ASL Learning Log

The space isn't working for me. I need to do a bit of a redesign, move things around.

Have only a couple minutes today, but might as well use them.

First Video

Here are some resources you can check out right now ! by Signs for Humanity

Notes

• 'representative' as SHOW
• download is quote hands reaching/grabbing from upper non-dominant side
• senator is like member but it's with an S initialization
• sign for website i've never seen before: WW
• protest is like three rebels
• address is nounified 'life'. i have seen this before, just forgot
• immigrant is the lines on face version

Vocab

• Download
• Senator
• Website
• Representative
• Immigant

Second Video

Deaf High School Senior Anthony Paredes was wrongfully charged by Signs for Humanity

Notes

• Anthony's sign for protest matches what I have previously seen on Lifeprint
• 'individuals' is an initialized agent marker. maybe SEE?
• arrest is done as 'kidnap', beat up may have been conveyed via CL after kidnap
• take-advantage-of is like medicine, but kinda swiped down dismissively
• Anthony's a very expressive signer. He also eagerly embraces the DA paradigm, which I haven't come across a lot.

Vocab

• Rights
• Dont-Care
• Take-Advantage-Of

Haven't been able to sit down and do reflective, note-style FB Reel sessions in quite a bit. Things have been chaotic. But it's a Saturday and I've just polished up some of my journalling backlog, so let's get crack-a-lacking.

First Video

What's the difference between an Urgent Care and the Emergency Room? by The DeafMed on FBReels

Notes

• Urgent Care can be #UC, Emergency Room can be #ER
• There's a sign which I will temporary gloss as Ooo-Y because it's done with an O mouth morpherem and a Y waved kinda impressively over the signing space to indicate severity.
• Reaction is just an initialized R version of Answer
• Signer does 'Seizure here' with an index tapped on the head before the Tantrum motion
• Symptom, I've also seen as just 'Show/Example', but the signer here initializes it.
• Urinary Tract Infection was UTI and then expanded as TOILET #TRACT #INFECTION. Interesting that they used T instead of pee..
• Version of lexicalized #ALL where hands face each other and move forward together during the motion
• Two-handed version of TEND briefly bamboozled me.

Vocab

• Ooo-Y
• Vomit
• Fever
• Reaction
• Diarrhea
• Seizure
• Symptom
• Limited

Second Video

BER months coming soon by The DeafMed

Notes

• It's slow enough that I understand it with no captions, and the mouthings really help.

Vocab

• Halloween
• Thanksgiving

Third Video

Stephanie's Grief Story

Notes

• This on'e captioned, and longer, and heart-wrenching.
• CHERISH is translated as 'precious.'
• Depicts a mucus plug detachment using a two-hand presssed again a hole, then coming apart.
• 'bed rest' is done as BED RELAX
• 'seven months, meaning two weeks' there's a sign for 'meaning' done there that is an AMERICA not moved. not seen that before.
• 'waive' might be a version of 'Excuse' but i'm not sure enough to enter it as a vocab item
• #risk looks fairly lexicalized
• uses TECHNOLOGY as as the adverb 'technically'
• there's also something that i understand to mean something like 'goddamnit' that is a hand curling to a fist under the neck
• premature is signed as EARLY
• compressions and oxygen might be done through classifiers
• faith at 3:24
• 4:27 describes trisomy-13, shows how to classify gene strands. heart.breaking.
• attune is at 9:00

Vocab

• Grief
• Gene
• Ups-and-downs
• Suspect
• Faith
• Unplug
• Cemetary
• Attune

This week's class was actually quite nice, despite it all.

Content Summary

There were three sections: Pets and Roommates, Expressing Needs, and Fingerspelling Down-Letters.

During the Pets and Roommates section, the instructor was showing us how grammar structure worked. She would alternate between formulations:

1. FATHER DAUGHTER LIVE TOGETHER
2. FATHER IX LIVE WITH DAUGHTER

And then we stumbled into this formation:

1 MAN 2 WOMAN ROOMMATE LIVE TOGETHER

And I asked whether it was necessary to specify gender, and whether we could sign '3 ROOMATE LIVE TOGETHER'

Her response? What 3 things are roommates? Say '3 PEOPLE ROOMATE LIVE TOGETHER.' You can't just say '3' are roommates. It could be three fruits, three books, three of what? Sign 'people.'

I responded, but isn't it obvious? When are books ever roommates?

She was like, just sign 'people.'

So this response seems to imply to me that the sign for 'Roommate' is actually a verb and doesn't function well as a head. I need to confirm this interpretation-- perhaps another day, I will ask if 'My roomate like blue flowers' is an acceptable sentence, and see if that works. If not, I don't know quite yet understand the reason for that difference in grammar.

During the express needs activity, our formula prescribed we do

I NEED [ITEM]. [LOCATION] where?

But when the inIn my first journal entry, I mentioned that "only one other student looked comfortable expressing a simple introduction using ASL alone." L and I swapped phone numbers on the second class, and this week she approached me and signed to me over the break. It was a breath of fresh air. We continued to sign after class as well. We could have signed for longer, but her dad was waiting for her in the parking lot.

It's good to get practice in. With the students I've worked with so far, I haven't managed to get in good practice. So it's good that L is here. She makes me look forward to class next week.structor came around and asked for us to show her how we signed it, I kinda naturally did a topic-comment of ITEM I NEED. LOCATION WHERE?, which she corrected and I just did. But I did want to ask her why the topic comment version didn't work. Or perhaps it works, but we were just suppposed to practice the non-topicalized version. I'm unsure.

