Just had my first conversation with a deaf person!

[Yossarian]

I'm taking my 2nd semester of ASL (sign language) and was able to carry on a 10 minute conversation with the instructor, who is deaf. I was considering dropping the class after the first night because I figured, hey, I'm not gonna understand jack this guy is trying to teach. Last semester the teacher was an ASL interpreter, so she could hear and speak normally. I must say that I amazed myself though, it was very cool to be able to communicate with this guy without saying a single word in English.

 

[bigrash]

wow that's cool. is it really hard to learn?

 

[Yossarian]

It's actually pretty easy, it's just a lot of vocabulary. There are some tricky grammar bits but you pick them up with practice. One of the cool (and funny) things is that facial expressions have a LOT to do with the meaning of what you're saying.

Here's a site with a decent dictionary (Quicktime required)--

ASL dictionary

 

[Evadman]

I used to comunicate with a guy who was deaf all the time. He was a cust at Home Depot and was mute as well. We used to comunicate by him drawing and me asking questions ( he could read lips ) Those were some interesting conversations.

 

[Frosty3799]

Originally posted by: Evadman
I used to comunicate with a guy who was deaf all the time. He was a cust at Home Depot and was mute as well. We used to comunicate by him drawing and me asking questions ( he could read lips ) Those were some interesting conversations.

That is how I get by with deaf people at the grocery sto'