ETA: Not asking for judgement on the personal medical decision MY family made for OUR daughter. She has not had an interest in an implant but if she does later on, the option is available. We wanted her to have the choice, but also to grow up in deaf culture. I am not going to defend this anymore to Internet randoms, but please consider researching deaf opinions on the matter. As a hearing person, I can only give a very limited perspective.
Hi all. I (30F) am hearing, married to a deaf man (32M) - I’m going to call him Walter - and we have a deaf daughter (6F) - I’ll call her Cora. Walter comes from a primarily deaf family but my family is all hearing. We have chosen to raise Cora with sign language and not go for an implant - this is simply for context, I am NOT seeking judgement on this!
Before Walter and I got married, my parents began to take classes to learn ASL, as did my brother and his family. My sister, Emily, took them for a bit but ended up not continuing due to “lack of interest.” She and her husband have not taken any lessons, nor have their 3 children. Walter tried introducing their daughter to baby sign when she and Cora were both very young but my brother in law asked him to stop, as he didn’t want to “confuse her.” Cora and her cousins play as best they can with the language barrier but it’s extremely frustrating for her to feel like she isn’t being understood. When my brother’s children (who visit only a few times a year) visit, they interpret for her, or Walter and I have to constantly be looking over their shoulders to help resolve their miscommunications, which is too helicopter parent for me.
When we learned Cora was deaf, Emily pestered me about getting her an implant and continues to send me shame-y Facebook posts about the benefits of the implant and those videos of babies hearing for the first time. She constantly says it’s “better than having to learn two languages.” She’s been very pushy about it, to the point she and Walter got in a heated argument over it. Since then, she has not pestered him about it, only me.
My last straw was this past weekend. Emily was with all her kids, teaching them a game. I noticed that Cora wasn’t joining, so I brought her over and Emily outright told me that Cora couldn’t play, because it’s a game “for people who can speak.” I was fuming and pulled her aside. I told her that my daughter can communicate, just not how Emily wants, and said that I won’t have my daughter excluded for something so
... keep reading on reddit ➡title.
Edit: Thanks to everyone for your help! I have not heard of terms like "enantiosemy" before, and there are way more examples than I initially thought.
When I was 18 I was in an accident that caused TBI, resulting in me losing most of my hearing in both ears, making me deaf. I didn't qualify for cochlear implants, so being deaf was just my new reality.
Obviously this derailed my life for a while. University got pushed back, and I was depressed for a long time. Eventually I got back out there, discovered the deaf community, learned ASL (american sign language), and at 26 I now feel very content with my life.
My parents were devastated by my accident, and our relationship has never been the same. A few years ago I told them I have embraced being deaf, and I asked them if they would learn ASL, as that is now how I prefer to communicate. They said no at the time because they didn't have time to learn a new language. I have tried many times over the years to try to give them information on deafness and ASL, but they have shown no interest.
We communicate now mainly by using voice-to-text on our phones, which is far from perfect, and very chaotic when multiple people are talking. Trying to keep up with conversations is exhausting, and people are constantly getting frustrated with me for not following along. Often we watch movies, but they refuse to turn the captions on because it's "annoying", despite the fact that it means I can't understand the movie at all.
This past Christmas, I once again struggled with conversations, which once again resulted in me being either ignored or yelled at. Before I went home again, I sat my parents down and told them that if they did not begin to learn ASL, I would not be visiting again for a long time. I told them I don't expect them to ever be fluent, but I need them to show effort in learning. I told them that they have continuously dismissed my needs as a deaf person, and that if they want to continue to have a meaningful relationship with me, we need to have some kind of shared language.
This didn't go over well at all, as my parents accused me of wanting to cut them off, which isn't true. I just can't do any more visits where my presence feels like a burden. My brother and I have been texting since then, and he thinks I'm being hugely unfair.
So AITA?
