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Why do some TV broadcasts show a person translating it to sign language instead of using subtitles? (lemm.ee)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I assume there must be a reason why sign language is superior but I genuinely don't know why.

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 9 months ago (13 children)

American sign language is not a gesture based form of English. It is an entire language in its own right, with its own distinct grammar and vocabulary.

To someone deaf from birth, sign language is their native language. And it is much more comfortable to quickly read your native language than a second language.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago (12 children)

This raises more questions than it answers, like how do the deaf from birth function in society at all if they struggle with other languages besides sign language. How do they get a job, go to school, learn new skills, read the news, text people? What do they do in their leisure if not watching subtitles movies or reading books? Many non-english speakers end up learning English anyway because of just how pervasive it is.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Think about written English: it's phonetic.

How do you learn to RECOGNIZE A WRITTEN WORD when you don't know what it sounds like, let alone what the letters mean. Or becomes a matter of a hundred thousand different symbols, recognized as a unit, removed from the auditory context.

I can't imagine how any deaf person learns to read, to be honest . It's an astounding feat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Don't you just recognize the sequences? There are plenty of non phonic languages, you just recognize patterns instead of sounds.

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