Fourth most commonly used language in the USA?? Guess...

[lizbud]

Since the syntax is so different, would the deaf people be able to read
the newspaper or books written by a hearing person? Do you know what
I mean? Would the meaning of the written word be different according to
who was reading it?

[Catty1]

Lizbud...CountryWolf or Gina would be best to answer that question...but I would think it would be like us reading a document in pig latin, in that we would have to keep changing the word order in our minds. We can DO it - but it would be a lot of effort and mentally exhausting (for me, anyway! )

The links I found said it is a separate language from any other, including English. I think there is even a French ASL!

[lizbud]

Lizbud...CountryWolf or Gina would be best to answer that question...but I would think it would be like us reading a document in pig latin, in that we would have to keep changing the word order in our minds. We can DO it - but it would be a lot of effort and mentally exhausting (for me, anyway! )

The links I found said it is a separate language from any other, including English. I think there is even a French ASL!

Thanks, I hope they will. I do know that you can change the meaning of
a whole sentence by just rearanging a few words. I was curious.

[Catty1]

*bump*

[Karen]

Gina reads in English and can write in English better than when she first joined Pet Talk, I think, but when she's in a hurry, like many non-native speakers, you can tell it isn't her first language.