All the Writings

The Apostrophe’s Place

April 24, 2018

Pondering Grammar

Do you see what I did in the title? There’s an apostrophe in the word apostrophe. It’s there for a particular purpose—in this case, to denote possession. I could also write this as ‘the place of the apostrophe’ as it would be said in some other languages like Spanish, but the apostrophe is a shortcut we Americans like to use. The problem of using an apostrophe comes when you put one in a word when you shouldn’t. Most commonly this is done when making a word plural.

Rule: Never* use an apostrophe to make a simple word plural!

An example: Mom’s and Dad’s work hard.

I shudder even writing that sentence. It should be: Moms and Dads work hard. All the unnecessary little apostrophes (see how I used it correctly there?) make me ever so slightly violent. I want to take a purple pen (because I don’t like red) and mark them all out. It’s actually funny that so many people add an apostrophe unnecessarily when our culture’s language seems to be going the way of reducing the number of letters and punctuation marks we use, especially in digital communication.

Apostrophes are used to show possession—Rose’s cat—or that a letter or letters have been removed from a word or words—that’s for that is, or ’til for until. People likely started overusing apostrophes because English grammar rules can be confusing and they feel over-correcting is better than under. I’m not sure I agree, though I have a struggle with commas. I tend to want to add them in places I feel warrant a pause, but then I look back and realize it’s too busy. I just want people to read what I write exactly as it sounds in my head!

I hope knowing this rule makes your life a little simpler, knowing you can actually leave out that apostrophe the majority of the time. Especially if you insist on leaving out half of your letters. Although, then you might need the apostrophe anyway, so just ignore all of this.

*There are a few exceptions, as with most grammar rules. https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/apostro.asp

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Educational Interpreting: Not Just a Rung on the Ladder

April 6, 2018

Tips from the Terp

It is rare for one to not only find her passion in the first year of college, but also to begin working in that field while still in college. During my practicum semester of my ITP, my placements were in education and religious settings where I found my niches without any real effort. I love educational interpreting, in part, simply because I love to learn and have that opportunity on a daily basis as an educational interpreter.

In fifteen years in this field, I’ve encountered some negative attitudes about educational interpreting that need to be addressed. The first is that educational interpreting is where you start out to improve your skills so you can go on to some other, better, interpreting work. The other is that educational interpreting is where you get stuck if you aren’t good enough to do other types of interpreting. These views have led to an unfavorable perspective of educational interpreting that is pervasive in the interpreting community—-that educational interpreting is lesser than other fields of interpreting.

New interpreters tend to start in educational interpreting because it is one of the few places they can get hired with a level I or II state certification and still work. They might be able to sign up with an agency but aren’t likely to get much work at that level. This is unfortunate because it’s led to the belief that educational interpreting is just a starting place, the first rung on the ladder to bigger and better assignments. But why is educational interpreting viewed in such a way?

There could be a number of reasons:
Some people just don’t really care to work with children. Additionally, districts with many deaf students may put an interpreter in a situation in which they aren’t comfortable, such as in special education with a severely disabled student, or with a student that doesn’t really sign much and the interpreter is simply backup for when the student misses something. In settings like this the interpreter’s skills can decline dramatically; though losing skills can be combated by remaining involved in the Deaf Community, working with a mentor, and/or doing supplemental interpreting work. Placements like these can make the interpreter feel superfluous. Working in a large district may mean that the interpreter doesn’t really have control of where they end up working. They may prefer working with younger children and end up in high school or vice versa. So while education is often seen as a good starting place, it can sometimes lead to the new interpreter leaving the job relatively quickly or leaving the field of interpreting due to more difficult content or situations than they expected.

