God bless the alphabet. There have been a time or two where I was trying to sign whatever I said that day. I can't tell you how many times I had to spell it out. Do you suppose the differences between ASL and SE would be easily figured out as long as you know the alphabet? I'm going to have to look into both of them and see what the main differences are.
From my personal experience, I would say yes the differences are easy to figure out. I say this because my mother in law went to one of the first private deaf school in the nation, yes it was a boarding school and her training was more formal. My father in law went to one of the first public schools for people considered "deaf and dumb" (yes this was years and years ago). Bottom line they were taught differently, actually my mother in law graduated high school and my father in law dropped out in 6th grade. They were able to communicate perfectly. Of course, we all jumped in to finger spell in conversations all the time! So, I hear you about the importance of the alphabet!
you can't live with someone and not develop a private "code". My husband and I have all sorts of personal jokes, and indications that we are not being completely honest, so the other should NOT jump in and correct them. I could only imagine the possibilities of a code between 2 people signing. My husband likes for me to tell him what different signs are here and there.Just from those rare moments we have our own meanings to some of them.
Aha. You hit on an area of sign language that I often think about and that is the subject of intimacy. Of course, you would know that I think it is super cool you share this with your husband, as it is a special connection I have with my husband, too. Taking this is a step further outside family dynamics, I would like to share another special bond that had this level of intimacy that I doubt I will ever experience again. I believe, this individual deserves a special place of honor in this thread. Her name was Arvilla. Arvialla was similar to Helen Keller. She lived in a group home for the developmentally disabled and I had the privilege of interacting with her on a daily basis in an educational setting, At the time, she was in her sixties. Many people thought she was a threat because she would become violent when approached unexpectedly. The truth in the matter was this was merely her instincts to protect her immediate surroundings (personal space). What I learned was the importance to let Arvilla know who you were upon greeting her to allow her to know that you were not a threat. She gave me her own personal sign for my name. Yep, she was so clever! You might wonder how she could see or understand sign language. Well, she had a gift to feel the signs. And boy, did she have quite the vocabulary! One of my favorite activities was also communicating with Arvialla through braille. We would both learn new words everyday. I have to admit, it was a special thrill when she would ask me to learn a new word. I think, one of the key things that helped us to facilitate this interaction was to also use the physical objects, too. Such as, a chair, a book, etc. When I got pregnant with my second child, I had to step away from this experience. It sadden me greatly, but the memories of this experience enriching my life is something that I will always treasure. I think, this is another example of how we have come a long way from judging people with disabilities to be less intelligent. It is so far from the truth!
Thats a wonderful story!! I love hearings about these things. It helps to cheer me up when everything else is bringing me down. I'm turning cynical so its nice to read something like this to soften me up.
When I taught kindergarten, the education "overlords" at the time, said students must be taught a second language. It didn't matter what language was taught. So another teacher and I taught concept sign language. The students liked it and some of them used it at home.