Question about sign language and dialogue.

[ascanius]

I have one character who never speaks but she does use sign language. my question is this. How do I write sign language dialogue. So far what I have been doing is this.

So and so's hands danced in the air before her asking what they were going to do now?
"We are going north....." He told her flatly, hefting the straps of the roughly fashioned sack over his shoulders.
Why she asked with her fingers trailing from that question into another.
"I have called on old friends we will meet them in three days time at the river crossing." He told her and started off through the forest. "We go because our welcome here has worn thin. and the rest, you will know why."

Do you think this works? Or should I do something more like this.

"what are we going to do now?" So and so's hands danced in front of her asking the question.
"We are going north..." He told her flatly, hefting the straps of the roughly fashioned sack over his shoulders.
"Why..." her fingers danced again. "What do you want with me."
"I have called on old friends we will meet them in three days time at the river crossing." He told her and started off through the forest. "We go because our welcome here has worn thin. and the rest, you will know why."

Thoughts?

 

[Queshire]

Hmm.... I like the first option personally, but it could easily get confusing.... maybe start with the first and as it gets established in the reader's mind that she's not actually talking, but just signing, then move on to the second?

 

[Kit]

Hmmm... ASL does not put together its sentences in the same way that spoken English does, although I have no idea about earlier versions of sign language in other parts of the world.

One of the most intriguing- and beautiful- and meaningful- things about sign language is that you convey a lot through facial expressions, posture, and other body language.

This obviously won't work for long, complex philosophical debates... but if I were writing this, I'd actually want to squeeze the communication differences/complexities- even between your nonspeaking MC and a character who knows sign language- for interest. If you end up effectively translating her into English, why bother....

---------


A's hands danced in the air before her, an intent questioning on her face.

"We are going north....." He told her flatly, hefting the straps of the roughly fashioned sack over his shoulders.

Puzzled, she gestured again.

"I have called on old friends we will meet them in three days time at the river crossing." He told her and started off through the forest. "We go because our welcome here has worn thin. and the rest, you will know why."

--------------------
See, you don't even have to spoon-feed us what she is saying- you know via her expressions and his replies. That particular bit of conversation would even go the same way if the male character *didn't* understand her signs.

 

[SeverinR]

I would change danced, it replaces said, but danced... danced... danced?
Remember, we yell, scream, ask, and so on.
Hands dancing is but one description of the motion.

ASL is only one type of sign language, if ancient times, it might be a sign language made up by the family of the person they want to comunicate with.
I think it is alright to say what the signed sentence means in verbal english. True translation might not be understandable, or slow the read down.
I agree with Kit on facial expressions.

I used a sign language for thieves in one story long ago, it was made up of movements that would not be noticed or dismissed as nervous tics, or as if the person was looking for something on their person, but truly speak a short basic message.

 

[shangrila]

Hmmm... ASL does not put together its sentences in the same way that spoken English does, although I have no idea about earlier versions of sign language in other parts of the world.

One of the most intriguing- and beautiful- and meaningful- things about sign language is that you convey a lot through facial expressions, posture, and other body language.

This obviously won't work for long, complex philosophical debates... but if I were writing this, I'd actually want to squeeze the communication differences/complexities- even between your nonspeaking MC and a character who knows sign language- for interest. If you end up effectively translating her into English, why bother....

---------


A's hands danced in the air before her, an intent questioning on her face.

"We are going north....." He told her flatly, hefting the straps of the roughly fashioned sack over his shoulders.

Puzzled, she gestured again.

"I have called on old friends we will meet them in three days time at the river crossing." He told her and started off through the forest. "We go because our welcome here has worn thin. and the rest, you will know why."

--------------------
See, you don't even have to spoon-feed us what she is saying- you know via her expressions and his replies. That particular bit of conversation would even go the same way if the male character *didn't* understand her signs.

I like this one the most, nice idea.

Also, if you're looking for ideas, you could try the Dead Money DLC of Fallout New Vegas. That one has a character without a voice that you can have a fairly long conversation with.

 

[Ireth]

I have a deaf character whom I write and roleplay a lot, and she exclusively uses ASL. Whenever I need her to say something, I just put her words into italics to denote that she's signing and not speaking. I've also read a book once (the title escapes me at the moment) with a deaf protagonist, which used the same technique to set signing apart from speech.

 

[Steerpike]

I agree with Queshire. Once you establish it, it could become tedious to use that much description of how she is communicating throughout. You might drop in bits of description here and there to remind the reader or to add flavor, but I think once it has been made clear she is signing you conduct the dialog in an effective manner, first and foremost, trusting the reader to remember that she is signing.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Another mechanism is to use a different quotation style to indicate that what's being "said" is actually being communicated through hand signals.

"Why aren't we going north?" he asked, glaring.

«There's bears to the north,» she signed, fear on her face.

"So? I have a gun. I'm not afraid of bears."

«I'm afraid of what hunts the bears.»

Even though actual ASL may not render sentences the same way we speak them, you can be seen as essentially "translating" the signs into sentences.

 

[BWFoster78]

SM Stirling uses italics to denote the use of sign language in his "novels of the change" series.

 

[Fnord]

RA Salvatore just used italics when the dark elves in his stories communicated with sign language. It made it pretty easy to tell what was actual dialogue and what was sign language, especially since it bounced back and forth a lot.

 

[Christopher Wright]

A bit more on sentence structure. Not sure if it will help or confuse, but it does show exactly how complex signing can be.

ASL (American Sign Language) is based on French sentence structure, which can be a little confusing if translated directly into english.

English:

Goldilocks wandered away from her home and into the forest. She smelled the scent of her favorite food and wnadered towards the pleasing scent. Where was the house where the scent was coming from?

ASL:

There Goldilocks, home escape wander. Enter forest wander. Smell favorite scent food smell enjoy wander. Where house where scent where?

As previously mentioned, facial expression is an integral part of ASL because it is used to convey not just emotion, but also whether the signer is making a statement or asking a question. So when ASL is shown visually there can be a representation of the signer's face as well. You can see an example of this here:

Sign languages

As for describing it in fiction, Amazon has a few examples of books with deaf characters, or characters who live with deaf people. Here's one:

Amazon.com: Of Sound Mind (9780374455842): Jean Ferris: Books

If you use the "search inside this book" feature, you'll see the author explain the convention that was adopted, but generally signs are displayed in a different font with no quotes, and are otherwise treated the same way as speech.