Improve Your Receptive Fingerspelling Skills ┃ ASL Stew

[@beckigreen]

I remember a long time ago, I went to a house that had a sign that read "Free Kitties". I rang the doorbell,and a deaf lady came to the door. Since I didn't know any signs, I thought I fingerspelled "how old are your kitties". I also fingerspelled that really fast, thinking I need to fingerspell it fast, so she doesn't think I'm an idiot. The lady started laughing,and got a pen and paper and wrote a note to me that said "you asked how old are your titties". I was mortified! I mixed up the letters K and T, trying to be fast. But the lady was really nice and wrote that I should take my time,and she appreciated me at least trying to communicate with her. so take it from me, don't try to fingerspell fast when you can't!

[@TheStews]

+Becki Green OMG that is hilarious! That is a great examples of speed is not always important. 😅

[@Irisfall7]

Omg that was hilarious! thanks for sharing that funny story

[@YouTubeExplore777]

ASL Stew yes, I'm struggling with fingerspelling and being fast in general reciprocal and expressive. So, practice will pay off, don't slow down keep going, speed accuracy will eventually occur on both ends, being expressive and reciprocal?

[@hannahcruz1440]

Becki Green that makes me feel better because I a really slow.

[@Misslady123456]

Becki Green OMG I died!!!!!!

[@surreal-wanderer]

this actually occurred to me the other day, that its very much like reading. studies indicate that much of the time as we read our brains aren't taking in every letter, our brains recognize and interpret many commonly used words the same way we process images, and often times when reading quickly we mostly see the first and last letters of a word and just glance over the other letters, mostly interpolating from context

[@TheStews]

Yes I think I have heard that before. I can always read those Facebook posts that are jumbled words and things like that. It's interesting. :)

[@mattyoshimoto284]

i usually catch the first two letters fast then the last and i usually figure it out lol.

[@randomguy6739]

One thing my teacher taught us was the not view it as letter to letter to letter, but instead to sound it out in your head. That really helped me improve. Also like you said, don't obsess over every letter, just go by context and what you did understand and you should be able to figure it out. Good video!!!! Can't wait for the next!

[@TheStews]

True lol

[@silverbroom02]

I also heard another trick somewhere (can't remember where): when you practice finger spelling / signing the alphabet, say the sound that letter usually makes, not the name of the letter itself. I've found that helps a lot.

[@TheStews]

Yes you want to look at the overall word, instead of individual letters.

[@kierawolfe9871]

The only issue with that is when the sound you're guessing doesn't end up being the correct sound. For example, the word "unwound", if you start to sound out un WOOND (like a cut). That sometimes throws off your reception. What helps me the most is learning to recognize SHAPES, instead of individual letters. For example, look for the shape of "IGHT", not "I- G -H -T". If you can get a Deaf person or extremely seasoned interpreter to show you those fast shapes, your receptive skills will improve tremendously.

[@seallyolme]

Tip #1 : Get a friend Me: ;-; i don't have any All jokes aside. This is a great video! Thanks for the tips

[@TheStews]

I'm sure you have or could make friends. Just put yourself out there and you never know. 😊

[@gabimaza780]

my biggest problem right now is looking at the mouth of the singer and not their hands I need to fix that

[@caseykatz1327]

That's the worst thing because their mouth is probably mouthing English and the grammar is so different

[@gabimaza780]

+Jordan Katz exactly! I'm trying to break that habit

[@TheStews]

+Gabi Maza Actually looking at the mouth of someone is common. Many people mouth words so it's not that bad of a habit. :)

[@kierawolfe9871]

Watching the person's mouth is actually recommended by many certified interpreters. This is because of the possibility of mouthing (as others said), checking their facial expression for tone, and maintaining eye contact so that the Deaf person knows you're still engaged. The absolute most helpful thing for receptive fingerspelling is to recognize SHAPES instead of LETTERS. Look for the shape of "IGHT" but not I-G-H-T (because often times, letters are shortened or left out by Deaf people). Hope that helps

[@abigailshanae7779]

I was told by my Asl teacher to look at the neck area because you have to look at the hands but also their expressions and make some eye contact.

