Friday, December 18, 2009

ASL and sign name

I have a long standing interest and desire to learn ASL (American Sign Language) and have had classes and etc. BUT the only way to really learn a language is to use it. Frequently. So, at my new job there is a little boy who is Deaf. I have certainly been making use of all I know, and also looking up words fairly frequently. I was so proud the other day to ask him his lunch choices and be confident of his understanding (fish, chicken, or peanut butter and jelly sandwich). Well, the only way to "say" your name is to spell it. UNLESS you have a "sign name". Sign names can only be given by a deaf person, and are yours alone (for example two people named Joe would not necessarily have the same sign name). Our main teacher is an "S" shaken along the side of your head like curly hair (yeah, she has curly hair. Her name is Suzanne). A girl with a C name has chubby cheeks, so her sign name is a "C" by your cheek. I used to have one, a "P" at the shoulder (Proctor, and shoulder is medical sign, since I was studying speech therapy). I didn't like it though, and it was mostly just for a class I was taking (like I was Alejandra in Spanish class). Well, this week, my little boy was talking to his interpreter and told her my name is "Z". She confirmed that was what he meant for my name, since my name is Deena, and there is not a "z" in it. He grinned and signed back "Yes, she's 'Z'". So I'm "Z". With the rest of my name it sounds like Xena (warrior princess), and that's cool too. yo.