What is excellence in American Sign Language (ASL)?
While a student at Gallaudet University, I studied Sign Language Translation for the Deaf Audience under Theatre Professor Gilbert Eastman. His classroom was in the backstage in the Elstad Auditorium, and I could still remember the first class with him.
Professor Gil (his name sign--G with palm down tapping on chin twice--made us go by his first name!) lectured that Shakespeare had been translated into different languages around the world. He passed around several pictures of Shakespearean plays from different theatres. There was one picture that is colorful and Japanese, so different from Renaissance England, and Professor Gil pointed out that since Shakespeare is translated into the Japanese language, it undergoes culture change.
Professor Gil likened the translation of Shakespeare into the Japanese culture to that into the culture of ASL. He had my class translate several monologues into ASL and challenged us not to leave out original and underlying messages.
One of the assignments for his course was to study the video of Robert Frost's "The Silken Tent" (google this) performed by the National Theater of the Deaf (NTD). We could see ASL translation and interpretation that is working. The rhyme scheme in The Silken Tent is well suited to ASL because ASL has rhyming hand configurations and they have more flexibility with respect to where thematic breaks occur.
All in all, excellence in ASL means achieving a rich metaphorical meaning--reflecting the process of translating between signed and spoken languages and interpreting between cultures these languages generate. Translating Shakespeare into ASL could offer a good workout both physically and intellectually.
With Aloha
Always From
Ka'lalau
While a student at Gallaudet University, I studied Sign Language Translation for the Deaf Audience under Theatre Professor Gilbert Eastman. His classroom was in the backstage in the Elstad Auditorium, and I could still remember the first class with him.
Professor Gil (his name sign--G with palm down tapping on chin twice--made us go by his first name!) lectured that Shakespeare had been translated into different languages around the world. He passed around several pictures of Shakespearean plays from different theatres. There was one picture that is colorful and Japanese, so different from Renaissance England, and Professor Gil pointed out that since Shakespeare is translated into the Japanese language, it undergoes culture change.
Professor Gil likened the translation of Shakespeare into the Japanese culture to that into the culture of ASL. He had my class translate several monologues into ASL and challenged us not to leave out original and underlying messages.
One of the assignments for his course was to study the video of Robert Frost's "The Silken Tent" (google this) performed by the National Theater of the Deaf (NTD). We could see ASL translation and interpretation that is working. The rhyme scheme in The Silken Tent is well suited to ASL because ASL has rhyming hand configurations and they have more flexibility with respect to where thematic breaks occur.
All in all, excellence in ASL means achieving a rich metaphorical meaning--reflecting the process of translating between signed and spoken languages and interpreting between cultures these languages generate. Translating Shakespeare into ASL could offer a good workout both physically and intellectually.
With Aloha
Always From
Ka'lalau
2 comments:
All in all, excellence in ASL means achieving a rich metaphorical meaning--reflecting the process of translating between signed and spoken languages and interpreting between cultures these languages generate. Translating Shakespeare into ASL could offer a good workout both physically and intellectually.
The same can be said for translating music lyrics into ASL.
I have 2 daughters with Joubert Syndrome. They do use some ASL when we can't understand what they are trying to say. They are 22 and 28 and mentally (2nd grade level) and physically challenged) I want to make a picture with their names done in hand life-size ASL signs to frame and hang in their room. Is there a site to do this? I found one site that tranlates the alphabet into ASL signs but the font is too small and is blurry when I try to cut & paste and enlarge it. Their names are: Nancy and Suzan. Thanks, Debbie
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