EDIT I can't respond to everyone, but thank you everyone so much for your kind words and support. I have been spending the last few days wondering if I'm being unreasonable or dramatic, as even though my friends (most of whom are deaf) support me, I didn't know what the hearing would would think of this. I can n
... keep reading on reddit ➡It lets you watch Netflix/YouTube with two sets of subtitles (one Swedish, one English), has an option to auto-pause after each piece of dialogue, so you can read and understand both, and has a pop-up dictionary which you can access by mousing over the subtitles.
Link: Language Learning with Netflix & YouTube
Note: it does not work with Viaplay or SVT play.
In Swedish ur- can also be used as a prefix to some words in order refer to something ancient and, similarly, in German ur- refers to to first of something.
If there is a connection, how has this connection been preserved in languages? Or is it a coincidence that Sumerians are credited with having innovated the 60 second/60 minute method of timekeeping and the word UR being closely related to time in some form in a handful of modern languages?
(this post was removed from /r/AskHistorians, wondering if it fits here better? Grateful for any answers!)
I remember the name having something in a nordic language like fjord or something similar. There are people walking and sometimes a korean appears in an old tv yelling stuff lol. And sometimes i think they walk single filed on a bridge one behind the other. And then you see them on an old tv, camera zooms out. The rythm is kinda techno genre, or house not sure
I want to take up a Scandinavian language so after researching it for a while I have come down to these points .
Norwegian : (+)The first I wanted to learn . (+) From what I read it is easier than Swedish . (+) Saw that it is the right starting point for later continuing to learn the rest ( Danish and Swedish ) (-) Smaller number of native speakers . So I wonder of the workplace advantage of learning it . (-)Got a little off put by the not-unified-nature of writing style ( Nynorsk and bokmal ) . (+ / - )However I love the nature and it's a goal to visit Norway , so I would like to be able to speak the language even though I read that most Scandinavians can and will speak to you in English .
Swedish : Swedish is the one I see as the solution to some of the negative points of Norwegian . Plus more of a tool language rather than a " just because I want to learn it " decision . So , (+) A unified writing style (+) More native speakers (+) Being part of the EU , I see Sweden as more of a later possible studying destination ( not that I wouldn't love Norway for it ) so I understand that I might have to think of learning the language as a possible gateway to a master's degree . (-) Not the primary pick but I've studied languages that weren't my first picks before
Danish : The reason Danish are not in the title is because i read that understanding the pronunciation can be overwhelming hence why I placed them as a possible second Scandinavian language to learn , not the first . However if you have a good point for Danish , I am open to rethinking .
These are my thinking points at the moment . If anyone is studying or is even native at any of the above-mentioned languages , please weigh in with your opinion . I would love to hear each and every one . Many thanks .
You never know when it might come in handy
I would really like to try those out, especially the first 3 languages would be great since i understand them a little.
Seems like a simple fix to me. If you have to learn Spanish in the US so you can communicate with Spanish speakers, that still leaves out the entire rest of the world. So why not we all learn sign language to communicate with everyone?
For context: Both of my parents are deaf so I speak fluent Auslan (Australian sign language). This is known by all of my teachers plus the principal because I act as an interpreter for my parents during parent-teacher meetings. My high school has quite a few HOH/ deaf students- maybe 20 out of like 2000 students.
The other day my name was on the school notices asking me to come see the principal at break time. When I went he asked me to wait and called in one of the special ed teachers. After she arrived they asked me to take a seat and told me that they were very excited to be introducing a new kind of inclusion program in the school. The principal then said something like,
"OP, we know that you're very proficient in Auslan. We would love to make the school more inclusive and thought that you could work on school parades (school assemblies) as an interpreter for our HOH students."
Honestly, I'm really not keen about this idea. Interpreting is exhausting, not to mention I would hate to stand up in front of the whole school at every assembly. I told him that I thought it was a great idea to have an interpreter, but that I'm not really interested in doing that.
My principal seemed understanding and let me go back to class. On the final period of the day, however, I was called out of class by the special ed teacher that had been in the room with the principal and me. When I stepped out the first thing she said to me was
"I'm pretty disappointed in you, OP."
I asked about what and she said
"For not taking initiative. You have the power to help our HOH students by assisting them to join in school activities and you're not using it. This is a public school, OP, we can't afford an interpreter. I think that you're being pretty selfish."