[@SherlockChromesSFY]

The best advice to any person who wants to learn ASL or any aspiring interpreter is to spend time with deaf people and make meaningful relationships in their community. I also think it’s important to note that fingerspelling doesn’t happen in a vacuum; fingerspelled words are typically based on the context within the communication. That’s why it’s more difficult for people to see random arbitrary fingerspelled words without context.

[@TheC3.]

In my opinion, your peripheral vision picks up the pattern of the word, so you don't have to understand each letter. Don't stare at the hand that signs, ask to repeat.

[@TheStews]

+Christel Colla Yes many times you don't actually look at the hand if the person mouths the words as well.

[@SRosberg18]

I love your videos! I take a piece away from everyone of them. My 18 month old son lost his hearing when he was an infant. Hearing loss and deafness is a brand new thing to our family and you do a great job of educating on issues and giving helpful tips on how to learn. It's intimidating to learn a brand new language but this video in particular gave my husband and myself some helpful hints and we are really going to try and step up our finger spelling skills. :)

[@TheStews]

+SRosberg18 Well thank you. I'm glad to hear you are learning from us. I'm sure you will do great with your son just because of the fact that you are open-minded and willing to learn. He will grow to be a great person because of his awesome parents! Good luck on your journey.

[@deaflepuff-abby6430]

This so helpful so true! I keep telling my classmates (I'm the only Deaf person within this ASL and Deaf Studies program) exactly all of this you signed/said/posted! I even tell my ASL friends this. It obviously doesn't happen overnight! Lots of practice, patience and time :) I need to remember to slowdown for my fellow learners ;) Deafie can FS fast sometimes... but changing pace is good too. I also mess up! But I also practice how? I use mirror and FS in front of that. Or video myself FS things and watch myself back to see if I understood all the letters and if my flow is right too. Great video! Really enjoyed!

[@TheStews]

+ItsADeafThing So happy to hear that my message is accurate! Yes slowing down for others is always a good thing lol. Everyone messes up but yes practice is most important. :) Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@katelynbenson8671]

I had a client with MS and she became non verbal and could only communicate with finger spelling. She didn't get a lot of PCAs that could understand or learn for her but when I came in and knew the alphabet she lit up like a Christmas tree she was so happy that her mom didn't have to interpret for her when I was around.

[@connermcintosh4950]

Thank you so much!! I can fingerspell pretty fast while still being clear, but I'm muchhh worse at the receptive side of things. Ps. I loveeee your channel and you and your wife are my relationship goals! Lol too cute! Love y'all :))

[@TheStews]

+Conner Macintosh Well thank you! Your receptive skills will improve over time. Just remember to practice!

[@desireehaislett4341]

Thanks for this video. I've been trying with fingerspelling. It is definitely difficult, that's for sure.

[@TheStews]

+Desiree Haislett you will get it in time! 😀

[@claudyview]

Super awesome! Thanks so much!

[@aslu]

Regarding receptive fingerspelling practice -- the asl.ms link works fairly well for on desktop computers. For mobile devices you can add "/mobile" at the end of the address to access the mobile version that works better on phones or tablets. For example: asl.ms/mobile Warm regards, - Bill Vicars

[@empiretoday-mr6mg]

thank you so much for this video. im currently in asl 3 and wanting to interpret in the future but I have SUCH hard time with fingerspelling lolol

[@austinlang6946]

No one really talks about this. But understand there is a huge difference between “in-context” fingerspelling and random ass words. I’m fluent in the language and Deaf ppl miss random fingerspelling too, but what they don’t miss is in context fingerspelling. Why? Bc the reception is coming from the mouth. Some Deaf ppl mouth more than others. But ASL receptivity is on the face. You have to learn to allow your peripheral vision to worry about the signs themselves and then your main focus being on the face. Like for example this video no clue what word she finger spelled at the start of the video, but I didn’t miss a single finger spelled word in context of her dialogue. It takes a lot of receptive practice but it gets to the point where it will feel like Deaf ppl are screaming at you bc you get so good at reading what’s on the face. Just keep going, watch ASL everyday. The daily moth has 100s of videos with good transcripts where you can learn so many signs and the older videos you can turn the captions off and some are just in the comments. So you can watch segments then go read what it said and figure out what you missed or got right. Deaf counseling center on KZbin has tons of videos with transcripts. You need lots of passive vocabulary and lots of receptive practice and it’ll all come together. So again don’t worry yourself about missing random spelled words with no context, that doesn’t mean don’t practice that skill as often as you can bc doing that will facilitate in context fingerspelling. But in context finger spelling is what’s way more important in the sense of receptive skills.

