Yes!

MORNING moves up (like the rising☀️)- All the signs in that grouping (MORNING, NOON, AFTERNOON + NIGHT) follow the same "internal logic"

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This makes sense

Why are good, thank you, and you're welcome all related? That makes less sense to me

I'm not familiar w/ why GOOD + THANK-YOU are so similar (or sometimes the same, with their meaning dependent on context)-

On a subjective level, the feeling/concept of GOOD/GRATITUDE share similarities, but I don't know the etymology w/those two signs to give a good answer

Interestingly, there's not *really* a sign for "YOU'RE WELCOME"; instead, the following signs are more frequently used: FINE++, SURE, NO-BIGGIE, "pashaw" (more of a gesture meaning 'no worries')...

There are many who do sign the literal "WELCOME" to mean "YOU'RE-WELCOME"... that's a linguistic pet peeve of mine as conceptually it doesn't make sense.

For reference, here's morning in Chinese 早 (zao)

it's made up of two symbols: the sun rising over a tree.

👀 Interesting... What does AFTERNOON + EVENING look like in Chinese?

Not all Chinese symbols have clear iconic representation or sometimes even no representation at all.

That being said,

Afternoon = 下午 (xia wu)

Evening = 晚上 (wan shang)

Ah! The same w/ ASL: Though there are sets of iconic signs (ie MORNING, TREE, etc), most are arbitrary

Here are some interesting ones that you'll like:

Person = 人 (ren) (two legs)

Woman = 女 (nǚ) (a sitting women with one leg crossed)

Mouth = 口 (kŏu)

Tree = 木 (mù)

Forst = 林 (lín)

Forest/jungle = 森 (sēn)

(accents on top of the Roman characters signify which tone to use when pronouncing the word)

🔥This is awesome!! These have very similar grouping + "look" of the ASL signs for these particular examples

Tonality- the bane of my linguistic capabilities! Being fluent in Chinese- Do you also have perfect pitch?

It's not perfect but pretty good, and this took about 3 years to accomplish.

What was the impetus to train (near) perfect pitch?

The Chinese people will not understand what you're saying if you use the wrong tone! 😁

Every word can have 4 different tones that in turn will give it many different meanings.

Tonality in Chinese seems similar to movement in ASL; It's the difference b/w FAT + PREGNANT, SHY + PROSTITUTE, or COFEE + MAKE-OUT 😏

Exactly like Mandarin

I'm sure we've both signed/said some "choice" things as learners... 😆

(I *KNOW* I have)

Definitely!

After a while, saying words in the wrong tone will sound wrong.

LOL! I see... I thought maybe you're a musician + wanted perfect pitch for that.

I watch a number of polyglots who are fluent in Mandarin - such a complex language

I can hardly speak let alone sing 😂

Mandarin is complex and a nightmare to learn. But it's kid's play when compared to Arabic.

What's your native language? And how many languages have your tried picking up?

I speak four languages fluently and a beginner in another two.

My native language is Arabic.

Beautiful! Besides your mother tongue, what is your favorite language to converse in?

I can't really choose as I enjoy them all immensely.

💯 understandable!

How long did it take you to be able to at least hold a basic conversation in ASL?

For me, I could hold basic conversations within the first month... and obtained "near native fluency" by year 4. Prior to that, I was technically "fluent", working as an interpreter,, but wasn't able to fully express my personality in totality with the same ease as I do w/English. By year 4, it all came together!

How difficult do you consider this language to be?

🤔Well, ASL lacks tone + written expression... so, that may make it easier for some people.

But, as ASL is as rich as other spoken languages, the ease/difficulty in learning it is a bit subjective. (ie I take to signed languages easier than oral/rural languages [I think my 👂are broken!])

(Do you want to give it a go? [I have free lessons that you might have fun with; quizzes at the end so you can test youself]: https://aslterpandteach.com/p/untitled-2

I wish I could 😢

My daily schedule is packed and I can't concentrate on learning this way.

But I have always been curious about sign languages..

I understand! 🫶