And finally came the fingerspelling activities. Oh boy. We had to copy down a crossword that the instructor signed spatially, and it was painful. SO many repetitions. People in my class were really struggling. It took forever. It was unpleasant.

Not the Content

In my first journal entry, I mentioned that "only one other student looked comfortable expressing a simple introduction using ASL alone." L and I swapped phone numbers on the second class, and this week she approached me and signed to me over the break. It was a breath of fresh air. We continued to sign after class as well. We could have signed for longer, but her dad was waiting for her in the parking lot.

It's good to get practice in. With the students I've worked with so far, I haven't managed to get in good practice. So it's good that L is here. She makes me look forward to class next week.

For the Spreadsheet

Notes

• The sign for sew/knit/mend is all one sign. Crochet however, has a hooked index against another index.
• One-Child uses a bent handshape, as opposed to Children, which uses a flat one.
• Rat is a swiped Mouse using an initialization
• Have has a mouth morpheme!
• Lucky has an alt here in Manitoba, which is a U tapped on the chin, then shifting outwards in a motion similar to NEVER
• Snake has a 3-hand variation
• Semester is S in a NEVER motion
• Psssh is one potential response to 'Thank You' and uses the 'oh its nothing' gesture.

Vocab

• Crochet
• One-Child
• Rat
• Venus-Flytrap
• Have
• Lucky
• Beak-CL
• Feather-CL
• Eagle
• Reptile
• Snake
• Money
• Psssh
• Semester

Confirmed as Fingerspelt

• Lab
• Lobby
• ATM

I'm writing this a week after the fact, but I attended a meetup in San Jose.

I get so flustered in these kinds of contexts and was initially really tense. It was nearly four hours long. We stayed until the conclusion.

I had one-on-one conversations with two people: M, and another individual who's name I didn't catch.

We were late coming into the conversation, because we had picked up Taco Bell and there was no place to stay at the main table and eat, so we ate off to the side and then joined in when we were done.

First Conversation Partner

We talked about weather, which lead us to talking about where we lived. I talked about how cold it gets where I'm from. He said, oh, I've visited your city before. And he said that his sister had his wedding here, and afterwards, they went to eat at a Palestinian restaurant. I asked which one. It turns out, he went to one of my favourite Palestinian restaurants in the city! He talked about how he spent some time in Chicago, and also was living in Rochester, at the Deaf College there, so he had some experience with colder climates. We got on talking to why he had left Rochester (he said that he enjoyed it so much!) and he replied, well, it's rough. The cost of living was rough, but also the culture there was hostile to him. People infantilized him. He couldn't have stayed. Now he lives with his parents and some other siblings in the Bay area. He's the second oldest of four.

There was a lot that I missed. God. I missed so much. My poor fingerspelling reception was one of the main culprits for this. I wanted to stop for clarifications, but at some point, the conversation had already moved past where clarifications would have been useful. And I was embarassed. It's embarassing to have shit fingerspelling reception. I really need to get better.

He is hard-of-hearing, and was semi whispering a lot of signs, which did help, but to match his signing style, I started mouthing a lot. And I don't need to mouth. I shouldn't have mouthed. But I did. Next time I'll be more careful about that.

Transition

I asked my first conversation partner about the population of the Deaf school at Fremont. How many students were there exactly. He got the attention of some other people, including my second conversation partner, and I was informed that there was 500 students in total across all grades.

Second Conversation Partner

Somehow I shifted over to start talking to M, who was the provider of that information as she works at the school now as a sub. Our conversation kinda went all over the place. She talked about her old office job and how demanding it was-- M was an early adopter of tech, using the earliest Mac models, and her proficiency with technology gave her pretty stunning opportunities. She was the only Deaf worker at her company, but carried a lot of responsibility and was heavily trusted. She is an IT gal. Now, she teaches at the Deaf school. She lives with her mom, who is an ASL interpreter. She doesn't own her own house, her money goes to travelling instead. She likes travelling. She enjoys travelling to places on organized Deaf tours, because an interpreter is present and that makes things a lot easier. Recent trips include Disney-- she's a Disney fan. She has 4 sets of Mickey Mouse leggings.

Nowadays, M is on her phone a lot. She moderates a whole bunch of Deaf groups on Facebook, and she's a hardline moderator. She kicks out anyone who doesn't follow the rules. She's very proud of the work that she does. She protects her community. She has a kind of 'Momma bear' attitude. She has many many Facebook followers. She doesn't give her phone number out to anyone except close contacts, but she has so many friends on Facebook.

She uses an Android. There's so much freedom with Android. Like me, she's got a cracked version of YT that doesn't play ads, and she enjoys the captioned speech feature that ships with Android. She has a particular distaste for Apple, doesn't understand how people haven't shifted to Android en masse yet.

Other Group Convo Topics

We talked about how they're charging so much for the 'Deaf' version of those AI glasses that show you captions in the corner, while the 'Regular' version is cheaper but has more features.

We talked about Boy Scouts becoming the Scouts. We talked about other things that I can't remember now...

I wish there were more meetups in my area.

For the Spreadsheet

Vocab

• Chicago
• Afganistan
• Cheap
• Wifi
• Computer
• Rochester

Class Summary

An AEIP student was using the room to study. When we all filed in curiously, she started signing and asking questions to some of the people who came in (not to me). And then eventually everyone started talking. They asked me if I was comfortable with talking. I said, whatever (in sign, because I could).