Another reason for the negative view of educational interpreting is that many interpreters feel that educational interpreting is the dumping ground for inferior interpreters. Let’s be honest: many educational interpreters, especially those who have been in the field for twenty plus years, can’t pass their state certification. But does that mean they aren’t skilled? Not necessarily. State and national certifications don’t test what interpreters do in education and aren’t really a good measure of the skills needed for working with children or in an educational setting. The EIPA has somewhat filled that gap but doesn’t do enough to keep interpreters accountable for improving their skills or maintaining ethical practices. Some people just don’t test well or have severe test anxiety and so don’t do well on assessments, but they are perfectly fine when actually working. Test anxiety has prevented me from going for national certification and nearly prevented me from attaining a level 5 in my state certification, so I understand the difficulty. I continue to improve my skills by studying, attending workshops and learning new content for specific classes I interpret, as well as attending Deaf social events and interpreting at church. I’ve also recently taken the EIPA—still awaiting my results.

Educational interpreting is a specialized field and should be viewed and taught as such. The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) published a standard practice paper outlining some of the differences in expectations for educational interpreters, and at the state level, our ethical standards are beginning to reflect this as well. Educational interpreters have to interpret everything—from kindergarten phonics to Shakespeare to computer coding to Spanish to algebra to calculus—accurately enough for the student to learn the information and perform well on tests. This can’t be done without extensive work on the part of the interpreter. There’s the old mantra: ‘You can’t interpret what you don’t understand.’ You can skate by, and many educational interpreters do so, doing minimal prep work and faking their way through a class, but is that what Deaf students deserve? It could also be seen as unethical. The second tenet of the RID Code of Professional Conduct states: ‘Interpreters possess the professional skills and knowledge required for the specific interpreting situation.’ Tenet seven is also relevant: ‘Interpreters engage in professional development.’ Both of these should mean that the educational interpreter should always be learning specific content relevant to classes they interpret. Teachers are supposed to know their material and be able to effectively teach it. Shouldn’t educational interpreters be held to a similar standard?

Interpreter training programs have to cram a lot of information into a fairly short amount of time, and educational interpreting is usually just a very small part of a class that discusses a variety of special settings or it’s a class that primarily focuses on teaching Signing Exact English (SEE) as if that is all an interpreter needs to know to interpret in a classroom. My own program had an entire class on educational interpreting, but it was optional. That may be the best way to handle giving all special areas of interpreting the time they need. Most interpreting interns I work with seem to have a pretty good idea of what area of interpreting they want to work in, so having classes where they could delve further into their preferred areas would be beneficial.

There is a new organization called the National Association of Interpreters in Education (NAIE) that is working to support educational interpreters by providing relevant professional development and developing professional guidelines specifically addressing the unique aspects of educational interpreting. These can be found at http://naiedu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/NAIE-Professional-Standards-and-Guidelines-4.19.pdf.

There are certainly individuals who are in educational interpreting who shouldn’t be, others who are using educational interpreting as their jumping off point and still others who have been sidelined because they aren’t able to pass state or national certifications. Schools don’t help matters by hiring unqualified interpreters. How can the interpreting profession bring these interpreters along and help them improve their skills? Oklahoma has a law detailing minimum requirements for educational interpreters, but many states do not. In my opinion, Oklahoma’s requirements still are not good enough. The levels accepted still allow for a significant percentage of vital educational information to be lost by the interpreter, the lack of which will and does have a life-long impact on the Deaf child.

Students deserve to have the best education possible, but this requires communication access. Deaf students are often disadvantaged in several areas already: early language deprivation, being expected to learn two languages at the same time as trying to learn educational material, dealing with assistive technology, being pulled out of regular class for speech or other services. In addition, the Deaf student can have an interpreter who may be a benefit or a detriment to their education—and they, and their parents, may not know if there are better options available.

A good interpreter can be a good language model for a Deaf student. If no one at home signs, the interpreter may be the only language model they have, for both ASL and English. For this reason, it is vital that educational interpreters are skilled in both languages. Unfortunately, most parents are still guided by so-called professionals into using a signing system like Signing Exact English or Pidgin Signed English rather than introducing them to American Sign Language and setting the Deaf child up for success with an actual language. Because of this influence on parents, most Deaf children start school with very basic communication ability and educational interpreters usually end up following what the child has learned to sign at home and transliterating throughout their careers. The interpreter generally isn’t given a choice in the language mode used, but it is possible to introduce ASL features and concepts while transliterating. It does take practice and keeping up with ASL skills. This should be a part of every educational interpreter’s continuing education through conferences, workshops and interaction with the Deaf Community.

