OT: Village signing [was: RR as a browser plugin?]

[J. Landman Gay]

On 2/12/04 5:23 PM, Ken Norris wrote:

> I'm not asking you to do it, I just wanted to know.
> 
> Seems relatively straightforward. So what would it take to map out a
> syllabus, sit down in front of an iSight and spend 5-10 minutes or so a day
> on it, just collecting clips?

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound short. The problem with the static picture 
dictionaries is that you can't really see what the signs do, since by 
its nature, ASL is a dynamic, fluid language. It moves, and pictures 
don't. There's a nuance involved, and the meaning of a sign can change 
in a hundred ways depending on slight alterations in its production. So 
books and images serve as good reminders if you already know the signs, 
but they are not very good when learning from scratch.

The video idea would be better. It would still lack some nuance, but 
could work on a basic level.

If you do decide to make videos, better find a real deaf person. Except 
for the children of deaf parents, almost everyone else has a "hearing 
accent".

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com