As our channel grows, so is the need for more in-depth videos.
Depth is exactly what we're going to explore in this video.
In our ASL 301 curriculum, we cover a lot
and really hone in on descriptions and using classifiers.
This is a lesson straight from our 301 class,
so let's learn how to sign.
In this part,
we're going to be focusing on describing the person, not the clothes.
We're going to hold off on clothes and learn that a little bit later.
Now, it is to be mentioned that it's actually not rude
to describe certain features about a person.
Say, for instance, we have a mole or a scar.
In ASL, you point those things out
and the way we do this is by using classifiers.
Now classifiers are hand shapes
that resemble what is being described.
We're going to be talking a lot about classifiers through this entire course.
So like I mentioned, a mole or a scar
could be described about a person's facial features.
Right.
How would we do this?
Well, we think of what a mole might look like on somebody.
We could use an index finger
and point to that section or a pinky finger
showing the mole and the location of it.
What about a scar?
Well, we can use that index finger to show a scar
and where it's placed on the person.
We're going to be using these a lot to start thinking
about what hand shapes are represented to describe certain things.
When I was in my interpreting program, we focused on the main idea
and then down to the specific details of what we were interpreting about.
This is the same idea.
When we're describing anything, we must have the general idea
and then go down to the specific details, general to specific.
You're going to hear me say that a lot.
So it's probably going to get stuck in your head.
All right.
Let's talk about general to specific
and how we would describe a person.
Well, first, in general, we're going to be starting out
with the gender of the person.
Then we go down to the ethnicity.
Next is height, size,
maybe skinny, overweight.
Average.
Then we're going to go into hair.
Eyes.
And then certain features.
So let's break this down, describing myself.
First, I'm going to do what
I'm going to say, what gender I am.
A woman.
Then I'm going to do my ethnicity
Caucasian.
Then I'm going to do my height.
Now, I want you to notice here,
when I put this right here at my head.
I also did what's called a mouth morpheme.
And this is to show maybe different sizes.
All right.
And so average,
just like this for my height.
And then I'm going to go into my body.
Notice before
each of these, I'm not saying ethnicity.
And then size.
I'm not adding that because I'm going through this general
to specific and describing.
Then we're going to go into hair.
Now, this it's not just that I have hair right?
We're going to say there is our color and then our length.
And then maybe even the style of our hair.
So it would look like this
hair brown and then showing the length.
And I would say that mine is around a medium
length, medium to longish.
And then if I wanted to describe even more about it,
I could show maybe just it's
a tiny bit of some waves.
Then I'm going to go into my eyes.
And then after that,
I can do extra features about myself.
I don't know if you can really tell, but I do have freckles.
They pop out during the summertime.
So I could add that.
So let's take what I just showed you and see how it looks all together
with voice off.
Okay.
Do you see how I went from that general
to specific in describing about myself?
Now, take some time to describe yourself
when you're signing this.
Remember, General, to specific
gender, ethnicity,
height, size, hair, eyes,
any features,
pause it if you need more time.
Okay.
How do you feel like you did describing yourself?
Pretty good.
All right.
Now, what we're going to do is we're going to describe a few different people.
But with this, I'm going to turn my voice off and guide you through
how you would describe the people that you're going to see on the screen.
Are you ready?
All right.
What I wanted you to notice that when you were describing
that we were taking this general to specific idea.
And then we're just adding in the details.
Notice that when we were describing the hair,
we used some classifiers.
Let's talk about those.
We might have seen
that the short hair for the man was just like this.
We didn't make it big.
We made it small to show the length of it.
And then with that we added a mouth morpheme showing
really, really tight.
Right?
Small. Short.
That's what that means when we go
pulling that in.
Then we have the hair for the woman.
How hers was separated.
Notice how we used our hand shape right here
and then right here to divide the sections
of what was happening to the hair itself.
I hope you have a better idea of how to use general to specific
and just touching on what classifiers are.
By the end of this course, you are going to feel like you have
so much knowledge about classifiers, which I'm excited to share.
If you loved this lesson, then you will love Learn How to Sign Accelerated.
This lesson was straight from our ASL 301 self-paced course
that is only available within this membership.
Go to learnhowtosign.com to find out more info.
And until next time, keep learning how to sign.