This honestly really annoyed me and this is where I might be the asshole. I said that if she wanted an Auslan interpreter so badly why didn't she learn the language herself? And that she isn't entitled to my help.
She says, "You're being really immature, OP. All I was asking for is a little help."
I told her that I had already said no and asked her why she felt the need to pull me out of class to ask the same question she had seen me answer like 3 hours ago.
She says "ok, we're done talking if you can't be mature about this."
I say "great" and walk back inside my classroom. She catches the door as it closes and says loudly to my teacher,
"I'm very disappointed in her, Ms X, very disappointed."
For the rest of t
... keep reading on reddit ➡Hello. I have a question over a Swedish phrase I came across: rikets kloak.
I understand the Latin origin of the second word, but I am not sure what exact word would most fit in English. Would it mean the “arse of the kingdom” or the “sewer of the kingdom”?
The former would refer to a specific body part, while the latter is a more general term: the dregs, the bottom...
It referred to the province of Ingermanland in the seventeenth century, which was a fugitive for criminals and used as a general dumping ground for unruly elements.
Hi. I just started learning swedish language and looking for someone to practice swedish casually and hopefully become friends.But if you are not swedish,it doesn't matter. It always good to find new people and make good friends.
My interests are physics,programming,philosophy,music,anime etc.. Hope to hear from you soon.
Hei, jeg er kanadisk og kan snakke norsk og islandsk, jeg lærte dem som barn, men jeg kan også snakke grunnleggende russisk og tysk. Jeg ville vite om svensk er i nærheten av Norwiegan fordi jeg besøkte Finland, og syntes språket var lett å ta opp, men finsk er INGENTING som Norwiegan. Er alle de nordiske språkene likegyldige for hverandre?
Translation - Hi, I am Canadian and can speak Norwegian and Icelandic, I learned them as a child, but I can also speak basic Russian and German. I wanted to know if Swedish is near Norwiegan because I visited Finland, and thought the language was easy to pick up, but Finnish is nothing like Norwiegan. Are all the Nordic languages indifferent to each other? I.e Danish is nothing like Icelandic?
I (30sF) have been married to Buford (40sM) for about a year. I brought Jay (8M) and Juniper (5F) from a past marriage, and until very recently we thought Buford had no children. We had no intentions of having more kids.
As it happens though, it turns out Buford actually does have a daughter Markita (15F). Her mom did not tell Buford about her pregnancy and ultimately moved states, so he had no idea until she reached out on FB. We were a little dubious, but she turned out to be right. Markita and mom moved back to our state in the meantime and live about 40 minutes from us. She wants visitation with Buford which he has agreed to. There's no formal custody arrangement between Buford and mom so it's basically just sporadic weekends and school holidays. Usually this is just between the two of them, but sometimes she will come to the house and has even slept over a few times.
Here's my dilemma. Markita is hearing impaired. I'm not entirely sure to what degree but I do know she almost exclusively uses ASL. No one in our family knows ASL but Buford has been trying to learn for her. The last time Markita was here he pitched to me the idea of us learning ASL as a family.
The truth is that I really don't know if that is worth the effort. Markita is present at our house maybe once a month. I would consider it if she were going to be over more often, but I work 48 hours a week and I just don't have time for something like this. I also know 3 different languages, one of which was in adulthood and it was very difficult for me even fifteen years ago. I just can't fit something like that into my life, but I told Buford that Jay and Juniper can still learn if they're interested.
The kids don't want to since I'm not and now Buford thinks I'm being ridiculous since I have no other way of communicating with Markita. I told him we can work something out but he didn't want to hear it honestly. Markita also thinks I should learn some basic signs but between work and kids even that would be a struggle. AITA for not wanting to learn sign language?
I’m not advanced enough with my Swedish to be able to handle a mostly-Swedish language podcast, but I’d like to find a mostly-English language podcast to fuel my interest in Sweden. Not necessarily one focused on learning Swedish (although I’m not against that), but maybe one that focuses on life in Sweden. Does such a podcast exist? Thanks :)