Last week was vocab-heavy. Today was grammar-heavy. We did three activities:

1. Tell your peer to put a random item in a random place in relation to another object.
2. Hide an object somewhere and indicate cold/warm with only your facial expression.
3. Fingerspelling practice with Z.
4. Describe houses and asking questions.

It was all pretty rudimentary, but it was good to get my hands going. Here's the biggest takeaway from today, a moment that happened during the fingerspelling activity.

The teacher set up a game where there was a numbered list of fifteen words with the letter 'Z' in them on her slides. She set us up in groups of 3-4, and we each had take turns choosing a random word, spelling the word, and having people guess.

The learning moment was during the second round of this game. After the first round, she encouraged us to sign fast. So I did. I fingerspelled fast and I allowed my letters to mutate. The word in question was 'Ritz.'

My mutated fingerspelling:

• R was pretty normal
• I was very mutated, the R slightly moves down as the pinky flashes up, ends up looking like a version of the Berkley handshape but with the index and middle crossed over
• T emerges out of this handshape and not a millisecond after the Z movement happens, the index remains extended, the thumb snuck under
• Z finishes off with the thumb still tucked between index and middle

I intentionally mutated my fingerspelling because, as I understood it (from Vicar's videos), mutated fingerspelling is just something that happens at the higher levels and is something that you have to be comfortable with reception-wise. I have a friend who I chat with frequently in ASL and their fingerspelling is quite mutated, and I've viewed that as a massive skill of theirs in the past.

However the instructor asked to see my fingerspelling and she immediately was like... uh. You need to sign more clearly.

I was like, you said we needed to sign fast.

She said, fast AND clear.

I was like, but contractions like this happen all the time, right?

She replied, not often. If you want to be an interpreter, you need to do your fingerspelling very, very clearly.

She demonstrated spelling RITZ fast and clearly. It was fast, it was clear.

And to be clear, I never really was opposed to the idea that ritz could be spelled both fast and clear-- I was moreso under the impression that mutations/contractions were just the natural next step in developing fingerspelling fluency. Her comments, being so different from my version of reality until that point, were hard to stomach at first. I'm so used to seeing contractions promoted.

Upon reflection, it's not surprising that different regions have different preferences for this kind of thing. There is a change that it's less of a regional thing and more of a professionalism thing; perhaps clearly articulated, minimally-mutated fingerspelling forms part of the 'interpreting' register. In such a case, even when contractions happen amongst the Deaf signing population here, it may not be something that they encourage their interpreters to do.

In any case, I was quite happy to receive this feedback. I still don't know if I'm going to abandon contractions completely (since in California, they seem to be basically necessary) but I do have to work on being able to turn the production of such mutations on and off like a switch in my head. And I need to practice faster fingerspelling that doesn't rely at all on mutations.

For the Spreadsheet

Notes

• Shoes has an alt: it's the old Boot wraparoundchomp without the chomp
• Shelf goes from down to up when she does it
• Townhouse is #TH
• Mobile home is #MH
• Duplex side by side and over-under has corresponding versions

Vocab

• Backpack
• Shoes
• Shelf
• Townhouse
• Duplex
• Dorm

Confirmed as Fingerspelt

• Pen
• Condo

I continue to be eaten by whatever's currently going in the Toki Pona community. It seems that the attention and bandwidth I have to ultimately focus on this endeavor is limited for the timebeing.

Yesterday I chatted for the first time in a long time in the ASL Discord. I was so terrified.

I walk around at work trying to get my fingerspelling to look lexical.

I watch shorts and vlogs when I can.

It's almost like a distraction. A good distraction.

So, you might notice that some time has past since I last posted (over two weeks). There are two reasons for my abscence.

• Some things happened in the Toki Pona community that required my immediate attention. It's been eating up my life and mental health, not a great start to the year.
• I was reading through the ASL Discord, and something that someone said stood out to me; it was a person who suggested that it was actually harmful to continue to do self-studying without having anyone to correct you. That comment made me hesitate.

In the midst of this hesitation, I figured it would be a good idea to pause until the first day of weekly intermediate ASL courses started. I'm pleased to announce that the first class was yesterday. And, boy oh boy, my expectations for what that class was going to be were quite shaken.

First Class: Thoughts and Notes

Three misconceptions of mine were busted, and they relate to one another.

1) Without sounding too egotistical, I really was overestimating how skilled the signers of the class were going to be. Most of them are still A1.

Thinking rationally, it makes so much sense; most of these people only have one introductory course under their belts. I would like to closely examine the thought train that made me think the class was going to be at a B1 level, because I think it might reveal something about myself.

• The first-year interpreting students I met during Future Student Night were quite fluent, and many of them came from this lesson series.
• The interpreting program demands a degree of 'ASL fluency' for entry. I was unable to imagine that a person signing at an A1 level could possibly get that far with only two courses.
• I know that interpreting programs are very intense, and that usually the ones who are best prepared to take it on are actually CODAs, children of Deaf adults who have been signing since the beginning.

I'm still a little bit baffled that only two courses could possibly bring a person from an A1 level up to a lower C1 level. And I'm probably misjudging that. My first evidence is probably wrong. It's more likely that the first-year interpreting students I saw were so comfortable because they were already within their third month of the program, and it's likely that my standard definition of 'fluency' is vastly overestimated than actually required for this particular program.

There is a fourth piece of evidence that makes me think this; I have met interpreting students before at events in the Bay Area and online. They have all been C1, easily. But I do not live in the Bay Area. I live in the middle of nowhere.

2) I was under the impression that announcing that one wants to become an interpreter was an act not done lightly.