The way interpreters are viewed in the school setting by our colleagues – by teachers, by administrators and by other ‘support staff’ – can also influence how educational interpreters feel about their own field. We fall into an odd place in the hierarchy of the school district. Much depends upon how we are categorized as far as contract days, pay, etc. In my district, Edmond Public Schools (a large district with many students utilizing interpreters), we are grouped with support staff such as teacher’s assistants. This causes some confusion about what our role actually is and what we should be expected to do in certain settings, especially in special education classes.

When we are in regular classes, teachers are sometimes uncomfortable having another adult in the room who isn’t there to help them out by watching the class for a second or making copies, etc. This can be especially difficult with substitute teachers, who have little to no understanding of the interpreter’s role. We’re called the ‘signer’ or the ‘sign language person.’ We’re asked, ‘Oh, you help so-and-so, right?’ That word ‘help’ is part of the problem; it lends credence to the idea that we’re teacher’s aides with a few extra skills. That is so far from the truth and is compounded when the school doesn’t recognize the difference between a teacher’s assistant who knows sign language and a certified sign language interpreter. This is why educational interpreters shouldn’t be grouped with teacher’s assistants. In reality, we should be categorized as student service providers just as occupational and physical therapists and speech pathologists are. We spend more time with the students, but the service we provide and our level of education, including degrees, certifications and training, are more in line with those fields. Our training and certification requirements should be recognized.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to educate the entire staff of a district about the role of interpreters in education, what we do and what should and should not be expected of us. It is also difficult to change the ingrained views and policies of a district. Perhaps the best we can do is try to educate in whatever school we are in with the teacher and administration we currently work with.

It may be an entirely new idea to educators and other interpreters to treat educational interpreting as a specialized field requiring specialized skills. The way educational interpreters are viewed and treated can vary from state to state and district to district. Educating our teachers and administrators about our field and ensuring they understand and respect our expertise will take time and patience. It is important to build a respected view of educational interpreting, both within educational institutions and the interpreting community, and bring those who need help up to a level to provide Deaf students with the services they deserve, and to which they have a right.

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My Year of Headcovering

February 12, 2018

Unashamed Faith

This one’s personal, y’all, and it’s long. A year ago, on Good Friday, I decided to start wearing a head covering every day. I’d like to share what led me to this decision and what I’ve learned.

You may not be aware, as I was only peripherally, that there are a number of Christian denominations and sects in which the women wear some form of head covering—Amish, Mennonite, Catholic, even some Reformed, to name a few.

I’ve always enjoyed wearing scarves and bandanas in my hair, but what brought head covering as a Christian woman to my attention was this episode of Sheologians. Now, head covering wasn’t the topic of the entire show, but it piqued my interest, so I decided to start researching. I read 1 Corinthians 11 a number of times and Googled ‘head covering Christian women,’ trying to find a wide variety of results because, to my surprise, there’s a lot of contention and disagreement about the subject. I’m not going to go into all of the arguments. If you’re interested in head covering, look at 1 Corinthians 11.1-16 and the articles linked and do some research of your own.

1 Corinthians 11.1-16:

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for a covering. But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God. – NASB

This is the one passage in Scripture that speaks of head covering. I know it’s a big chunk of text, but it’s important we not rip a passage out of context and say, ‘This is how it should be,’ because this is the only passage in the New Testament where head covering is mentioned as a practice in the church. Jewish women covered their heads, as do and have many cultures throughout history, including American women. In fact, up until the 1960s, most women in the United States wore hats of some kind any time they were in public. It was with the feminist movement that many stopped the practice.

