Amaya's Signing from The Dragon Prince

3 years ago
14

Dragon Prince is a surprisingly good show, and since I couldn't seem to find a simple set of interpretations for all the signing scenes, I finally decided to try posting one myself.

*Notes:
Since ASL rarely shows tense, most of the translations are given in present tense.
I used videos by Let’s Chat (https://www.youtube.com/c/LetsChat/se...) to double-check my interpretations, though I do disagree with him on a few minor things. Sorry for any mistakes you may catch!

0:21 -- The two signs “some one” should be a single sign.
1:00 -- “of flat object” isn’t said literally, but one nice thing about ASL is that you can say extensive things with a single sign since it’s a 3D language.
1:08 -- That looks like the sign “what” but it forcefully implies Amaya wants answers now or else.
2:21 -- “fight-building” and “wall-structure” are basically classifiers that show the shape, thickness, texture, etc. of objects rather than plain words that can be translated simply. Oftentimes guesswork is involved in interpretation.
4:10 -- Though this can be seen as a one-handed “what”, you can tell by Amaya’s flat eyebrows that she’s not asking a question but telling him to continue.
4:46 -- This isn’t the exact sign for “self” but she is indicating all of herself as well as implying she wants to impress that on him in his own way. Subtlety can be hard to translate.
5:15 -- Harrow has no idea he just said he’d stick his hand up someone’s rear. It’s a good thing to learn uncomfortable words to avoid mistakes like “I want sperm” when you mean to say “I want shrimp.”
6:11 -- “your” should not be mixed up with “you are”.
6:31 -- Once again a problem with “some one” vs “someone”. This part also includes her miming a person carrying something, and we can assume she means a torch but not until she actually picks it up and rides forward. It’s easy to misinterpret without context.
7:42 -- Amaya starts off her sentence showing orderly forces advancing and repeats it with exaggerated movements to emphasize they are disorderly. Another example of how many ASL words can be subtly changed to mean something new.

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