From: "Rick Beaulieu" <bobcat@cyberscope.net>
To: <info@melodietheclown.com>, "Balloon List" <balloon@balloonhq.com>
Subject: RE: Languages
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 19:16:18 -0500

My 12 year old daughter has taken an interest in sign language so before we
enrolled her in a summer course at the local university I found some useful
sites for beginners, or those who just want to learn on their own. The first
requires a QuickTime player and shows the signs for hundreds of words.

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm

The next one is for finger spelling which is the best way to start since
once you learn the alphabet you can spell out anything that you don't know
or remember the sign for.

http://www.where.com/scott.net/asl/lookup.html

Rick Beaulieu
P. O. Box 489
Orangefield, TX 77639-0489

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2001 5:21 PM
To: Balloon List
Subject: Languagesages


Great topic! Anything we do to improve communication with our
clients/audiences is positive and helpful.

I can manage a few balloon related words and common pleasantries in
French and Spanish. One of the most useful "languages" I've learned,
however, is American Sign Language, or ASL. I learned to fingerspell the
alphabet, and some animals, colours and a few action words. It is
amazing how one can communicate with a child so used to being cut off
from the hearing world. Unfortunately, I can't share the signs with you
as it is a visual language, but most community colleges have ASL
courses, and it can be learned (at least well enough for our purposes)
through books (and I imagine, through videos). I took a course more than
10 years ago, and have used it on numerous occasions for kids and/or
thier parents who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The best part of trying even a few words in a child's language is the
way their face lights up when they finally hear someone attempt to
communicate with them in thier familiar language. I have met many
tourists and visitors to the country who really appreciate my trying.
Even if you just say hello, don't be shy, give it a try!

Elizabeth