Mexico has it's own sign language, that we are learning now.
There are some similarities. The alphabet is pretty much the same. But there are glaring differences too.
For example, once I was trying to converse with a deaf woman of Mexico when she asked me in what I thought was ASL
"You, lesbian?" to which I was shocked and confused.
NO! I signed.
She looked at me again and signed "You, America?"
Uh, yes . . . And I asked her to spell out what - to me - was the sign for lesbian.
She spelled out i.n.g.l.e.s. (that's Spanish for "English")
The ASL sign for lesbian is the MSL sign for English.
Yeah, just in case anyone asks you where your from.
7 comments:
That is hilarious!
Ha ha ha ha!
What a funny story, I can totally relate. Being from Ireland and being a missionary in Spain we make language "blunders" all the time!!! A sense of humor is a great thing! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Thanks for the heads-up. Here, the sign for "I like" and "I need to go to the bathroom" are incredibly similar. I wonder of the deaf go home after Church and just LAUGH!
R
OH MY WORD!!!! That is going right up there with Chaotic mom's - home sign for Bob the Builder-- ASK HER!
Snort!
Oh, no! Heather knows that story! I'll have to fill you in on that, Michelle. VERY funny home sign I taught him, or not, really. ;)
I will never, EVER forget this story. HILARIOUS!
Hey, Harris Communications has a translator for you. ;)
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