Basically every single person in the room said that they were interested in becoming an interpreter. That really shocked me. It's a herculean task, and you're still a beginner; how can you know? How can you have the confidence to announce that you think you can pull it off?

That was my gut reaction, and it's quite revealing about my own insecurities about admitting this in public. Maybe I am egotistical. Maybe I have severe insecurities of my own. It's probably both of these.

But their admission was shocking to me for another reason.

3) I was under the impression that there would be no English, because people showed up to learn ASL, so why would there be English?

"We have noobies!" That was the exclamation that met me as I approached the classroom. Spoken English. I was unsure if I was at the right class. But the room number was clear, and there was also a sign. And then even more chatter. What's your name?, asked to someone who wasn't me. Oh god. Backgrounds exchanged. I was not ready for English. I was ready for ASL. I was not ready for English. And I was already so scared to meet new people in ASL. I had made no plans to do so in English.

The door hadn't been opened yet. I remained completely speechless. They continued to chatter and I knew that under social rules, I was expected to contribute something, anything, lest they assume I was Deaf. In that moment, I almost wanted them to assume I was Deaf. I didn't want to participate in whatever the hell this was. We came to learn ASL, and what if any of the students are Deaf or hard-of-hearing themselves? Is this not a voice-off space?

The instructor came and opened the door (the instructor is Deaf) to let us in. When inside, they continued to chatter. Oh. My. God. Will it continue like this? There were ten minutes until the official start time of the class. They continued to chatter. There was a moment where they looked expectently at me to answer a question. I spoke the words, '25', and I didn't say anything else.

During this period, another comment was made. The students who had attended the first course all apparently brought small erasable whiteboards. Another student who hadn't attended the first course asked whether whiteboards would be needed. And one student responded in the affirmative, as if the answer was obvious. "The instructor is Deaf," was the explanation they cited.

My brain panicked. Well, yeah, but can't you just clarify in ASL? That's when I started to realize that many of these people were truly beginners, and then I even more firmly started to understand when the instructor re-entered the classtime with an interpreter streaming in next to her. Oh. Okay, so that's what we're doing.

When we were introducing ourselves to the instructor, most people took the route of a tiny bit of ASL, and then oral explanations which were all interpreted. Only one other student looked comfortable expressing a simple introduction using ASL alone.

The instructor did introduce the voice-off policy and clarified, that the room was a voice-off space, but that we could use English in the hallway. And during every single break that happened after (there were three), most students streamed into the hallway and did their blah blah blahs. I did not dare. I didn't even want to go to the bathroom or fill up my water bottle, at the risk of being approached vocally.

And so when these people, who had not signed a single sign before the instructor had started the class, all announced one after the other that they wanted to become interpreters, I really struggled to understand where they were coming from.

Not in Kansas Anymore

My expectations didn't match reality, though not in a horrible way. The class is still good, I still learned a lot of new signs. I still genuinely enjoyed myself, especially during the partner excercises where people started to actually use the language. I'm going to have to change how I use the class as a grounding tool to support my own self-studies. I now believe that the majority of the important work and study will actually come from this blog, and not from the material of the class itself.

I still need to think through the details of this.

Notes

• Manitoba can be done with a B, basically, or very open M (kinda like LPSL's E)
• University alternative (U rotated)

Vocab

• Background
• Charleswood
• St Boniface
• River Heights
• St Vital
• West Kildonan
• North Kildonan
• East Kildonan
• West End
• North End
• Downtown
• Polo Park
• Portage
• Kildonan Place
• Manitoba
• CMHR
• Legislature
• Beach
• River
• Ocean
• Hill
• Valley
• Mountain
• Invest
• University
• Berkeley
• Oakland
• Fremont
• San Jose
• San Francisco

Confirmed As Fingerspelt

• Elmwood
• St. Charles
• St. James
• Fort Garry
• St. Norbert
• Inkster
• Outlet
• Exchange District
• Forks
• Arena
• Stadium
• Beach
• Park
• Lake
• Ocean

More, still more. Later, flowers for the bees, until they think that warm days shall never cease, for summer has o'er brimm'd their clammy cells.

I think I was avoiding doing this. Unsure, actually. It's hard to muster up a lot of gumption when I've classified this period of time as a 'holiday' in my head. I might have to take off to a fast food establishment tomorrow so that I can focus.

Went through a bunch of reels just... looking at them. Still not at the point where I can dissect unsubtitled content in here, but I do feel less anxious looking at it then I did when I started. I accidentally read the fingerspelling for Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. And that was kinda shocking.

First Video

My Online Client, Marc by Rob O'Mahoney

Notes

• transcript: my on+line [] #marc look-like ix-image-on-screen approach-me request help-him change ix-poss body, change ix-poss life #style. i say i can lead ix #as long he put commitment, keep++, hard work in, [] together [shows different photos from different weeks] see how work hard team keep link together.
• I can't find other attestation for the sign that is translated as 'commitment'. It looks just like cookie. I think it's an SEE sign. In other videos, Rob does sign very SEE. Well... good to know!

Second Video

I cannot believe what I've read by Sandro Hatibovic

This one was hilarious!

Notes

• transcript: omg i read++ ix-on-cl-book #LAW say person allow enter(inflected) your house without your permission or clueless-you. ix what-do take+++ food finish drink good. one fine-fine give. leave! who?? santa. wow(mouthed).
• clueless is done with the dominant hand while the nondominant hand points out at you, as if to mock you.
• so this is a piece that is heavily exaggerated for comedic effect. The finish was pretty inflected, and the sign for 'person' was maybe an international one?