I found a number of articles and websites regarding head covering. The Head Covering Movement is a group that is trying to bring head covering back as a regular practice in the Christian church. Some articles gave reasons why we need not wear head coverings today, while others presented myths about Christian head covering. This article concludes that head covering should be done only if one feels the personal conviction to do so. And this one, which I found particularly helpful, breaks down many of the different views on head covering–views both for and against. This article had the greatest impact on me, though. Because I wasn’t one hundred percent certain about head covering, an experiment seemed like the best way to approach it.

So, on Good Friday 2017, I donned a scarf as a deliberate head cover for the first time, for the entire day, work and all. I was in the process of growing out my hair from a pixie cut (separate decision), so I didn’t have a lot of hair to attach the scarf to and I had a lot of struggle keeping them in place. You can buy velvet headbands and shapers to wear under your cover, but I wasn’t sure enough to spend the money. I still haven’t bought any and I often have to fix my head cover partway through the day.

This was Easter Sunday, the first Sunday I wore a cover. I used a scarf I’d gotten in Latvia on the Singing ChurchWomen mission trip the previous year.

I have acquired a number of tube scarves and more regular scarves and have experimented with them. I also wear bandanas and small chiffon scarves.

From church: (This scarf was given to me by a friend. She got it in Israel.)

To dog bathing:

Fun scarves:

To more subtle ones for work:

When I’d been covering for a few weeks, a lady at my church approached me and asked about it. It turned out that she’d been covering for years. I had noticed her scarves, but hadn’t worked myself up to approach her. It’s been a blessing knowing I’m not the only one in the church who chooses to cover.

I joined a couple of Christian head covering groups on Facebook to learn more and fellowship with like-minded women. I left one of those groups, though, because I found some of the views overly dogmatic and legalistic, as well as some of the ladies were being pushy and contentious about her view of things. The possibility of becoming legalistic about head covering was one of my greatest concerns. Not being able to say a quick prayer because you don’t have a cover on was frequently mentioned. What about all of the women who choose not to cover? Does God just not hear or ignore their prayers? It made me wary and I’ve tried to be careful of allowing legalism to influence my faith and practice.

I found I really enjoyed wearing a covering every day. The only days I don’t are usually when I’m staying home alone all day. More than the enjoyment though, I did learn some things. Many women say they feel a particular calling from God to cover their heads, some full-time and others only in corporate worship or prayer time. I can’t say I experienced such a calling, other than just the desire to do so. Could that be God’s calling? I guess, maybe.

I found myself praying more. I’ve never been good at setting aside a particular prayer time, and I still don’t, but as I scroll through Facebook, or text with friends, I pray for people who express concerns or praises. Especially my non-Christian friends and in non-Christian groups.

I’ve become more aware of my thoughts and how I think of others. I can be a critical person. I usually don’t express criticisms aloud, but I definitely think them, and it’s still wrong and very much hypocritical.

I’m also better about reading my Bible every day.

To base a doctrine on a single passage of Scripture, one that is not essential to salvation, is a dangerous road to tread and one reason that I will not say that a Christian woman is required to wear a head covering. There are many good arguments on both sides of the debate, and at this point I’m not prepared to come down hard on one side or the other.

What I will do is continue to wear head covers for the foreseeable future until, or if, I ever believe I need to stop. I will support other women who choose to cover and I will support those who don’t.

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Exclusivity and Truth

January 14, 2018

Unashamed Faith

Nonbelievers often complain about Christianity’s claims of exclusivity, that there is only one God and the Christian way is the only way to God. They want to use their definition of tolerance to say that all religions are valid and teach essentially the same things.

However, if you actually examine what different religions teach, even superficially, you can quickly see that it is most certainly not the case that all religions teach the same concepts. In fact, most religions have one or more contradictory claims that would preclude them from all being true.

