"Hungry" and "Wish"

[MegsMom]

What is the difference between the signs for "Hungry" and "Wish"? They look the same in the drawings I have seen, and I have seen the sign for "Wish" described as an exaggerated form of "Hungry".

Also, how do you know if someone is teaching you the correct way to sign a word? I talked to a lady from the Community Services for the Deaf and Hard Of Hearing in our county and she told me not to take the ASL class at a certain college because they teach the wrong signs. I assume she didn't mean ALL the wrong signs, but now I'm concerned I will be learning the signs wrong. I want to make sure I'm not accidentally saying (signing) something that will get me in trouble! :)

[bjcengh]

Wish and Hungry are the same sign. Only context will help distinguish which one is being used. As for your other question I would call the college and/or talk to the professor teaching the class. Maybe she's not from that town and is not familiar with their regional signs. Doesn't seem too likely that ALL the signs are wrong. Very interesting that she told you that. Maybe you could ask her to elaborate or ask who specifically is teaching the "wrong" signs.

[Roxanne Morris]

Well they are the same signs. Even though it's hard to tell a child that there is a difference in them, they can see that differencce in your facial expressions. You can double check everything with some online resources. There are videos of how each sign is done at these site.

http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro - my personal favorite

http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm - I like this one because they also have the written explanation for the sign which comes in handy for long phrases like "student of the month" I couldn't figure that one out from asl pro until i pieced it together on the msu site.

Cross referencing is important no matter where you learn your signs. Remember also that like spoken language there are differences depending on where you live and who raised you and all kinds of things. I sign slowly and not too accurately .. I like to tell my friends its because of my thick southern accent. lol there is also slang and improper english signs but you'll learn those when your kids are teenagers. :D