laura needs to practice!!

[caffinatedloz]

Not sure if this is a silly question, but what's the most difficult part about learning this?

Not a silly question at all. I think that the biggest thing is trying to do it in a way that is respectful of Deaf culture. Auslan is its own language with its own grammar and there are certain things that are and aren't considered appropriate when signing. Some people in the Deaf community find song covers frustrating as they are often done by hearing people who have very little understanding of Deaf history or culture. I want to do it in a way that honours Auslan and doesn't make the Deaf community feel disrespected. (I also made sure that I had a basic level of Auslan proficiency and awareness of Deaf culture before I started filming and posting things.)

I'm not really sure if this makes sense. Sorry if it's a bit of a ramble.

[Joseph41]

Not a silly question at all. I think that the biggest thing is trying to do it in a way that is respectful of Deaf culture. Auslan is its own language with its own grammar and there are certain things that are and aren't considered appropriate when signing. Some people in the Deaf community find song covers frustrating as they are often done by hearing people who have very little understanding of Deaf history or culture. I want to do it in a way that honours Auslan and doesn't make the Deaf community feel disrespected. (I also made sure that I had a basic level of Auslan proficiency and awareness of Deaf culture before I started filming and posting things.)

I'm not really sure if this makes sense. Sorry if it's a bit of a ramble.

Brilliant. Yeah that absolutely makes sense. How do you go about learning grammar etc. (apologies if covered already)?

[caffinatedloz]

Brilliant. Yeah that absolutely makes sense. How do you go about learning grammar etc. (apologies if covered already)?

I learnt Auslan through community classes, and so as soon as we were learning signs, we were learning the proper way to construct sentences. Some of the major grammatical differences in Auslan are the way that many joining words aren't used (is, a, the, an ect.), the word order (today shop go instead of I'm going to the shops today), and the lack of tenses (danced/dance/will dance is all the same word).

I still don't really understand the grammar rules, but generally, while I'm signing I do what feels right and follow the sentence construction of whoever I'm talking to.

[Joseph41]

I learnt Auslan through community classes, and so as soon as we were learning signs, we were learning the proper way to construct sentences. Some of the major grammatical differences in Auslan are the way that many joining words aren't used (is, a, the, an ect.), the word order (today shop go instead of I'm going to the shops today), and the lack of tenses (danced/dance/will dance is all the same word).

I still don't really understand the grammar rules, but generally, while I'm signing I do what feels right and follow the sentence construction of whoever I'm talking to.

It really is a fascinating language (as are all languages!). Thanks so much for sharing this thread. Always enjoy it!

EDIT: Touched on Auslan slightly through my Linguistics degree, found it interesting then, too.

[Owlbird83]

What made you decide to start learning Auslan? I was taught Auslan from grade prep to 2, but then my primary school stopped it, I only remember the alphabet and a few random signs.
It's such a unique skill! Do you have others around who you practice with? Well done on your progress so far!! 

[caffinatedloz]

What made you decide to start learning Auslan? I was taught Auslan from grade prep to 2, but then my primary school stopped it, I only remember the alphabet and a few random signs.
It's such a unique skill! Do you have others around who you practice with? Well done on your progress so far!! 

I went along to the Auslan group at my local library after teaching myself to fingerspell, and they recommended some community classes. I signed up and fell in love with the language. My teacher, Gaz, was incredible and so were all the people in the class. We decided to continue working through the levels together and formed a strong bond. I still meet with them regularly to practice. There are other community groups that meet regularly and practice, so I often go along to those. I also sign with one little gem I work with and use some key signs with others, so it comes in handy and that keeps it fresh.

Such a shame to hear your school stopped teaching it. 

[caffinatedloz]

Monday: 15 minutes

Tuesday: 5 minutes

Wednesday: 0 minutes

Thursday: 0 minutes

Friday: 0 minutes

Saturday: 5 minutes

Sunday: 20 minutes

[Ionic Doc]

Monday: 15 minutes

Tuesday: 5 minutes

Wednesday: 0 minutes

Thursday: 0 minutes

it's been really cool watching your vid.
I've never actually payed attention auslan or any sign language but i think it's a useful skill to have.

my school has an auslan group in the library which does free sessions every second day.

i might go to one some day, i think it would also be beneficial for a field in medicine when communicating with individuals who are unable to hear

great job btw keep going 

Friday: 0 minutes

Saturday: 5 minutes

Sunday: 20 minutes

it's actually really cool watching you

I've never really seen anyone do this,  so it's a new topic for me and  it looks really cool

if only my school or library offered it . . .

I think it would be a great skill to have in the future, espicially for one hoping to work in the health sector

good job btw keep going  ;)

[caffinatedloz]

Practice This Week:
Mon: 30
Tues: 5
Wed: 25
Thur: 0
Fri: 0
Sat: 5
Sun: 20

A Cover:

[caffinatedloz]

        
Mon: 0
Tues: 0
Wed: 0
Thur: 0
Fri: 0
Sat: 5
Sun: 0
        

Unfortunately, I was busy and tired this week. However, I am aiming to really pick it up this week. There is a community group of signers meeting next Sunday. Please yell at me if I don't go.

I filmed this last week. It is quite different to what I've done in the past.

[caffinatedloz]

I have not been using my auslan nearly as much as I should.

However, last weekend I had two really great experiences which have shown me just how useful having auslan can be. Firstly, when I was working with a deaf girl on Saturday we were able to sign the names of all of the animals we saw at the farm which she really enjoyed! Secondly, when I was helping out at a festival on Sunday, there was a lady there with her interpreter. Being able to have a conversation with her one-on-one was really wonderful!

I should definitely be doing more, but I think that this pause may continue a little until after exams are over. Summer is always a good time to pick up an old hobby.

[caffinatedloz]

I had heaps of practice today. An hour and a half of conversation after using sign language with a little friend I work with all day.

[caffinatedloz]

Someone yell at me! I haven't done any auslan since I last posted. I just don't even know where to practise anymore, because all of the groups I was in have kind of dissolved after classes finished for good. There are two local community groups, but both are full of retired people who speak fluent auslan and I just feel left behind.

At the minute, the only signing I do is key signing at work.

My mum knows some auslan, so I was thinking about forcing her to practise with me but she's not keen.

Things are not going well.

[Bri MT]

Someone yell at me! I haven't done any auslan since I last posted. I just don't even know where to practise anymore, because all of the groups I was in have kind of dissolved after classes finished for good. There are two local community groups, but both are full of retired people who speak fluent auslan and I just feel left behind.

At the minute, the only signing I do is key signing at work.

My mum knows some auslan, so I was thinking about forcing her to practise with me but she's not keen.

Things are not going well.

If you're the least skilled person in the room it'll probably be very uncomfortable initially but you'd probably learn fast?

Would you be able to find an internet group and do video based practice?

[caffinatedloz]

If you're the least skilled person in the room it'll probably be very uncomfortable initially but you'd probably learn fast?

Would you be able to find an internet group and do video based practice?

I have treid to go to these groups in the community a fair bit, but I often find that I don't learn fast, I just don't learn anything. A lot of the conversation is about specific people in the Deaf community and I don't know enough about the culture to understand it, even if they sign slowly. I know that there's a school super close to me that offers auslan, so I'd love to somehow connect with students from there, but they had the same issue at the community group and so stopped coming.

An online group could be the way to go! I'll have to keep my eye out on all of the auslan facebook pages!