Third Video

What was it like after the divorce? by Irina Burke

Notes

• I've never seen WITH inflected like that before. Wow. That's powerful.
• 'move-on' is an interesting one. I crossreferenced with handspeak, and it's not there. But it's the MOVE handshape signed a little like KEEP.
• heart-shattered... aaa
• in 'what could i possibly say to my children', i believe she's signing 'say children how', with a very inflected how.
• 'true-biz finish work?' is translated to 'is it really over?'
• spent a minute trying to figure out the gloss for what is translated to 'how will i cope with this alone?' What's going on here, I think (insert large caveat here) she does '#COPE manage/control alone' with A hands instead of X hands. Which makes sense. They're pretty close.

Vocab

• End
• Challenging
• Endure
• Move-on
• Single

Reflecting on Reviewing

Part of learning all of this really disparate vocabulary is that I have no larger organizing framework to put in, hence the risk of me not remembering some words increases. It's also true that I have an easier time producing signs that I learn in Vicars lectures (harder time with reception), but an easier time receiving signs that I learn in FB reels (harder time with production). I do think the FB Reels signs do tend to be a little harder in general though...

Perhaps I should take some time to organize the existing signs that I've learned so far into a TP-style framework.

akesi

Snake

alasa

Research, Experiment

ante

Conflicts

esun

Cost, Corporation, Change-out, Deserve, Bet

ike

Human Trafficking, Kidnap

ilo

Telescope, Printer, Lock, Metro, Binder, Backpack, Balloon, Belt, Degree, Gas-empty, Gas-full

jan

Pirate, Leprechaun, Human

ken

Chance, License

kili

Potato, Strawberry, Melon, Corn, Garlic, Lettuce, Cherry

ko

Smoothie, Jelly

kon

Tornado, Inspiration

lili

Blah-blah-blah

luka

Fingerprints

lukin

Attention, Narrowed-Attention, Visually-take-it-all-in

ma

Mexico, Australia, Europe, England, Boston, Ireland-International, Ireland-Iowa

mani

Welfare, Medicare

moku

Mashed-Potato

mun

Space, Galaxy

mute

Tablespoon, Pound, Cup-(Measurement)

namako

Vinegar

nasa

Mischevious, Alcohol

nasin

Tradition, Repulican, Planner, Prepare, Conservative, Democrat, Liberal, Leadership, Government

pakala

Trauma, Darn-it, Fake, Jammed, Lose-Fail, Dimwit

pan

Pie

pana

Spread,

pilin

Anxiety, Empathy, Concerned-about

pona

Kindness, Lucky, Official, Value

sama

Identical

sijelo

In-person

sona

Shared-Understanding

soweli

Donkey, Bacon, Sheep

suli

In-your-face, Boringly-prolong

taso

Flat

tawa

Twirl, Travel-Whirlwind, Transfer-(public-transport), Skating, Figure Skating, Ballet

telo

Sweat,

tenpo

Three-days-ago, St Patrick's day, Honeymoon

toki

Telepathy, Poetry, Exaggerate, Dwell-on

tomo

Bar

utala

Rebel, Resist

wile

Willing, Goal

I actually really like this. This is going to be really helpful for me.

New Systems?

I'm going to need to find a more robust system to keep all my vocab in order, and it's looking like a spreadsheet of some kind is likely going to be the best way to do so.

In a completely dreamlike spreadsheet, it would be automated pretty naturally from the entries I have here. It would have the date that I learned it, the source that I learned it from, a screenshot of the general sign, the toki pona word it can be most associated with, and a place for additional notes. And it has to be sustainable, something that I can keep up with not much additional work.

Yesterday I already spent some time making a script that goes and yoinks all of the vocab from all of the lists with a level 4 heading called 'Vocab.'

It's likely possible that I can write something that goes through and zoinks all the vocab and the vids they are associated with and shoves it in a spreadsheet??? But then I'm offshoring the enterprise. HMM.

HMMM.

HMMMMMMMM.

Potentially, we're now talking about-- HMMM.

You might be like, Chelsea, stop thinking about this and just learn the language already. But you have to understand- I have lost so so many signs that I've learned in the past. I really do feel that if I put some extra investment into creating a better system now, I will be generally more able to retain things throughout these next couple of years of my life.

Okay. I think I have the beginnings of a plan.

Brainstorm

Currently Eleventy treats vocab as an object with both a word and a date (the date being in the format of YYYY-MM) that is associated with a particular post. It generates this automatically based on the presence of a heading level 4 titled 'Vocab'.

It then uses this within Eleventy Collections to generate this index...

I could instead have it write directly to file...

I could also have it scan for notes for glosses that match the assigned gloss.

And then I could add any tp classes I want later, to the raw files. I could then photo capture every sign into one large folder and match by gloss name... HMMM.

But how do I get it to not do duplicate work? I only want it to do this kind of processing like... once. I also want it to be able to take in just straight up words, in case I learn stuff in the wild that isn't associated with a particular material.

A New System!

So I didn't change anything about the way I have my Eleventy set up. I did use Claude to make a python script that will extract vocab from a markdown file I give it along with various associated metadata and send it to a Google Sheet.

I then manually went back and screencapped the vocab and things. Obviously, the screencaps are not CC-BY.

So I can run the script and it will update my sheet, as I want to. Doing this whole thing was good review. I actually culled a few vocabulary items that were likely just misreadings, and fixed a broken link.