McDowell and McDowell explain: ‘While all religions could possibly be wrong, it is not logically possible for all of them to be right when their claims differ so radically. Either they are all wrong or only one is right.’ (xliv) Anyone with sense should be able to understand this, yet people still persist in asserting that there is no difference from one religion to the next.

There is a handy chart provided in the book listing the basic beliefs of the five major world religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. All but Hinduism believe that all other religions are false, each has a completely different belief about salvation, and they all have completely different views on God – Buddhism believing in no God, Hinduism many, Islam and Judaism have (different) Unitarian Gods, and Christianity believes in a Trinitarian God. (xliv)

It is impossible to reconcile these different religions or say that they teach the same essential doctrines. There may be some similarities in moral teachings, but that is not the point of religions. At least, that’s not the point of Christianity.

Christianity is about God sending His Son, Jesus, to save people from their sins. That is its most important doctrine, and if you don’t believe that, you aren’t a Christian.

‘But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. this was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.’ – Romans 3. 21-27, NASB

McDowell, J., & McDowell, S. (2017). Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World.Thomas Nelson, Nashville.

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Systems to describe ASL

January 6, 2018

Tips from the Terp

William C. Stokoe was a pioneer in helping American Sign Language be recognized as a legitimate language during the 1960s. He developed a system for describing signs, but it had some issues.

His system only addressed the handshape, location and movement of signs, leaving out the other parameters of palm orientation and non-manual markers (NMM). Or rather, the palm orientation was absorbed into the movement. One of the greatest problems with Stokoe’s method, however, was that it wasn’t precise enough, especially in regard to the location of a sign. For example: the signs, HEAVEN, SCHOOL, and CHILDREN would all show the same location in Stokoe’s system (the torso), but you’ll notice if you produce each sign, they really occur in very different areas of the body. Go ahead, try it. I’ll wait.

So while Stokoe’s system was useful in that it brought to linguists’ attention that American Sign Language is, indeed, a legitimate language governed by rules that could be described, it was not capable of fully expressing all aspects of the visual form of communication.

After Stokoe’s transcription system came the Liddell Johnson Movement-Hold Model. They used a system of movement and holding, along with descriptions of the other four parameters to describe signs. This system was better able to show when a sign changed more than one parameter at the same time, such as handshape and location, as in the sign FASCINATING. It also incorporated information for what each hand does in a sign, which is especially useful when a sign uses different handshapes for each hand, such as DISCUSS or WEEK.

Some problems the Liddel Johnson system solved were that it equated signed languages with spoken, lending more credence to the fact that signed languages are legitimate langauges, and it was a much more detailed and accurate description system for signs, including very precise handshape descriptions and even specific descriptions for thumb placement. The specificity of the system means it is useful for signed languages other than ASL as well. (45)

I find this information fascinating, as I don’t remember learning any of it when I was in ASL classes. Some of the books we used had glosses with topic/comment structure, NMM and classifiers noted, but they didn’t give you any insight into how to produce the signs. I believe it would be beneficial for all ASL students to learn at least a little about these types of systems, and even to practice using them to gain a better understanding of ASL sign phonology.

Valli, C., Lucas, C., Mulrooney, K. J., & Rankin, M. N. (2011). Linguistics of American Sign Language: an introduction. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.

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Tolerance, Take Two

December 19, 2017

Unashamed Faith

I wrote a post about tolerance some time ago, but I believe it’s important to revisit in the current climate of calling everything hate-speech which does not agree with one’s own views.

McDowell and McDowell address the idea of tolerance in the prologue of their book. I think that speaks to its importance. We can’t have a discussion of differing views if we’re working with different definitions of tolerance. One person will get to do all the talking because they see everything the other person has to say as being intolerant while plainly showing their own intolerance. At least as they themselves define it.

What tolerance actually is: ‘Rather than accepting all views as equally valid, true tolerance involves recognizing and respecting others when we don’t approve of their values, beliefs, and practices.’ (xliii)

That’s the entire reason we need tolerance. It wouldn’t be necessary if everyone agreed with one another.

