Signers can face the same problems as other bilingual people. Their brains have to choose between two languages all the time. Take the words "paper" and "movie." Their spelling and meaning are not at all similar. But, as Professor Allen points out, the signs for them are.
手语使用者会遇到和其他双语人士一样的问题。他们的大脑一直需要在两种语言中选择。以“文件”和“电影”这2个单词为例,它们的拼写和含义并不相同。但正如艾伦教授指出,这两个单词的手势有点类似。
TOM ALLEN: "The sign for paper, you hold one hand flat and you just lightly tap it with a flat palm on the other hand, and you do that a couple times and that means paper.Now, movie is, like, very similar. One of the hands keeps a flat hand shape and it just kind of lightly moves back and forth as if it were a flickering image on a screen."
艾伦:“文件的手势,一手放平,另一手放平轻轻点击这只手,这样做几次就代表文件。而电影的手势和这很相近。一手保持放平状态并缓慢地前后移动,就像是屏幕上切换的画面。”