TRANSCRIPT

Mo (Monica): Mm-hmm (pre-conversation)

Tiffani: Hey Mo (Monica), what’s going on?

Mo (Monica): Nothing, just laying here, I was taking a nap.

Tiffani: Oh for real, you got tired after work?

Mo (Monica): Yeah, and so I said, Well, since I’m home alone, let me take advantage of this time. And…

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Mo (Monica): I did set an alarm so I wouldn’t, you know, sleep too long.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative), okay, okay, I see you. Alarms be saving people a lot.

Mo (Monica): Oh yeah.

Tiffani: Yeah. I was calling you because I saw in the program last week when we were at church that you were trying to start the sign language group at our church. Like you gonna try to teach people sign language?

Mo (Monica): Mmm, yeah. Several people had… had come up to me asking about sign language, they want to learn so I was like Mmm, I should go ahead and just start a group. It’s Mo (Monica)re like a club.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): I want it to get to a club. Yeah.

Tiffani: That sounds good.

Mo (Monica): Yeah.

Tiffani: I was gonna ask you, like a lot of people nowadays are starting to learn sign language but even learning a second language – how hard it is for some people. I wanted to ask like what was your experience? Like, why did you decide to learn sign language and how was it for you?

Mo (Monica): Well, since I was young I’ve always been like fascinated with it, just to see people signing.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): Like out on the street and stuff like if I was at a restaurant and I saw somebody signing, I would always be fascinated. And so I would try to learn, but just like when I’m trying to learn Spanish, I just never really committed to doing it.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): So, it just so happened I was working at this, um, drug treatment center.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): And one of the social workers came in and she had an interpreter with her and I was like that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to learn sign language and so I started taking a class.

Tiffani: Oh wow.

Mo (Monica): And, um, as I was taking the class – it was at a library, it was a free class – so, I just felt like, I wasn’t, it was like that same situation where you’re learning Spanish, you’re just learning the basics and you never go any further. And I felt like that’s how it was gonna be with this class.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): And one of the people there she was like, if you really want to learn the real sign language you should go to Gallaudet University. I said, Gallaudet University, what is that? And so she told me it was like a Deaf University in DC. So I contacted them and found out that they had night classes (cough) excuse me.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): They had night classes and so from there I started taking night classes. And I fell in love, from the very first class, like the teachers were all deaf.

Tiffani: Wow.

Mo (Monica): So they were native signers teaching us, instead of like, [yawning] Sorry. Instead of like somebody who learned the language and is now teaching us. It was like they were native signers so, they really, really were all good teachers and, um, then I realized I said “I want to become an interpreter” where I would interpret what… you know like conversations that people have between each other?

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): Exactly, that’s what I wanted to do. So, um, yeah. So it’s like the ball started with me taking classes. And I, you know, cracked through that feeling where it wasn’t just a basic class where I’m just learning and taking that class over and over again like I did Spanish. It was actually me learning something. And then I joined a sign language club and then I joined, um, like, different groups, so I could socialize and actually use the language. I would go to silent weekends where you couldn’t talk the whole weekend, and if you got caught talking you would have to pay Mo (Monica)ney and so it was like full immersion and they would give us different scenarios.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): Um, so that we could use the language, and that used to be really fun.

Tiffani: Man! It sounds like your teachers really were good and I think the activities like the silent, you said silent rooms? What did you say silent …

Mo (Monica): A silent weekend, like you couldn’t talk the whole weekend, yeah.

Tiffani: Silent weekend. I think that was really good too. I remember when I was studying Korean like when we first started in Level 1, that was kind of the easy level.

Mo (Monica): Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Tiffani: Like you’re just learning the basics like you mentioned with Spanish. You learn the basics, but then you start Mo (Monica)ving to the next levels and the teachers start getting really creative with different ways of actually putting into practice what you’re learning.

Mo (Monica): Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Tiffani: So, yeah, that made a big difference to me too. So it was really enjoyable as well.

Mo (Monica): Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Tiffani: Did you…

Mo (Monica): [Mumbling]

Tiffani: When did you feel like you really had a good grasp of what you had learned, you know like, “oh okay, I can actually speak sign language now?”

Mo (Monica): Uhhh-ummmm… huh. That’s interesting, cause I- I don’t even remember, I remember feeling frustrated like I, I just not, I’m not gonna be able to do this. [laughing]

Tiffani: [laughing]

Mo (Monica): And I felt like, and it’s funny because it started with the ABC’s. I’m like I’m never gonna be able to meMo (Monica)rize the ABC’s, I’m like these is 26 letters and there’s no way I’m gonna be able to mem- remem- meMo (Monica)rize these 26 letters. [laughing]

Tiffani: [laughing]

Mo (Monica): But, you know, I had to commit the time to study and, um, and just socialize and be around people.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): So I’m thinking like doing those silent weekends, it was like, you know how you put a drop in a bucket and each drop, you know, you start, at first you don’t notice, like, there is wate- water accumulating and then over time it’s like “Oh, there’s actually some water up in here.”

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): So that’s how I felt, like, eventually I was like- I actually know what I’m talking about.

Tiffani: [drawn out] Yeah.

Mo (Monica): But, yeah, with sign language, because it’s a visual language and you kinda incorporate not acting but, um, like, not mime either, because they hate that, mime, mime. [laughing]

Tiffani: Oh, they don’t want it to be called Miming, their language.

Mo (Monica): Yeah.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): It’s Mo (Monica)re like, um, uh, what is it like when you take on the personality… It’s like, because there’s all of that and I’m kinda that anyway, like when I am, um, talk to people, if I’m telling you what somebody said, like I’m gonna become that person.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Mo (Monica): So, in sign language, that is a part of the language. So, that’s what really helped me. But, um, there’s still some areas I struggle with. Um, I-, I-, every time I work, you know, cuz this is what I do as a profession now, I learn something new and I always ask myself, what can I learn new with this language. And, um, that’s another drop in that bucket of water that’s accumulating every job and, um, it’s trying to learn, learn, learn, learn.

Tiffani: I think that’s the best piece of advice for anybody learning another language because…

Mo (Monica): Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Tiffani: …a lot of times, even when I was teaching my students when I lived in Korea, there was this feeling of wanting to know EVERY-thing possible about English when they would talk to me. Teacher I want to know everything.

Mo (Monica): Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Tiffani: And, the reality is that you are constantly learning, even as Americans, like even though we speak English…

Mo (Monica): Exactly.

Tiffani: …we are always learning something new; some new slang or a new word or some new expression that comes out. So, I think that the fact that you actually know that when you’re, even though it’s your profession, like you are an amazing interpreter – you still realize that every day you are learning something new. So…

Mo (Monica): Yep.

Tiffani: Great advice, great advice.