This is a very good and robust set up to start out with. In the future, this will help me to make an Anki deck, or something resemmbling an Anki deck.

Here's what I have to remember to do in the future:

To execute save to Google Sheets:

cd /home/lakuse/VSCodium/asl-sheet-vocab
source venv/bin/activate
python add_vocab.py post-X.md

To exit virtual machine:

deactivate

I also have to remember to NOT leave the table sorted by anything else by the default. I unfortunately didn't work in some kind of indexing system so if I want to preserve the order of signs in each vocab list, I have to maintain the order they are loaded in.

But while I am mid study session, I can totally go ahead and sort the table to accommodate different needs- alphabetical, by tp word, etc.

The downside is that I require the internet to access this sheet, which is why the Eleventy system needs to stay here as back-up.

Alrighty. More of this now!

I honestly need to start putting some stuff on Anki. It's just a bit daunting to start thinking of a workflow that will do this in the way that will be best for me.

First Lecture

026 ASL American Sign Language Vocabulary Expansion Series Dr Bill & Rach

Notes

• Jam, in context, can simply be indicated by signing 'spread'
• Jelly is an SEE word
• full schedule busy+++ = 'jam packed schedule'
• Jammed used for something like a printer is jammed. as in "paper jam"
• Gas empty has an initialized version used in low context
• Three days ago is the same handshape for reception, unclawed and flicked back
• Exaggerate and boringly-prolong are NMMed diffrentiated.
• Printer is the same as MB Strawberry!
• Medicare, fingerspell but there's also a peel-off-stickers version that's older
• Willing w/ mouth open = Confess/Admit

Vocab

• Spread
• Jelly
• Jammed
• Gas-full
• Gas-empty
• Three-days-ago
• Blah-blah-blah
• Exaggerate
• Boringly-prolong
• Printer
• Visually-take-it-all-in
• In-your-face
• Dwell-on
• Narrowed-Attention
• SSRI/Welfare
• Medicare
• Willing

First Video

Deaf children in BC need our help!

Notes

• transcript: deaf children in #bc canada need our help.. recently government [](its translated as 'the govenment there') built-up #cfr resources for asl english two languages for deaf hard-of-hearing children ix-poss family. but recently(more recently) [](looks like pulled, taken up), resource cfr closed. need back. need label #petition ix-below #link ix-below for inform government #bc need back(inflected) resources+++
• recently vs more recenty contrasted by ee nmm.
• label being used as transitive 'sign' as in sign a document
• the sign for 'resources' here is likely regional... couldn't find it on handspeak

Vocab

• Government

Second Video

Here's a story time. Can you believe it??! by Ashlene Etkie

Notes

• transcript: i really embarrass. i story time for you-sweep. same you-sweep know i tend bring my dog to my #workout gym. so ix-here apt have gym ix-loc1 and ix-loc 2 small room tend bring dog in when do my [upper body]. doing++ when when do go-ahead do my [shoulder] #circuit obviously #as-day not do with twenty pounds. go replace/instead-of 5 pounds. ix-the-door #was locked. cl-try-the-door can't enter. my dog, my phone, my water, my everything inside. honest [side-eye]. lucky i have people [] me. ix-they-sweep try call. one of ix-they know how lock open ix-door lock ix-door. not think do in ix-here room similar-to any more. real honest #[] real#ly embarassing.
• 'same' used as an adverb, calque from english 'as'
• 8 for story, since it's a quick one
• tend was signed really quickly, no drop.
• think she fs'd workout. not sure.
• room signed out to in, i'm used to seeing in to out
• this variation for locked has two Ss. different from the V variation that i am used to.
• i have people around me looks like ix just around self.
• 'how' and 'lock' got elided i think.

Vocab

• Pound
• Lock
• Change-out

It's christmas day and I'm at family's and bored. So let's watch some FB Reels.

First Video

There are many different holiday traditions around the world by Marjorie Charles Sonnenstrahl

Notes

• leaning PSE here
• traditions initialized

Vocab

• Tradition

Second Video

Metro in CDMX is cheap! by Marcelino Sanders

Notes

• impress, is it an A-palm facing out against a flat hand (like YT), the unit moved backwards?
• ix-own card metro you can go any+where in mexico city region for what_rhet five dollars [] flat #rate. mean what_rhet you can go far include transfers same cost five dollars, nothing increased, same flat, near far no-matter. compare japan and thailand nearby lessened cost far-away go-far increased(using bigger handshape) cost depend where you go. cost you when leave exit. happen here mexico [] cost you when enter five dollars flat #rate wow-cool, meaning save money not [] (like tossing money out there) can go any where!
• COST used as a transitive verb for 'to charge someone'
• bigger-increase shown with the sign down with B hands instead of Us.
• interesting way that far was deployed twice to emphasize that something was far, and that someone was going far.

Vocab

• Metro
• Mexico
• Transfer (public transport)
• Flat
• Cost

Third Video

Today I awaken planners are back in stock, just in time for the year 2026! by Today I Awaken

Notes

• transcript: now+day i wake-up plan official #back in #stock. ready start thinking-deeply new year? feel itchy waiting rolling-up-sleeves [] (its translated as 'tackle') your goal? want [] (looks like win) start holiday shopping and [](translated as 'ditch') big #corp you want prefer [] shop smaller deaf woman #bipoc own business? come, now+day i wake-up store now open again ready for year 2026. inform-you-all, less (mouthed 'limited') time, less( mouthed 'limited') things (mouthed 'supply') start now through #nov, #dec, #jan month [] (looks like tying a knot) shop close, #unless plan all-gone first. i no-way #restock until next year. wait_no. make ix-here year #the year you feel [] (translated as aligned) with your life.
• 'Plan' is used as 'planner'
• this business variation is interesting
• the mouthings on limited and supply is also quite interesting
• curious to find out the tie-up-know sign used to indicate like 'shops wrapped up'
• fingerspelled 'the' !!

