Yay! It's Tuesday, meaning it's sign language class day! I've been attending for a couple of weeks now, and find that learning a second sign language is much easier than the first one. Sign languages are hard to wrap your brain around, they force you to think of language in a completely different way. How can you convey the abstract in a sign language? What about subject-verb agreement? Is it as fast to use as a spoken language? Is it universal? Why not? All these questions and more are answered more through a trial and error process than from direct teaching. In order to use sign language effectively, you must learn to think in visual terms. You must learn to listen with your eyes, and shortcut the thoughts from your mind to your hands.
Sign language class has been good, so far. There are about a dozen native users who attend, and about 100 students. One thing I find interesting is that the teacher teaches word-for-word Chinese signs. My textbook has a small section on what is termed the "Natural Sign Language". As I follow along with the teacher, the deaf participants often interrupt me to show me the "real" signs. Even though these participants use a natural sign language, they still teach others the word-for-word Chinese. Trust me, there is a huge difference between these two sign systems. The Signed Chinese feels awkward and clumsy. It's slow and cumbersome, many signs consisting of three or four parts. The natural sign language seems to flow more smoothly. Some of the handshapes are hard for me (handshapes not found in ASL), but overall it feels okay.
I mentioned to someone at last week's class that I was in Chengdu conducting research. I mentioned that I wanted to research sign language, but I didn't go into any further details. Everything has worked out well, but now I'm feeling nervous about approaching with my research idea. I think I'll wait a few more class sessions, and then bring the topic up. I want to show that I am sincere, and that I am not trying to expose any wrongdoings or down sides of this community.
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