In Montreal there was a French deaf group and an English deaf group. They manage to communicate with each other but with some problems. Deaf people develop their "accents" by pickign up new signs and dropping older ones while another group refuses to adopt the new signs.
I found that I could communicate fairly well - certainly not fluent with the couple who taught me. They both grew up in the same small town so I learned many of their little differences. Two doors down from them lived another deaf family. I had to learn their particular differences. They weren't big differences but they were there. Then another family had their differences.
When the deaf get together they adapt quite quickly to those differences with acasual check what a sign means. As a hearing person it was different. I had to ask a lot more often. lol
Now interpreting is different. The best ASL interpreters are the children of the deaf. The rest of us don't even come close. The ASL interpreters I have seen on TV are wooden faced. There is almost no facial expression and very little body expression. I don't even know how to explain this especailly since they are supposedly certified interpreters.
Now in the cong I was in most of the people who learned were very shy modest woman who were not comfortable with a lot of facial expression or body movement. They tended to sign just with their hands.
To be honest I came a lot closer to a modified ASL and SEE (Signed Exact English) Although I was simply repeating exactly word for word what was being said on the platform, my facial expression and body language followed the voice intonations of the speaker. I think that is why they preferred me so much for important talks. I could keep up with the speaker word for word and I was able to make the translation come alive. Mouthy/Grace who posts on here knows me well and used to watch me. I get a lot of praise from her and people like her who used to watch me. So I guess you could say I had my own little accent too
