This interpreter is the best.

[ginger]

I suddenly have the urge to learn all the cuss words in sign language.

I also suddenly think all concerts should require interpreters because, dude, that was 10 times more enjoyable.

[Redpoppy]

That looks like a workout! One of my classmates in high school had an interpreter. I always loved watching her.

[kaybee85]

She's awesome! Love her enthusiasm. I kind of want to punch the guy who made the video, though. lol

[FastHands]

"Oh so thaaaaat's what he was saying.."

This reminds me of that video of the girl signing Cee Lo's "fuck you. " I freaking loved that.

[joshlyman]

I love this! She is incredible.

[McGavin]

So, mekiakoo, when new slang comes out like, bling or swag/swagger are new signs created in ASL?  Or does slang not exist in ASL?

[laddie]

Fucking awesome.

[McGavin]

Aug 17, 2013 9:07:13 GMT -5 mekiakoo said:

Aug 17, 2013 9:03:38 GMT -5 McGavin said:

So, mekiakoo, when new slang comes out like, bling or swag/swagger are new signs created in ASL?  Or does slang not exist in ASL?

We have our own slangs actually. But when interpreters need to sign everything, they'll sign words/slangs that aren't in our vocabulary, but we will have a "sign" that matches the slang meaning, if this makes any sense?

ETA, what I mean is that sometimes there will be signs for slangs, sometimes not. But we have our own separate slangs.

That makes sense, thanks!  

[zarapipe]

She is awesome!

mekiakoo can I ask a question specific to your deafness (is that the PC way to say that)?

[noodleskooze]

I saw this on the news a few days ago and almost came here to post it and tag you!

[zarapipe]

Aug 17, 2013 9:25:28 GMT -5 mekiakoo said:

Aug 17, 2013 9:17:56 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

She is awesome!

mekiakoo can I ask a question specific to your deafness (is that the PC way to say that)?

Yup, my deafness is right. Ask away.

Were you born deaf or did you loose your hearing after birth?

My SIL lost most of her hearing due to meningitis around age 13? She is completely deaf in one ear and has 25% in the other ear. She also was recently diagnosed with Meniere's disease and some days she is completely deaf due to the ringing in her ears. I have known her for 9 years now and it is continuing to get worse. She never learned sign language. She went to a few classes, and knew a few words but she never perused it and does not sign at all. She reads lips, angles herself where who she is speaking to is closest to her hearing ear and speaks. I wondered if this was common or not? I think she picks up on a lot of what I am saying, but certainly not all of it. How accurate is lip reading? I would love to learn sign language to communicate with her better, but she doesn't know it. How hard it is to pick up as an adult?

[speckledfrog]

Does an interpreter sign exactly how things are spoken or will he/she rearrange the words into the ASL structure?

[zarapipe]

Aug 17, 2013 9:48:16 GMT -5 mekiakoo said:

zarapipe, I was born deaf. My mom had a deaf aunt and a distant cousin. So it may be genetic. H got sick with meningitis at 6 months old and lost all of his hearing in his left ear, but has very little hearing in his right. He wears a hearing aid, but only to support him while reading lips (doesn't understand words/letters by listening only).

Lip reading is actually very tough. An average of 30% of what is being said will be understood by most people. But H and I are better at reading lips than most, I think. It really depends on an individual.

I see few people do what your SIL does, sometimes it helps if they are able to hear closer to their "better" ear. For H, he can't understand anyone if they aren't faced directly to him. He needs to be able to see their lips.

Sign language can be harder to pick up as you get older, just like with any other language. But its easy for some people. And its really fun! You guys could start by checking out www.lifeprint.com and go to 100 first signs.

Thank you. We need to be faced to her too in order for her to hear and read our lips. I think a little for her is that she doesn't want to be dependent on signs, so she focuses all her energy into lip reading. Like, if she goes to the Dr. and he doesn't sign, what does she do? She thinks she would be in trouble if he didn't sign, so she doesn't see it as a need, since she can read lips. I think it is the practical things, and how it would work if she signed she hasn't figured out.

[jenbugwi]

This was great! I've only seen one concert with an interpreter (and it was Gordon Lightfoot--haha) but I loved supplementing the great music with the great visual language that interpreters add to it.

[snickers]

That's really awesome!!

[pooh8402]

I love seeing that song in sign. I sae a video of a girl who chose this for her final project in ASL class and she was about like this lady--funny facial expressions, exaggerated movements, dancing. It was great but damned if I can ever find the video again.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[pooh8402]

Aug 17, 2013 9:32:54 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Aug 17, 2013 9:25:28 GMT -5 mekiakoo said:

Yup, my deafness is right. Ask away.

Were you born deaf or did you loose your hearing after birth?

My SIL lost most of her hearing due to meningitis around age 13? She is completely deaf in one ear and has 25% in the other ear. She also was recently diagnosed with Meniere's disease and some days she is completely deaf due to the ringing in her ears. I have known her for 9 years now and it is continuing to get worse. She never learned sign language. She went to a few classes, and knew a few words but she never perused it and does not sign at all. She reads lips, angles herself where who she is speaking to is closest to her hearing ear and speaks. I wondered if this was common or not? I think she picks up on a lot of what I am saying, but certainly not all of it. How accurate is lip reading? I would love to learn sign language to communicate with her better, but she doesn't know it. How hard it is to pick up as an adult?

