What is Signed English?... and why am I not learning it?

Did you know that babies can learn signs to communicate before they can speak? For real! Check out this video!

AWWWWWWWWWWW.

Most parents who teach their babies how to sign are not deaf, and therefore do not speak ASL. A lot of times, parents opt to teach their baby Signed Exact English (SEE) instead.

SEE is to ASL what Google Translate is to most languages, a word for word translation of English into signs. Basically, every English word is converted into a sign, but the grammar and structure is the same as English. Hearing parents often choose SEE to teach to their children, because it is much easier for them to learn. Many people do not consider SEE to be its own language like they do for ASL. 

However, SEE is not considered a "living language" like ASL. ASL is cultural; there is a whole deaf community! SEE is often rejected by the deaf community, and in sometimes considered offensive. Probably for the same reason your foreign language teacher when students hand in reports that they typed into Google Translate in English, then hit "translate". 

It's really not the same. For example, translate the lyrics of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" into Chinese, and then back into English, and the second verse goes from

"In west Philadelphia born and raised On the playground where I spent most of my days Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school When a couple of guys, they were up to no good Started making trouble in my neighbourhood I got in one little fight and my mom got scared And said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-air" "

to this

"Born and raised in West Philadelphia

On the playground where I spent my days

Cold, apricot, relaxing all cool

All shooting some B ball outside school

When a couple of guys, they do not get better

Started making trouble in my neighborhood

My mom and I was afraid to play in a small

And said: "You and your aunt and uncle in Bel-Air""

Yeah sure you get the same idea in some of the phrases, but its not the same. And then some lines are completely wrong. Cold, apricot? What?

Just like the Chinese sentence structure and other grammar rules differ from English, so does Signed Exact English and American Sign Language. The two are not equivalents, and in translation there can be confusion just like with the song above.

Anyway, personally, I choose to learn ASL for a reason, and that was to be able to communicate with native speakers and learn more about deaf culture. Sure, SEE would be much easier for me, but that isn't the point. When you're passionate enough about something it doesn't matter how hard something is, because it's worth it.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SEE AND ASL