Signing Clearly

IN ORDER to communicate effectively, you must sign clearly. What you want to say may be interesting, even important, but much of it will be lost if your signing is not easily understood.

People are not motivated by signing that they do not really understand. Even if a person signs energetically or enthusiastically, if his signing is not clear, it will not move others to action. It is as if he were speaking in a foreign language, unintelligible to the listener. (Jer. 5:15) The Bible reminds us: “If the trumpet sounds an indistinct call, who will get ready for battle? In the same way, unless you with the tongue use speech that is easily understood, how will anyone know what is being said? You will, in fact, be speaking into the air.”—1 Cor. 14:8, 9.

What Makes Signing Indistinct? Signing in too small a space or too near your body, or failing to touch your body when a sign requires it, may cause your signing to be unclear.

In addition, signing at too fast a pace may be difficult to grasp. That is like playing a recording of signing faster than it was designed to run. The signs are there, but much of the benefit is lost.

Some people may suffer from stiffness in their hands, which can affect their signing. Or perhaps someone has an injury to his hand, wrist, or arm that interferes with his freedom of motion or requires him to sign using his elbows more than his wrists.

In other cases, indistinct signing is related to a defect in the hands, arms, or facial muscles. But even those who must cope with such a challenge can do much to improve by applying the suggestions in this study.

Frequently, however, indistinct signing results from slurring signs—either using incomplete signs or running them together so that they are difficult to understand. The problem may involve skipping parts of a sign, such as signing only the first letter of the sign for “Jehovah.” Or it may be due to signing two or more words together so quickly that they seem to become one sign. When a person runs signs together, his listeners may catch some ideas and phrases but they have to guess at others. Failure to sign clearly can impair the effectiveness of a person’s teaching.

How to Sign Clearly. One of the keys to signing clearly is understanding the structure of signs in your language and what is involved in producing each sign. This will be discussed in detail in the next counsel point. If you want to improve the clarity of your signing, slow down and do your best to form and use each sign correctly. At first this may seem to be overly precise, but as you practice and become accustomed to producing each sign correctly, you will gradually resume a smooth flow. For the sake of fluency, you will no doubt run certain signs together, but this should be avoided if there is any danger of obscuring the sense of the signs. This practice can help you whether you have large hands or small hands and regardless of your handedness.

It is important to be able to manipulate your hands in a variety of ways and extend your fingers to form many different shapes. If you struggle with stiffness in your hands, an exercise that might help is fully opening and closing your hands 40 to 50 times as rapidly as possible. This may extend your range of motion and make your hands more flexible so that you can form handshapes correctly.

Also, when first signing a key word or a proper noun, sign or spell it clearly and precisely. Then, if it is repeated later in your talk, you can sign or spell it more quickly since it will be recognized.

A note of caution: To cultivate clarity, you may practice signing in an overly precise manner. But do not allow that to become your regular manner of signing. It would appear affected and unnatural.

Learning to release tension can also improve your signing. Tension in the shoulders, arms, and wrists can have an adverse effect on your delivery. Such tension interferes with the harmonious coordination that should exist between your mind, hands, arms, body, and face—an operation that should be smooth and natural.

The hands, arms, and face need to be relaxed in order to respond readily to direction from the brain. If you are too nervous, your shoulders may tighten, and this will affect how you sign.

In analyzing your own situation, you may find it helpful to watch yourself signing in front of a mirror. Closely observe how you are using your shoulders, arms, and hands. Wear clothing that allows you to move freely. As you sign, do you seem to be doing so without facial movement? If so, then there is a strong probability that your signing is indistinct.

If a video recorder is available, record yourself while you are signing in a natural way, as you would to someone when you are in the field ministry. Record several minutes of conversational signing. Watching that recording can help you pinpoint any trouble you may have in signing certain words. Watch for instances of slurring of signs or dropping the hands in a sloppy or lazy manner, and try to determine the cause. Usually the weakness can be remedied by working on the points discussed above.

Do you have a physical impediment that interferes with your signing? Depending on the severity of the impediment, it may be wise to slow down and sign more deliberately. At times, you may even need to sign in an exaggerated manner to compensate for any limitations you may have. Try to present your message in a brief, simple way, as Jesus did with even deep truths. Although your problem may not be completely solved, do not despair. Remember that Jehovah chose Moses, a man who may have had a speech impediment, to deliver vital messages to both the people of Israel and Pharaoh of Egypt. (Ex. 4:10-12) If you are willing, he will use you too, and he will bless your ministry with success.