I was testing a student who stood up to share her short story in signs in our class. She was so good at signing despite sign language being the third language that she is learning and isn't a native speaker. She was confused about gloss or glosa in Indonesian. That's the thing that is most often forgotten when learning and translating a foreign language. Foreign language teachers almost never teach about gloss to students and yeah, I am sure some do and some do not.
The Gloss (Gr) means when a word is attached to a sign in simple terms. It refers to the way that ASL (American Sign Language) names signs in order to give a sense of the meanings behind them. A word or word that represents that sign does not signify its meaning in any way (source: What Are Glosses in Sign Language/ https://www.ilovelanguages.com/what-are-glosses-in-sign-language). A gloss happens because it causes when a student who learns a second language but their mind that used to be a native language as born-language or mother tongue so that a student thinks and gets used to writing a second language at the same rules, although it can be mistaken and misconception. For example:
David is a British who learns Indonesian in class, David comes to English as his native language so he wants to say:
I am David and I am from Manchester, so David says in Indonesia "Saya adalah David dan saya adalah dari Manchester." It says the same rules because of his English rules to write it in Indonesian. An Indonesian who is a native speaker can be confused about what it means because Indonesian hasn't "adalah" which it terms "am" that he said. The correct is saya David dan saya dari Manchester in Indonesian.
English: I am David and I am from Manchester.
Indonesian: Saya adalah David dan saya adalah dari Manchester (incorrected). Saya David dan saya dari Manchester. (corrected).
The second example, Budi is an Indonesian who wants to learn English, he would like to say "tidak apa-apa" in English, try to guess what would he say "tidak apa-apa" in English? You think he would say "that's okay", aren't you? Yes, you are but the gloss can be different. He would say "no what-what" and an Australian will be confused about what he said.
Indonesian: Tidak apa-apa.
English: No what-what (incorrected). That's okay (corrected)
Isn't it interesting?
Then, what about sign language? It would be BISINDO/ Indonesian Sign Language, which is my native language. A look at how the gloss is working.
Indonesian: Saya makan pisang (I eat banana)
BISINDO: pisang, saya makan (banana, I eat)
BISINDO always puts an object in the first step. The object in the signs is pisang (banana), apel (apple), ayam (chicken), bebek (duck), etc. The further explanation you can get in applying to sign language courses is because you will get more explanation of what the gloss is. I am writing just a short explanation on this blog.
As a sign language native, I would like to say that the gloss is part of interesting language lessons that have almost never been taught in our class or somewhere before. The gloss is a challenge in becoming an interpreter so it doesn't a strange sound for professional and certified interpreters and it probably is a new thing to foreign language students. The gloss is influenced by culture, linguistics, tradition, geography, politics, and history like Inuit language in Canada has so many words describing how cold it is for winter, the Javanese language has so many words describing what rice means, and other foreign languages, including sign language. But, the gloss has nothing wrong, that's a fact! The gloss happens because of different language rules and that's a common problem. The gloss can be learned because you need to understand what difference is and make sure you learn the language in true ways.
I wish this would be interesting for you-- students who learn a foreign language, including sign language, and as well as teachers need to learn about the gloss.
Thanks, everyone!
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