[@Michtingz]

Thank you so much

[@TheStews]

You're welcome :)

[@cindym.7862]

Thank you for the tips!

[@auntda]

I bought an app for 3.99 and it's been the best thing for me it's called FingerSpell. My ASL tutor suggested it to help me practice. I use it all the time.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Cool, thank you for the resource!

[@kyleerose101]

Were you fingerspelling "gumbo" in the beginning? Hahaha

[@Crissidalette420]

I have also found that sometimes if you can catch the first and last letter you can figure out by context

[@elizabethgooch8810]

Where have you been ?? No vlogs since? I miss watch your vlogs. Please come back soon I hope.

[@glennatogo972]

Becki Green I laughed so hard it made me cry! (lol) Thank you for sharing!

[@normanklein3155]

I'm new to ASL fingerspelling and still not very proficient, but I can provide much better advice than is contained within this video. My advice is concentrate on recognizing common word combinations, such as "ing", "pro", "tive", "tion", "tect", "dis", ...

[@TheStews]

[Jill] If you feel you have better advice that is fine. I disagree with what you have to say but to each their own.

[@normanklein3155]

I just re-read what I wrote and didn't intend for it to come across so negatively.

[@smellamyblake8352]

I'm soooo bad at this. I can fingerspell like a boss(been doing it for a long time and can do it pretty fast) but don't have anyone to practice with so my receptive finger spelling sucks.

[@TheStews]

That is common. Most people are better expressively than receptively. Look into Facebook groups to find someone to practice with. Good luck! 😊

[@ronaldfarmer7205]

These tips are so helpful really appreciate you !

[@TheStews]

So glad the tips are helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@RebelKittySkull]

asl.ms is also a good fingerspelling website. You can chose how many letters and the speed from slow, medium, fast, and deaf.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Thank you for that resource.

[@sushibu]

is the word gumbo?!

[@awacflr]

I saw gumbo too but I don't know, it was really fast 😂

[@TheStews]

It was tough so that's not bad :)

[@treg1134]

Super helpful!!! Thank you for making this video!!!!

[@TheStews]

[Jill] So glad you found it helpful! :)

[@JoshiesWorld]

Paused the video as soon as you finger-spelled the first time... Gumbo and by the way Gumbo's delicious depending on who fixes them! :P

[@TheStews]

You got it! Yes it is delicious!

[@marylister5504]

Asl.ms is good you can do different speeds and lengths of the words

[@Jr-nd9kd]

good tips thank you

[@icygirl97]

0:48 practice makes perfect

[@TheStews]

Yup

[@jamiemoulton2986]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who has a hard time with fingerspelling.....

[@TheStews]

[Jenna] Yeah, you're definitely not alone. You will get better over time. :)

[@orihmaittesurun6021]

🤘🏻✋🏻🤘🏻👉🏻☝🏻

[@ShockingSarah]

One of my ASL professors told my class about two websites that are really helpful and have 4 speed settings; slow, medium, fast, and Deaf. 1st one is for words, asl.ms and the 2nd is for numbers, asl.bz

[@TheStews]

+ShockingSarah Yes those are moth nice resources (I like the numbers one too- haven't seen before).

[@emmaloviseremmen3115]

😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊❤

[@123456jik]

Hi I just wanted to let everyone know that along with the asl.pro website there's a website asl.ms it's really good for fingerspelling at different speeds amount of letters in the word💕💕💕

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Yes, I have seen that one before too.

[@kolinsoots8343]

Great video

[@TheStews]

Thanks!

[@brandonsmith4361]

How can I improve my fingerspelling I really enjoyed this video

[@sunshinegarrity7891]

ty for this video....im trying to learn finger spelling...im faster than i use to be but not where i feel i should be

[@TheStews]

+Sunshine Garrity Just keep going and you will get there. It just takes time.

[@mickeyakers91]

So helpful! My I have a hard time understanding when other ppl finger spell to me.

