#and again like! no hate on retaining ASL grammar in writing

[tangledinink]

Hi! I just have a little comment on your use of sign language in the carol side fic. I in no means mean to be rude! I’m not a professional! But I do use asl commonly, and I would like to say that the grammar structure is different, especially in newer users (like me!). So when Donnie asks Carol to make his hair like hers and April, it would probably end more like “can, have, hair, like, April, and, you?” Like I said, I’m not a professional! But it is something I noticed.

Good luck!

This is absolutely correct! Thank you! When I was learning ASL in college, my professor (who was Deaf,) would describe it as "caveman-style grammar" to us to help try to get a grasp of ASL sentence structure, as sort of a 'cheat-code' way of thinking about it when we were first learning.

I went back and forth about it, but I ended up deciding not to do a direct translation of ASL grammar in my work. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing it that way, and I think there can be a lot of merit to it, but it just feels a bit odd to me? When translating Spanish to English, for example, we typically wouldn't say, "the cat white," even though that would be the direct translation from, for example, "el gato blanco." We would expect the grammar to be a part of the translation process-- the white cat in English. Obviously, there's a difference between a spoken language and sign language, but it's always sort of felt a bit strange to me, to treat ASL differently from other languages, and only 'translate' it halfway, I guess? (Especially given that a huge part of ASL is facial expression, so you risk leaving a lot of details or nuance behind if you choose to use ASL sentence structure but don't consider user expression in your writing as well.)

Perhaps that's just me being lazy and not wanting to restructure things in my fic, lol. But while I think there are definitely pros and cons to either method and that both are valid options, a complete translation is what I went for in TMWN-- similar to how subtitles are done when a character signs in a movie or a TV show. I want the characters' signed dialogue to read smoothly and retain their voice and personality. I want it to flow the same way it does when they speak in English or in Japanese. Signing is totally natural to these characters! I don't want the reader to slow down to translate grammar, or to draw attention to the fact that it's 'different,' because for the characters it's a totally nbd-everyday thing, and that's not what I want the reader to focus on in this case.

That being said! I am not Deaf, nor fluent in ASL (my gOODNESS have I gotten rusty,,,) so! Take my opinion with a grain of salt and if I'm, like, totally out of line, I'm open to hearing about it, lol. I hope this makes sense? Sorry I went off so hard and wrote so much lmao I just spent a lot of time thinking about it and going back and forth when I first started writing the fic.