We thought we would share with you about Facial Grammar. It is very important to know those Facial grammars, and how to use it. I excerpt this from aslpah.com. It was a good tip.
Here is a little grammar tip for you students out there:
Consider the phrase: “YOUR BOSS NAME?”
In English this might be translated as, “What is your boss’s name?”
This sentence requires an answer other than “yes/no.” It requires the other person tell you a “name.” Since it is not a “yes no” question it is therefore a wh question because it implies the “WH” as in “What” is your bosses name? Even though we don’t sign the “What” explicitly, it is there in our facial expression. The facial expression for a “Wh” question is to furrow your eyebrows a bit. (In thinking of a way to describe the facial grammar for “Wh questions” I would compare it to what a person looks like when he or she is trying to get a better look at something. Their head actually moves forward on the neck about an inch and they squint their eyes a bit.)
The sentence: “YOU LIKE COOK?”
In English this might be translated as, “Do you like to cook?”
This sentence requires a “yes/no” answer. The concept of “do” is not “signed” but is expressed via facial expressions as raised eyebrows. The head tilts forward just a tad.
We would like to share this video with you all. We thought it would be a good lesson for you to watch and learn. It will show you how to translate from English to ASL. That guy’s name is Toby. He teaches ASL. He said that it is very hard to teach how to translate from English to ASL sometimes. We agree with him.
After you watch both video, we can discuss about it in our next social gathering if you would like to.
I have read CODA Brothers’ blog from time to time. They are vloggers. Their names are Ben and Andy Olson. They are hilarious. They can be a clown at times. They would make you laugh, learn and sign. You should check their site out some time. Their blog is codabrothers.wordpress.com. Their blog title is “Laugh. Learn. Sign.” It is a really cool blog. They would tell jokes, stories, and experiences of their lives. They won three awards in 2007 that fell in three categories: Best Hearing Ally, Most Funny Blog, and Best Storyteller from Deafread.com.
Let me say something a bit about it. Maybe many of you may not know what CODA is. CODA stands for Children of Deaf Adults. So those brothers are hearing but sign fluently. They have deaf parents. I believe they are currently interpreters.
I just found a good vlog about ASL Lesson 1. I thought you would want to check it out here. May it be overwhelming to you, but you will learn to understand eventually.
Oh one more thing, when you see them spell “Laurent, SD,” I will tell you about it some time in the near future while I need to collect more information about that town.
Or you could visit , which I usually visit from time to time. It is another good website checking for Captioned movies and it has Subtitled trailers as well.
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