Question about coin broker

No, your primary language is English but your
mode of communication is ASL. If you haven't been
reading books, you would have to be reading sub-titles
on TV. Maybe you don't read often but if I were deaf, I
would be reading all the time. That being said, I was an artillery gunner in
the Marine Corps so I should probably start learning ASL
now.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

ASL you sound a lot like me. We love coins and it would be a dream to be able to live a comfortable lifestyle based solely around numismatics. From my own personal experience I can tell you that I jumped the gun on my aspirations. With little experience I had called one of the most respected coin dealers in the world asking for a job, had emailed Don Willis from PCGS, and had come up with various business ideas which were sure to tank. We may be at different places in our numismatic experience but I have come to the conclusion that I am simply going to have to hit the books for a very long time.

 

I wonder why it is then that people from different countries and without any understanding of English can communicate via ASL.

Before you put your foot deeper down your throat, read the Wikipedia article on ASL. In the second sentence, it says "ASL is not related to English, and features an entirely different grammar and vocabulary."

 

Wrong. You need to start learning to have manners.

 

Aslpride, a mistake many make in the business enterprise is to try and have a "niche" start and then hoping to add the expertise and business acumen to expand it over time. Whereas, the reverse is more successful ~ once you gain the expertise, your niche will attract those clients as well as others. Deaf coin collectors will still expect any broker to have at least as much and probably a lot more knowledge and ability than they do. It does take time and effort to become expert or even accomplished in any area, and there is no easy or cheap way. Best of luck.

Jim

 

Collect89: I am not member of any organization, but I am considering to join soon. I also did thinking to take numismatic courses online. Coins is new to me, but the concept of grading and collecting coins isn't any big different than comic books. I have over 22 years experience in comic books and 10 years experience in sports cards. Coins is my new interest and would like to improve my knowledge into it. Imagine that I have three fields of collecting at my end. My opinion on collecting will be valuable in future.

H8 modern: You are lucky that I am easy going person and dont' take anything offend too easy, but if any deaf community see what you said. I can say your inbox will be full by them. Anyway, your argument on learning English through subtitles. It's out of order as my English teacher told me that I can't decide to watching movie and tv shows with subtitles instead of read a book to improve my English. My English teacher emphasized that reading books will improve my English, not from watching movie or tv with subtitles. Here I am, I still love watching movies and tv shows. My brother is deaf and he loves to read books, but he do watch movies and tv shows with subtitles as well. His English is better than mine. Yes, I agree with you as you probably start learning ASL and they will includes deaf culture then you will realize what you said is wrong.

JCB1983: I agree with your statement. I am still learning and I will not let anyone who said, "You must have a lot of years experience to be one of them" statement to influence me to stop what I am doing.

desertgem: Thank you for positive feedback, I appreciate it. Last three months is when I start interest to learn about coins business. I did learn a lot in past three months, but I know there are more to learn. This forum is great place to asking questions as I can learn something from experts.

 

I know this is a tangent and I've taken quite a few hits already but... Why am I a jerk for expecting a deaf person to be able to read and write correctly!?!

 

Really dude? It has already been explained. Even if the sentences do not have perfect English, you can understand what they are trying to say.

 

About being a broker, it is very tough to do. I did it for a bit fairly successfully by finding investors to purchase high end coins that local dealers would consign to me. You really do have to know quite a bit about market fluctuations, grading and what collectors and investors want. It can be done, but it is a harder road than you may think. Good luck.

 

Its a Marine thing, trust me I know.:devil: JKJK

 

Something everyone should keep in mind is that there are members from many foreign countries where English is not the primary, or sometimes, not even the 2nd or 3rd languages. It is one thing if the comments need interpretation, but if you aren't willing to use Babelfish or other internet interpretation, then do the honorable thing and pass on, not leaving a comment. I am sure some foreign members do just that to many posts in "English" as idioms are difficult to interpret.

Play nice!