The authors discuss a number of misconceptions in the prologue. One of them addresses that it’s seen as intolerant to believe that there is only one true religion and only one way to God. Jesus said it: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’ (John 14.6)

I’d say that’s pretty straightforward. McDowell and McDowell make the point, ‘While all religions could possibly be wrong, it is not logically possible for all of them to be right when their claims differ so radically. Either they are all wrong or only one is right.’ (xliv)

This is the only thing that makes sense. People want to say there are many paths to God or that all religious are valid, but when they make wildly contradictory claims, it’s just not possible. To claim otherwise is irrational.

McDowell, J., & McDowell, S. (2017). Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World. Thomas Nelson, Nashville.

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Homework…Eeek!

December 18, 2017

Tips from the Terp

Yes, there’s homework. I’ll just give you a sampling of what’s required in each section of homework as I come to it.

The first homework assignments come at the end of the first section and involves identifying the handshape, location and movement of lists of signs and identifying similarities and differences of these elements between signs.

This goes to the study of linguistics of ASL and the importance of understanding that these elements have a massive impact on the clarity of your signing. Changing just one of these elements can change the meaning of what you’re signing. It’s also important to realize that completely unrelated signs may share one or more of the parameters while maintaining their individual meaning.

For example:
The sign UGLY shares the same handshape and movement as the sign SUMMER, but a different location. It shares the same movement and location as WORN-OUT, but a different handshape. And it shares the same location as KID, but different movement and handshape.

One I found challenging was DISCUSS. It contains two different handshapes (honestly, I’m not sure if I was supposed to focus on just the dominant handshape, but I found a sign that shared the same handshape for both hands). SHOW shares the same handshapes and location, but different movements. ARGUE has the same movement and location, but different handshapes.

The most difficult I found to be MONKEY. SALAD shares the same handshape and movement. And any sign that uses the classifier of bent 5-handshape would be the same handshape, but I wracked my brain for a sign that shares the same space as MONKEY, and I couldn’t think of one!

Anyone have a suggestion? And I’m sure someone will suggest something super obvious and I’m going to face-palm. I promise to take a picture and post it if that happens.

There was further homework building on these principles, but I won’t go into that here. I haven’t finished all of it either. One great thing about this textbook is that it includes a DVD with samples to look at and analyze for homework, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it.

I found this to be a good exercise in really analyzing and understanding different signs, their relationships to each other and how the different parameters of sign are used to change the meaning of different signs. I was a little surprised at how difficult I found some of the problems, but I’ve been out of school for some time, so I’ll blame it on that.

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The art of boustrophedon

December 17, 2017

Pondering Grammar

If you’ve never heard of boustrophedon, I’m about to show you what it is. Here it comes:

In case you can’t read that, it says:

Boustrophedon is the practice of writing forward on one line and backwards on the next. I should have practiced some more, as it’s been quite some time, but I find it so fascinating I had to share.

According to https://www.britannica.com/art/boustrophedon, boustrophedon has been used for thousands of years, first by the Greeks. It made it easier to track from one line to the next without losing your place.

In general, lefties (and as a lefty myself I can corroborate this) have a slightly easier time reading and writing right to left than righties do, so I find boustrophedon an enjoyable and entertaining pastime. Because I couldn’t find a way to type this way on the computer, I used my drawing app on my phone to make the above sample.

Give boustrophedon a try, maybe post a picture of your attempt in the comments.

Not only is boustrophedon a fun word, it’s a really cool historical practice.

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Evidences…Intro

December 15, 2017

Unashamed Faith

It’s been a few years since I’ve posted, but I’d like to get back to it. A few weeks (or months) ago, I started reading an amazing and massive book called *Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell. I’m not sure how long I’ve been reading it because it’s so incredibly dense with information, so I’m reading it in small chunks—sometimes only one small section at a time—interspersed with my other reading. Rather than going back and discussing everything from what I’ve already read, I’m going to pick some of the topics I was most interested in to share here. Many of them will relate to common objections to Christianity and questions about the veracity of the Biblical accounts.