Vocab

• Attention
• Planner
• Official
• Goal
• Corporation

I had to focus on a job application and LPSL things for the past couple days. But I'm back and cracking on.

First Lecture

031 ASL American Sign Language Vocabulary Expansion Series Dr Bill & Alex

Notes

• Tornado i like Twirl, t the fingers move together, and the NMM is different. It has an alternate with an inversed A-hand
• One version of ballet is like twirl, but moves up and down. A lower context version is Dance+Twirl-upwards. The same sign can mean smoothie
• Similar with figure skating, can add the twirl to imply its
• God, strawberry has so many versions. I was kinda desperate to find what the Manitoba version was so I found this Eat Your Colours. It's an L-hand doing like, some file thing on an upturned b base. The same video has a pumpkin variation with a B flapping wildly at the mustache area. same video has a pumpkin variation with a B flapping wildly at the mustache area.
• Binder as in stationary can be BOOK + two contacts of feminine interest to imply the rings

Vocab

• Twirl
• Travel-Whirlwind
• Tornado
• Ballet
• Skating
• Figure Skating
• Smoothie
• Europe
• Strawberry
• Cherry
• Donkey
• Binder
• Chance
• Bet
• Telepathy
• Shared-Understanding
• Empathy
• Backpack
• Lose/Fail

First Video

"There's a lot of noise around SpaceX going public."

Notes

• pin-drop, ix #SPACE-X, one of largest-em [?] CO in world ix value around 800 billion dollars, [?] move-ahead, #ipo. #initialPublicOffering meaning private CO keep-inside_no, now buy money-reserves

Second Video

Deaf Education Certificate Advertisement

Notes

• Large variation; note c hand starts with po self, announce has a similar modification-- likely because the signer's vertical. same lady does a very palm oriented outwards version of do
• In-person is just face-to-face
• 'three options' presented as index with three paths (B hand travels up each option)
• sign glossed as 'prepare' looks like plan
• revoked/expired license can be signed as license + one L moving down
• note this gloss: get license same teacher of deaf, could be an SEEism, unsure.
• add variation with Ss instead of flat Es
• CLASS glossed as 'coursework' -- i think its just a translation thing. the original text was 'there's a little more in-person coursework,' the signer signed 'more face-to-face class'

Vocab

• Degree
• Darn-it
• In-person
• Boston
• Prepare
• License
• Leadership
• Research

Today we're going to go through some content from Vicars.

Earlier today, I watched a couple of videos on FB Reels.

Two that stick out were both from Atomic Hands.

First Video

The Hubble Telescope

Notes:

• Conceptualizing the ideas of East Coast-West Coast America.
• Note the different sign used for 'takes pictures of' since it's a satelite (flat O)
• This signer emphasizes STILL by signing it downwards rapidly.

Vocab

• Telescope
• Space
• Galaxy

Second Video

Fingerprints

Notes:

• MATCH as in the interlocking one, used to indicate that an almost exact matchp
• Lots of ways the signer suggests ideas about grip and friction

Vocab

• Fingerprints
• Identical
• Sweat

First Lecture

I figured I would do some Vicars today. Starting off with St. Patrick's Day (ASL vocabulary), posted 9 months ago.

Notes

• Lettuce in context: Cabbage
• Beef can be fingerspelled
• Feast: lots of moku
• movement often reduces for compounds.
• International sign for ireland has a variation where it's like a harp being played
• australia old sign used to look like ireland
• kidnap/seize, signed with a full grabbing S-hand, while the V-hand can also be used for recuiting. trafficking puts this idea underground (a nondominant flat hand)
• the leprechaun sign is like big elf ears, can actually conflict with the concept of 'elf', in which case an initialized version of 'Angel' can be used.
• "Good luck" could be signed with the signed for 'lucky' but it's more idiomatic to fingespell luck with the same gusto that you would sign initialized BACK.
• March fingerspelled gets a mutated c-h, and sometimes the m is also mutated.
• Pirate is also the sign for 'raiders'
• can do rainbow one-handed by glistening the five-hand a bit.
• signing a 'pot of gold,' you should indicate that the pot is full of something (lest you imply that it's a pot made out of gold)
• Rebel is upright, resist, is more like pushing something that's directly in front of you (pushing on you, even)

Vocab

• St Patrick's Day
• Bar
• Lettuce
• Corn
• England
• Conflicts
• Ireland/Iowa
• Ireland (International)
• Potato
• Mashed Potato
• Garlic
• Bacon
• Dimwit
• Australia
• Kidnap
• Human Trafficking
• Leprechaun
• Conservative
• Liberal
• Republican
• Democrat
• Belt
• Lucky
• Honeymoon
• Mischevious
• Pirate
• Rebel
• Resist
• Fake
• Sheep
• Pie
• Snake
• Alcohol

Third Video

By MJ Grant on FB Reels, Who doesn't love to wake-up happy?

Really need to get better at one-handed signing reception. I'm very bad at it.

