People who mumble in Sign Language. :)

I can't come up with a better phrase!

You know people who mumble. With their voice.

The same thing can happen... with signs.

Especially fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is the act of S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G a word using signs for each letter.

In ASL, this is happening on average once every 10-15 signs.

Whether the sign doesn't exist for a certain concept (or is unknown to the signer), or the sign does exist, but you want to I-N-S-I-S-T on something, therefore... you spell it!

(Usually, your facial expression will give additional clues. You rarely keep a poker face when you use Sign Language! ).

As the name suggests, contrary to other signs which the entire hand, and sometimes both hands have to move and therefore taking a certain time, fingerspelling means that *only* fingers are moving. Your "main" hand doesn't move. Only the fingers are dancing, with grace and at amazing speed.

As someone who is learning ASL, this stretch my receptive skills to the max. The mind has to rev up at insane speed to identify on the fly each fingerspelled letter. Visually, I see "in my mind" letters lining up one letter at a time on a buffer til a complete word appears.

If you are fluent in ASL, proper etiquette requires that you shouldn't even stare at the hand of the signer. You should continue to maintain eye contact with the signer, and use your peripheral vision to decode hand signs.

Try that!

Now... this would be all fine, if... IF...

The person takes the time to sign well formed letters.

Since it takes a lot of time to spell every letter of a word, signers would just whiz at letters without taking the time to do well formed letters.

For instance, letters A, S and T are extremely similar. All fingers closed, except for the thumb, which would be standing up next to the index for letter "A", or standing over the index and major for letter "S" or squarely standing between the index and major for the letter "T".

Letter "U" and "V" are extremely similar. The index and major are up. If they are close next to the other, it's the letter "U", if they are open, sometimes the sign we hearing people use for "Victory", as during WW2, the letter "V". Sometimes it's not that obvious.

Mumbling. :)

Thankfully, since I watch vlogs (video blogs), I can play the video as much as I want. I can slow down, play one image frame at the time. Even there, I'm not always sure which letter is being signed. Sometimes it's a sign done half-way for 3-4 different letters.

(However in person, there's a limit to ask a person to repeat again and again!!!)

So in my mind, I have to *visualize* letters that have been signed and to reconstruct the word by filling up the blanks.

And you have just a fraction of a second to figure out the fingerspelled word, because more ASL signs are on their way. Wheeeeee!!!

At Deaf Read, I've been reading some deaf blogs about fingerspellings. It's kind of reassuring to know that even deaf people who are learning ASL... are also struggling with their fingerspellings.

Somehow, I fear that being a hearing person could have been a big handicap! :)

Ooookay...

My turn! If you have some rusty notions of fingerspelling, here's the link to ASLPro's fingerspelling quizz. Try only 5 words at a time, and at slow speed.

GOOD LUCK!

So far I'm doing almost a perfect score at medium speed. (For the fun of it, give it a try! You'll see the difference with slow speed). You'll see where I am. Try to beat me! :)

And then see the fast speed. This is where I should be. Insane, isn't it? :)

Also, keep in mind that these signs are well formed and in "staccato". In other words (signs? :) ), this is fingerspellng done in an *ideal* environment. In reality, people never fingerspell that way. :)

There are transitions from one letter to the other, so fingers have to move to their final position for signing a letter and then moving again for the next letter, which isn't always easy to decode.

Also you have to clue the reader, whether there are consecutive letters, and sometimes you just have no idea whether clues have been sent at all.

That being said, I'm enjoying immensely learning ASL. This is not a chore, and often I'm giggling. Whether at a new sign that seems very creative... or squarely laughing at my own mistakes. :)

Cheers!

-E