Are you my sister? That sounds a lot like me. I was even tentatively diagnosed with Meniere's a few years ago.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[sugarbear]

Awesome!

[speckledfrog]

Aug 17, 2013 10:32:56 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

I love seeing that song in sign. I sae a video of a girl who chose this for her final project in ASL class and she was about like this lady--funny facial expressions, exaggerated movements, dancing. It was great but damned if I can ever find the video again.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

Was it this one that fasthands talked about upthread?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3tadz5Q3o

[feistypants]

@pooh -- is this it? It's CeeLo's "Fuck You." Totally excellent.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3tadz5Q3o&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dsv3tadz5Q3o

[zarapipe]

Aug 17, 2013 10:06:15 GMT -5 mekiakoo said:

Aug 17, 2013 9:58:07 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Thank you. We need to be faced to her too in order for her to hear and read our lips. I think a little for her is that she doesn't want to be dependent on signs, so she focuses all her energy into lip reading. Like, if she goes to the Dr. and he doesn't sign, what does she do? She thinks she would be in trouble if he didn't sign, so she doesn't see it as a need, since she can read lips. I think it is the practical things, and how it would work if she signed she hasn't figured out.

I'm sure its tough for her, maybe she feels like she will be a different person if she starts signing and will have difficulty with her identity? Well, one of my friend's boyfriend turned deaf overnight at 23 years old and he is struggling with this new world. He is not able to rely on his ears anymore, he felt forced to learn how to sign and learn about the culture too. ASL is an entirely different language. A new, new world for him.

I kind of can see where she is coming from though, how many people know sign language, really? But it is helpful when you are able to find an interpreter for things like doctor appointments. When I go out in the public, I can't just start signing to anyone. I need to write things down, use gestures, mouth my words. Only my immediate family can sign, the rest of them don't. It's hard to get people to learn how to sign. It sucks. You're a great SIL for wanting to learn how to sign! Does she know that you are willing to do this? Maybe you both could take classes.

I haven't talked to her about it. She doesn't talk to anyone about it except for her husband (I assume?). MIL says she was always like that, even growing up, didn't want to talk about it. I know she didn't want to learn to sign and I don't think that has changed. I just worry about the other little bit of her hearing in her good ear will end up going and then she will be totally stuck with lip reading.

[zarapipe]

Aug 17, 2013 10:33:56 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

Aug 17, 2013 9:32:54 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Were you born deaf or did you loose your hearing after birth?

My SIL lost most of her hearing due to meningitis around age 13? She is completely deaf in one ear and has 25% in the other ear. She also was recently diagnosed with Meniere's disease and some days she is completely deaf due to the ringing in her ears. I have known her for 9 years now and it is continuing to get worse. She never learned sign language. She went to a few classes, and knew a few words but she never perused it and does not sign at all. She reads lips, angles herself where who she is speaking to is closest to her hearing ear and speaks. I wondered if this was common or not? I think she picks up on a lot of what I am saying, but certainly not all of it. How accurate is lip reading? I would love to learn sign language to communicate with her better, but she doesn't know it. How hard it is to pick up as an adult?

Are you my sister? That sounds a lot like me. I was even tentatively diagnosed with Meniere's a few years ago.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

haha nope! I hope the Meniere's has treated you pretty good. SIL has a really rough time with it. It comes and goes, but lately it's been pretty bad.

[pooh8402]

Aug 17, 2013 11:26:05 GMT -5 zarapipe said:

Aug 17, 2013 10:33:56 GMT -5 pooh8402 said:

Are you my sister? That sounds a lot like me. I was even tentatively diagnosed with Meniere's a few years ago.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

haha nope! I hope the Meniere's has treated you pretty good. SIL has a really rough time with it. It comes and goes, but lately it's been pretty bad.

It's not too bad. Occasional vertigo and fluctuations in my hearing, but some valium is enough to abort my vertigo (although I have to take a nap every time). It was really bad when I first had it but not so much now.

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[pooh8402]

Aug 17, 2013 10:57:21 GMT -5 feistypants said:

@pooh -- is this it? It's CeeLo's "Fuck You." Totally excellent.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3tadz5Q3o&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dsv3tadz5Q3o

Yes! Thank you!

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[emsumm]

I saw Pearl Jam with an interpreter. Eddie Vedder was totally obsessed with her, lol. He stopped and was applauding and kept saying he was getting distracted by her awesome.

[BlackCanary]

That is awesome!

My MIL used to interpret for an elementary school kid for her job. She loved it. 

[Norticprincess]

My undergrad had a large deaf population. I hate when they play with the interpreter. It was funny the first time or two. Four years into it, it wasn't funny anymore. I think it was Wayne Brady who said he felt bad doing part of his skit the one year as our one event interpreter looked like Santa. He just couldn't make Santa "say" those things.
I've seen the lady who did the Wu Tang concert do a few things at school

www.ntid.rit.edu/news/ritntid-interpreting-grad-musics-hottest-asl-interpreter-video-gone-viral-her-interpreting-wu-t

[AHappierHour]

That was awesome!