My journey into ASL continues. I’ve been reading Oliver Sacks _Seeing Voices_ and Harlan Lane, Robert Hoffmeister, and Ben Bahan’s _A Journey into the DEAF-WORLD_. In short, learning a language in your thirties is a whole different ballgame than learning as a toddler. There are a few different brain plasticity cliffs you drop off especially at around age 6 and again at age 12.
And I’m completely OK with this. I don’t expect to ever get confused for a native signer, which is fine with me. I do expect, however, to become a better communicator–to develop sufficient skill to be clearly understood in ASL. I prefer to think of it like someone with a suave British accent in America. You’d never mistake them for a native and yet they are a joy to converse with. In the right circumstances, they can even grab your attention moreso than someone with a native accent.
This can only do good things for my spoken communication skills as well. It’s a lot like acting classes in some respects, which is a marked departure from my normally taciturn personality. This is encouraging me to quit holding everything inside quite so much, with encouraging results. If you see me walking a little taller, speaking a bit more emphatically, or better conveying emotion to get my point across, now you know what’s behind that. -m