Notes

• Her 'embarrassed' looks a lot like LPSL kulupu- not as much up and down/at and angle as what Joanna's Embarassed on Handspeak.
• In the sentence, '#TAYLOR SWIFT SING+agent IX ME FAN ME LOVE #HER', the 'her' really sneaks up on you. Why fingerspell in this moment? Curious behind the grammatical reasons.
• One handed CHAMP...
• Unsure how the R-hand thrusted to show a promise, mouthing 'Best Friends' is glossed.
• Ok so in another sentence, MJ does 'AND #SHE SIGNING". I think the fingerspelled pronoun is a form of emphasis!
• She fingerspells upset
• Forcing yourself back to sleep
• Day dreaming/lost in thought is like VISION many times

Vocab

• Embarrassing

• Singer

• Ruminate

First Video

By Atomic Hands on FB Reels, Halloween Balloon Experiment

Notes

• Note that the signer does experiment's initialisation a claw.
• 'Some' conceptually translated as 'other'
• 'Pour' as in 'pour just a little bit' uses G for smallness
• Baking Soda is fingerspelled here
• MELON AND SPIRIT + mouthings and context = PUMPKIN AND GHOST
• Chemical reaction, signed as Chemistry + some kind of two pointers crossing as in a intersection. PO self.
• CO2 signed as CO + the hand lowers to sign 2 (PO out, not self, oddly)
• Penultimate sentence has a thing like see-good? Can't identify it

Vocab

• Balloon
• Experiment
• Cup (Measurement)
• Vinegar
• Tablespoon
• Melon

Second Video

By Deafpoetrylovers on FB Reels, One-Word Collaborative Poetry

Notes

• Well-known signed as #well+KNOW
• Compile/Distill is conceptualized as ABBREVIATE
• Kindness conceptualized as Heart Touch + Progress?? No. It's just a two part sign.
• Never seen this version of flexible, but it does kinda look like 'weak' and the more general flexible has a baby?
• This version of 'film' also is a mix of the two variations presented on Handspeak
• 'Performance' here is also something that I've never seen before. It kinda looks like it combines several other concepts to convey a certain kind of awe? Unsure if those are eyes watching?
• Fascinating. The artist who compiles all of these signs into a narrative form opts to use more traditional forms of 'Performance' and 'Film.' She also changes the initialized VALUE to CHERISH.
• HA! I totally missed the note in the bottom that says 'You may see them using different sign languages because they come from different countries.' Well, good to know that flexible, film, and performance are likely not signed that way in ASL

Vocab

• Poetry
• Kindness
• Value
• Inspiration

Third Video

By Deaf LEAD on FB Reels, Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Notes

• Domestic Violence is abbreviated to DV
• Emotions signed here with palms oriented to each other.
• Survivor signed as LIFE+AGENT
• 0:26 has a sign that maps onto 'grow', or 'increase,' or 'build-up'. Two U hands tapped a little bit like chair, moving upwards.
• The same signer signs 'cause' as something that looks like 'EXPRESS' to me. Looks like I didn't know CAUSE before. I expected it to look something like because. Toki Pona brain.
• 'Let's break' as in 'let's break the silence' as push down, relegate.
• 24/7 signed as 24 SLASH 7. Slash is a B mimicking the slash down.

Vocab

• Anxiety
• Trauma
• Deserve

Interlude

I watched way more than three videos. The session went for about an hour, ready to take a break now.

I suppose it's time to focus.

I'm going to try to learn ASL, with the intention of being proficient enough to start interpreter school in September. So, about nine months away.

I technically meet the interpreting school's entrance requirements already. However, I don't really feel confident at all. So I'm embarking on a learning journey.

In addition to the studying I do here, I'm going to be attending a weekly 3-hour-long in-person ASL class. Perhaps this blog-within-a-blog-within-a-blog will also house notes from that class.

My Current Language Level

I used to have a bigger vocabulary, but it has since deteriorated. I used to have better signing skills, but they have since deteriorated. I used to have better reception skills, but that too has deteriorated.

I'm forced to rely on fingerspelling. I misuse some ASL signs due to the habits I've picked up in LPSL. And my reception is very, very poor, in nearly every aspect. My fingerspelling reception is also bad.

So the situation is not looking good right now and there is genuine cause for me to be urgent about regaining skills and progressing on my own.

Past, Present, Future

• I first started learning basic ASL from YouTube videos in 2017.
• I enrolled in my first classes in 2021 with the community ASL school. They were all virtual.
  • Spring 2021: ASL 101 (Teacher: CD)
  • Fall 2021: ASL 102 (Teacher: AC)
  • Winter 2022: ASL 103 (Teacher: MW)
  • Spring 2022: ASL 201 (Teacher: AM)
• Around 2021, I learned LPSL and started to teach it to the Toki Pona community.
• 2022-Present, I sought out Deaf people/events probably not more than a dozen times
• 2022-Present, I continue to sign in LPSL on a highly regular basis.
• Presently studying the language more seriously
• Winter 2026, I plan to take ASL 2
• Spring 2026, I plan to take ASL 3
• Summer 2026, I plan to participate in a week-long ASL immersion camp
• Fall 2026, I will potentially enter into the interpreting program
• Winter 2029, I will potentially graduate from the interpreting program

Areas to Focus On

• Vocabulary Building
• Reception Practice
• Courage to go to Deaf events
• Courage to practice in the ASL Discord

I'm going to reserve goal-setting for future reflection sessions. For now, I think I'm going to sit back and just see how I approach learning and integrating this blog into my learning. Most likely, this will take the form of me logging exactly what sources I watch, and exactly what I take from each source. I will set a modest time goal of 10 hours for next week to spend on ASL specifically. We'll see how that goes, and set goals a week from now!