In the first chapter, the authors discuss how the Bible has survived through massive attempts to eradicate it through persecution and criticism.

Several Roman emperors attempted to stamp out Christianity by persecuting its adherents and burning Christian writings. Yet the Bible persisted and Christianity continued to expand. In the Soviet Union, in the 20th century, another attempt was made to eradicate Christianity by persecuting and killing Christians and confiscating and destroying Bibles. Yet it is still the most printed and distributed book in the world, especially in nations where reading or possessing it is banned. Why would that be? Obviously, It is important enough to its believers to risk their lives to have a copy.

The Bible is criticized in many ways by those who hate its message. I’ll discuss specific criticisms another time. Despite continued attacks, the Bible and its worldview still influences millions and spreads further year by year.

No other book is so attacked as the Bible, so it is important for those who believe the events recorded in this book, namely followers of Jesus, to be knowledgeable and prepared to explain, defend or answer objections and criticisms.

1 Peter 3.14-17: ‘But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than doing what is wrong.’ (NASB)

*All quotations and citations will come from McDowell’s book unless otherwise stated. I want to engage in good scholarship, but this is a blog, not an essay for college, so I will not be as strict with formatting citations, etc.

McDowell, J., & McDowell, S. (2017). Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World. Thomas Nelson, Nashville.

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Linguistics

December 14, 2017

Tips from the Terp

An important part of becoming an interpreter, and being an experienced interpreter, is understanding the languages in which you work. Most of us already have a pretty good grasp of English and how to use it. (And if you don’t, I highly recommend doing some studying of English grammar and spelling). But we have to learn ASL, what it is and how it works.

Just like English, and any other language, ASL has rules for structure and grammar. The parameters I discussed in my first post are important elements of the linguistics of ASL.

*For my own edification, and because I’m a giant nerd, I’m reading this book:

I thought it might help me stay on track and benefit others if I write about what I learn from the book. You will learn a lot about the linguistics of ASL in your sign language classes, but this book goes into far greater detail than your classes are able to. It’s possible that you will go on and study linguistics yourself, but I hope I can give you an overview and add to your knowledge, understanding and appreciation of American Sign Language.

It’s easy to lose the parts of the language that are less like spoken language (classifiers, facial expressions) when many of us end up working in schools where students don’t really sign much or use a version of signed English, so it’s important to continue learning about the language we’ve been given the honor of having access to so that we can provide the very best interpretations possible. Even if you have to use signed English with a student or other client, there are ways to still incorporate important features of ASL that will improve clarity.

The first couple of chapters in Linguistics of American Sign Language discuss the definitions of language and linguistics. I’m going to assume that you probably know what a language is and have a general idea of what linguistics is. It is important to note, however, that because ASL has only been relatively recently recognized as a legitimate language, it has also only recently begun to be studied by linguists. This is important in helping people understand that it is a legitimate language and not just gestures.

The book lists a number of linguistic fields and I find historical linguistics the most fascinating. I love learning the etymology of words and how they develop and change through the years. I listen to a podcast called ‘The History of English’ and it’s so interesting learning how English became the language it is today and why it’s so crazy. I’d love to learn more about ASL in the same way – why we sign things certain ways, what a particular handshape or movement used to mean, etc.

That’s all for now. I hope you find studying the linguistics of ASL as fascinating as I will!

*Thank you to the friend who gave me the book for Christmas.

Valli, C., Lucas, C., Mulrooney, K. J., & Rankin, M. N. (2011). Linguistics of American Sign Language: an introduction. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.

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McDowell, J., & McDowell, S. (2017). Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World. Thomas Nelson, Nashville.

McDowell, J., & McDowell, S. (2017). Evidence that Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World. Thomas Nelson, Nashville.

Valli, C., Lucas, C., Mulrooney, K. J., & Rankin, M. N. (2011). Linguistics of American Sign Language: an introduction. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.