Eli5 – Why are sign language translators still used? Aren’t subtitles more effective?
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Speaking for ASL, which is the only sign language I know. Sign language is a separate language that often gets translated into written English due to a lack of its own (widespread) written form. Using subtitles is kind of like a Spanish program having Spanish subtitles so it’s easier for you to understand what they’re saying.
Yeah you now know all the words, but you still aren’t as comfortable in Spanish as you are in english, its not the language you necessarily think in (my Deaf mother does actually think in written english but why exclude the people who don’t?),many of the idioms are still lost on you, and you’re still going to generally miss out on some of the experience depending on your level of fluency.
Additionally, we’re on the tail end of an era where a lot of older deaf people were barely granted an education at all, let alone a good one. My Deaf stepfather describes his upbringing as more like a particularly beloved pet than a human child. He was sent to an all Deaf boarding school pretty young and they focused mainly on ASL rather than english. It would be pretty shitty of us as a society to not only rob a group of their language skills, but to demand they be profient at it anyways.
Deaf communities can be pretty insular and that reinforces ASL as their main language, which sometimes as come at the cost of english fluency. If all you deal with on a daily basis (other than small business transactions, is other people fluent in sign language, then you’re going to be better at it. I personally live in the US where we don’t have an official language, so that’s their right.
Finally, ADA goes *bbbrrrrr*.
I’m guessing that it’s because sign languages are separate real-time languages and don’t correspond to text.
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