[@TheStews]

So glad to help. :)

[@emmaloviseremmen3115]

🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@emmaloviseremmen3115]

❤❤❤❤❤❤😢

[@hannahcruz1440]

2:26 she is talking about Apple's To Apple's game.

[@robertclark2475]

signing savvy is another website to go to for practice

[@TheStews]

Yes, it's a good site. :)

[@akuzma27]

I remembered looking at this a year ago and I could not get this. Now a year later in field using ASL. I got it! Gumbo right?!😊

[@TheStews]

You got it! Yay! That's some great improvement.

[@cutepumpkin4744]

Sign with Courtney is good for help with finger spelling.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Thanks for the tip.

[@grandplans]

I know I need to relearn some signs. When I first started learning, I was taught signs that have since changed. Also, I was taught that when a deaf person finger spells, they don't use vowels A E I O U. Is this still the case? I need to get back into studying again.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] I have never heard of leaving out the vowels (Deaf or hearing). I know sometimes people don't actually finger spell all the letters, but not specifically leaving out vowels.

[@angryELEPHANT4]

how do you get to carnagie hall, practice.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Very true.

[@helpsie]

my favorite site to use is ASLpro.com

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Yes that is a great site.

[@lianaburless1835]

If u think about it it happens in verbal conversations too.

[@RHBraun11]

asl.bz is the website we use at school to practice finger spelling

[@TheStews]

+Rachel Braun thanks :)

[@MissPattyN]

What do you spell in beginning? I think word starts with G. I see b in word, I think. I know word ends with o. But I cannot figure out any word like that. Please help. Thanks.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Gumbo

[@kaolinjarlsdottir6220]

Finally got it! Used your trick, got G~~~~~O....G~~BO....boom. Gumbo. Yay!

[@TheStews]

+Kristen Sconce Woohoo!

[@taylorfrizzell4073]

I'm afraid I'll never understand fast signing. How can people understand it when it's so fast?

[@thesuantakfamily]

Y

[@ItsPawsome]

Thank you for the tip about aslpro.com

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Sure anytime! :)

[@azal5309]

So, I want to learn how to Fingerspell, but I'm afraid that the grammar part of ASL will be too complicated for me at my age, so I want to stick to Fingerspelling. Fingerspelling is spelling the words letter by letter, correct? I'm afraid that I'll be able to fingerspell my own words fine, but I'll have a hard time understanding other people fingerspell. And I'm also afraid that when I meet a deaf person, I won't know some things that they're saying because I don't know those signs. Could I get some tips and tricks? (I am also sorry if I said anything that doesn't make sense, I'm just now becoming interested in this.) ^.^

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Yes, fingerspelling is spelling the words letter by letter. I would not worry about necessarily getting the grammar right, right now. Just try to learn what you can. Learning the signs will be so much better than fingerspelling everything... trust me. Sometimes, in the beginning it can be tough to understand other people, but you will learn over time. If you are polite and respectful, most people are willing to work with you and help you learn. I would look into this video to help on tips for receptive fingerspelling practice. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmXahJSmrNV1atk and for practicing sign language on your own here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZCzZqmdgtSmpdU Hope these help and good luck!

[@emilypena7003]

I have a deaf friend and I’m so happy I met them and they can help me practice yaaaay **deaf applause** hehehe

[@johnesco]

She's fingerspelling O-K-R-A

[@TheStews]

In the beginning I was fingerspelling GUMBO if that's what you mean. :)

[@ConcreteAngelx3]

combo?? what was it?

[@TheStews]

+ConcreteAngelx3 Gumbo :)

[@laurentracy3742]

asl.ms is an amazing site!

[@TheStews]

Yes it is a good site to practice.

[@emmaloviseremmen3115]

😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝😝

[@Aluww]

asl.ms is a pog website

[@phyllismountain7782]

It throws me off when people move their hands up and down while they fingerspell. Also when they point with the other hand I always miss the first letter.

[@user-fx2gj2cm4h]

你好！Hello!，我是聋哑人I am deaf and dumb.，很高兴认识你Nice to meet you，谢谢你Thank you

[@GcorpCoPrez]

Ehh the fingerspelling was quick... Im not sure what the word was I think its gumbo?? 🤔 I want to improve my asl. So i thought fingerspelling would be a good step.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Yes it was gumbo. :) Learning fingerspelling is a great thing since it's helpful if you don't know a sign, while stilling learning.

