Bridging the Gap Between the Hearing & Deaf Worlds
If there is one thing that many newspaper do, is to grab attention at whatever the cost. Unfortunately, the ‘lip reading experts’ headline tends to attract a lot of attention. But at the same time, it damages the perception of what lip reading is.
Learn more about the problem with “lipreading expert headlines” here
It’s not often that I watch an advert for a movie and TV series that grabs my attention and makes me want to watch it…especially when that main reason is how they have done their captioning in their advert.
But that’s what the French-based Netflix series, Lupin, did. And I was hooked. Whilst watching it, I was also particularly impressed with a specific way they have done their translated subtitles in English in a specific scene.
Learn why I was impressed with ‘Lupin’ and their subtitles here
As much as I love languages, I have mentioned previously about how I’m never learning oral languages again. But I’ve still got some stories to share about my experiences of learning them, like the one time I was learning French in high school.
Even though I managed to get through, it wasn’t without its unique challenges that comes with listening to other people speaking in French. And that became a problem during exam times.
As someone who loves languages and has learn to speak a few in various fluency levels, I have decided that I am never going to learn oral languages again. This is primarily because of the challenges of learning them as a deaf person.
It’s a huge shame that I fully agree with the concept of learning languages to everyone as it has opened my mind to many parts of the world, people and culture.
It’s the battle between sign language vs oral/spoken language; which one is better? Which one is more important? I outline what both sides have over the other and who will the battle of languages.
Both sides have their own strengths and weaknesses. But which will have the upper hand?
Because of a (yet another) resurgence of worrying sign language videos taught incorrectly, this is an important video for everyone to learn why you should learn sign language from deaf people.
This is especially important if you want to be as fluent, natural and authentic as possible when signing…which is something I imagine you would like to be. In this video, you will learn various reasons why it’s so important to learn sign language from deaf people.
This post is a “deaf review” of ‘Sound of Metal’; meaning that I have reviewed the film from a deaf perspective and how deafness was portrayed throughout the film.
I go through the various aspects of the film; what I thought about Riz Ahmed’s performance, how accurate (or inaccurate) were certain scenes, is it relatable…so many things that mainly focuses from my deaf perspective.
The question ‘which sign language should I learn first?’ is a common one for those who wants to go on that journey of learning it. And that is great.
By asking that question, it is hoped that you are looking to learn sign language for the right reason (communicate with deaf people) and not for social klouts like attention and because “it looks pretty”.
This post will help guide the way for you.
There has forever been an ongoing trend by hearing people to demand a universal sign language (yet you never see sign language users say the same thing…hmmm). It is never too long before one sees comments on social media about “why is there no universal sign language”.
But even for me, as someone who is learning sign language, I have my own thoughts around this trend. And it’s an uncomfortable one.
