myself. Perhaps going to at least a few deaf events a week. Re-reading my ASL Green-Book , Deaf Culture text, Linguistics, and Reading between the signs. I’m gonna go make myself a summer to do list! lol hopefully I’ll be motivated enough to keep studying this summer.

Life is short, so I want to spend my time doing something I really care about … If I become an interpreter I expect myself to be linguistically flexible and able to give quality interpretations. Hence real fluency in ASL is crucial!
~fingers crossed I get there eventually, wish me luck.