[@zhugzug]

my deaf ASL professor and friends all tell me that FS receptivity is the last thing to click, that it takes a long time and you will see even deaf people asking other signers to FS something again. It is hard imagine subtitles doing this A B S O L U T E you only seeing one letter at a time and the previous letters vanish? It would be hard for anyone.

[@TheStews]

Yes, it is quite challenging and takes a long time. I still ask for clarification and know many Deaf (even native signers) that do too.

[@94CakeCup]

Do you mind if I left a video response?

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Sure

[@faith2survive634]

here's a somewhat unrelated question for both you and Jenna: is there a high incidence with interpreters and deaf signers of tendonitis and carpal tunnel and have either of you dealt with this? I ask because I was a massage therapist for a couple of years and working full time with little to no rest and not listening to my body has left me with chronic pain in my hands and forearms. I have quit massaging and its been over 3 years now but still I occassionally get pain in my dominant hand and arm. Lately, since I'm learning ASL from home, I am noticing the pain is becoming worse.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] I don't know if it's a common thing, but interpreters do have to make sure we are thinking about biomechanics and keeping our body healthy. I do have some wrist problems every once and while, but doctor said it's not tendonitis or CT luckily. I have heard of some interpreters getting either of those. We have to make sure we don't overwork ourselves as well.

[@csfyahudah1982]

My problem is I can sign but o cant understand some one when they sign what do I do please

[@awaskina]

i can't remember if i asked you were Canadians? are you Canadians? please don't be offended, that is not my intentions. I want to learn ASL

[@TheStews]

[Jill] No, we live in Western Upstate New York. No offense. :)

[@zainshiraz6910]

My asl teacher recommends using different hands from different people

[@TheStews]

Good idea

[@o-o3451]

My friend fingerspells really fast, and I can’t reply because I don’t know what he’s saying

[@TheStews]

You could ask them to slow down.

[@deannadavis2426]

Love your video, the narrative, you did a great job. I am hard of hearing. The one annoying thing I do hear well are high pitches. Your background music actually irritates my tinnitus to a point I couldn't finish listening to your video without muting it. Something to think about cutting out in near future. But I love seeing the sign and the captions below to help me to learn ASL better. Thank you for your videos you put out there.

[@broccoli4781]

GUMBO

[@victorbugarin5409]

I was able to understand you without the interpreter when I turned off the volume. I'm hoping to attend a deaf social soon.

[@TheStews]

That's awesome! Have fun.

[@victorbugarin5409]

@@TheStews Btw are there more online dictionary websites that are constantly updating information for asl learners to further along their learning experiences to hone they're communication skills; for that matter are both SigningSavvy.com and Lifeprint.com, to name a few, do that often of updating they're material or not quite? I'm just curious about the matter.

[@VulcanOnWheels]

5:52 "Not my problem"? She did not just... :O

[@TheStews]

??

[@VulcanOnWheels]

@@TheStews Sorry. That was supposed to be "She did not just say that! :O" I hoped you would understand after viewing the video from the time I put at the start of my comment. It must be a joke that only my girlfriend and I know about. BTW, it's possible that you can't see the "not my problem", but I could hear it.

[@mikkeypicasso512]

to fast slow down some

[@TheStews]

[Jill] I was being fast on purpose.

[@rockandrolldude22]

first view

[@TheStews]

+Ben Simon Woohoo! 🤗

[@edwarddanville231]

Norman Klein, That was such an arrogant statement!!!!! If you are new to ASL fingerspelling , you SIR should not offer any advice to ANYONE ! Instead you should try to learn as much as you can from skilled signers! PLEASE rid yourself of such a condescending attitude ! It will destroy your signing career!

[@seriouslypissedoffgr]

There's also an app called ASL: Fingerspelling made by lifeprint.com for iOS, and I thought it was helpful for me when starting to learn how to fs. It's similar to the version on asl.ms and in fact developed by the same person. They're unfortunately just images and not the the fluid version of someone spelling a word, but I think it's helpful for letter recognition and you can change the speed too.

[@TheStews]

[Jill] Thanks for that resource. :)