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Learn Holidays Signs | Learn American Sign Language | Nyle DiMarco [x]

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Oklahoma School for the Deaf has opened up FREE ASL COURSES for the Fall season this new school year and anybody can join. The courses close on December 31st of this year (2023) so if you've been thinking about learning ASL here is your opportunity to get professional lessons for FREE

If you're interested, here's the link: https://courses.osd.k12.ok.us/collections

This is a GOLDMINE for information because not only do you get free video lessons by professionals that you can do at your own pace, but there's also graded quizzes as well as resources to educate you on the history of Deaf culture as well as sub-communities within, with links to loads of different websites to read up on Deaf-related topics.

Since it's release about a week ago, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding this music video ultimately due to the fact that those people reporting on it didn't do their homework and check their translations/interpretations.  British sources initially became upset when they translated the word which was meant to say "valentine (person)" as "enemy", and the word "appear" as "tampon".  Now, were this the case, that would terribly embarrassing for everyone who helped work on the video, but instead it was an error on the part of the reporters, probably born of rushed conclusions and sloppy research. For help with the sign language Paul McCartney contacted his sources in Hollywood (to be specific: Hollywood, USA). Despite being from Britain, Paul McCartney used American Sign Language (ASL) in the music video not British Sign Language (BSL). Lo and behold, in light of this realization, knowledgeable viewers discovered that the words did mean "valentine" and "appear", not "enemy" and "tampon". (see definitions at aslpro)  The really sad part of the story is that the fact that those words are correct is totally lost in the host of media coverage about the "wrong" signs in the video, from both British and American reporting.

The media mess aside, I really liked the video. Overall it was really lovely and the black and white tone really brought out the "simple but elegant" element.  That being said, I couldn't help but feel that there was still something off about it. Upon a second viewing, I managed to discern the cause. During the video Natalie Portman wears a straight face and Johnny Depp is creepily impassive. Normally, this could be dismissed as an artistic/directorial decision, but circumstances are different where ASL is concerned. Now, I am by no means an authority on ASL, nor am I even close to fluent, but I know that facial expressions and other non-manual signs are an integral part of the language, necessary in some of the most basic sentence construction. As far as I can tell, what Portman and Depp are doing with their faces (rather, not doing) gives the signing a very heavy and very strange accent. 

I did a bit more research and found that the Deaf community had some very valid and unfortunately overlooked comments on the matter.  First, is that beyond the "incorrect signs" debacle, the signing in the video is not so hot.  The word choice may be questionable and the actors' ability to communicate those words is a far cry from the expressive gesturing and hand shapes of an experienced signer (which, actually, is understandable considering neither of the actors know ASL). This brings me to the second concern. If Portman and Depp are so bad at signing, why bother to go through the trouble of teaching them if the outcome is mediocre at best? There are lots of really talented Deaf actors out there, why not use them in the video instead? The answer to this, of course, is simply that any other actor would not be Johnny Depp or Natalie Portman. 

With all that in mind, the one thing left to consider is: was it worth it? The signing might be bad, the rumors may be false and the actors might have creepy blank expressions, but they did make a full ASL music video; one which is bound to get a ton of publicity. Even if the final product was rough around the edges, it was still a genuinely well-intended and even fairly successful attempt at promoting ASL and, by extension, the Deaf community at large. 

reblog if you think sign language should be taught as a language in schools.

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