Jim

 

I agree that you should have a LOT of experience before taking the roll of a professional, which is what a broker is doing. By presenting yourself as a broker or offering to help someone buy or sell, you are saying you have a certain high standard of knowledge. In the coin realm that requires more than a red book and reading some chat. It requires years really; lots of reading, and the real life experience of buying and selling and trading. Remember that you may even have legal liability and could face law suits if you run into a big problem. So, the general advice of take your time to gain a LOT of knowledge seem like very wise advice.
Regarding your grammar, I also agree. Less than perfect spelling, grammar and syntax look very unprofessional. You can use a good word processing program like Microsoft Word that has grammar checking to help you with common errors. As an employer I have hired and worked well with deaf employees. One fellow I worked with was a programmer for me. He was very quick to point out MY spelling errors, and reminded me that it made me look unprofessional and uneducated. My spelling actually improved because of him. ASL was his first language too, deaf from age 2, and he had impeccable writing skills in English (and was an awesome programmer!)
You certainly know that the deaf community is a close group and can benefit from qualified help. At the same time, there have been a lot of people do them harm, too. Not doing the job well could ruin your reputation and hurt the community very quickly. If you start small, work hard at it, acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses honestly and humbly, and do a professional job, I'm imagine you could be of good service to them and make a little $ at the same time.

 

Hey ASL I know this is numismatic related but I just read the post that you are deaf. I just wanted to say that I was born 80% deaf. I could hear people talk but it was inaudible for years. When I was 7 I had tubes in my ears and a couple of surgeries. They were trying times because I wasn't very good and my parents didn't sign. Coins really helped get through some trying times.

 

Did you ever think how devastating it might be to be deaf? Did you ever think there might be other disabilities? I wonder if you were deaf how well you would've done in school? Look son, you've risen to the highest station in life you will ever attain : humping shells and having someone tell you when to eat, sleep and ****.

 

I don't know anything about being a coin broker except that they make alot of money and some of them also work with stocks, retirement programs, annuities etc. I suggest you get hooked up with the ANA as they should be able to assist you in your future prospects. Maybe only in the area of tuition for their courses but I think you would be surprised as they are set up for many situations.

 

It could be that English is his second language. All of his posts seem to convey this (at least so to me). I'd cut him a break and wish that others on a Spanish or French language forum would make allowances for my shortcomings grammar and idiomatically......

 

ASL stands for American Sign Langauge, and is sign language in English.

Other countries have Sign Language in their native language that deaf people in that country can understand.

It's not universal.

 

This comment was a bit insensitive, as "Being deaf doesn't impact your writing skills" is obviously not an accurate statement. However, the accuracy of the statement is not readily apparent to the hearing abled. I was under the assumption that ASL used English syntax, and that lip reading skills would coincide with a grasp of tenses, verb conjugation, and plurality. But, my assumptions were wrong as this apparently is not the case. Now I know better.

With that being said, the "perception of people based on writing skills" portion of the statement still holds true in any case. It is a simple fact, a person must possess acceptable communication skills if they want to be perceived as a capable, educated professional. This involves utilizing correct grammar, vocabulary, and spelling if communication occurs through writing or speaking. Given the choice of service providers, I am going to pass on a person that speaks like a podunk hillbilly and/or cannot write a grammatically acceptable sentence. This is unfortunate in some cases, as communication skills aren't always an accurate indicator of actual capabilities or mental aptitude, but it is the case none-the-less.

 

Yes, ASL was invented in America, but it is not "sign language in English."

No, it is not "Universal", but it is used in many countries by people who don't speak English.

From the Linguistic Society of America's web page:

"ASL differs more from English in its grammatical structure than do European
languages such as French, German, Spanish, and Russian. ... ASL differs from English for the same reason other languages do: it is a different language. As such, it is increasingly being accepted as satisfying foreign language requirements in high schools, colleges, and universities."

 

What I meant by my statement is that ASL here in the U.S., uses signs and hand gestures in place of spoken English words. Someone from say Spain, who is deaf uses sign language that is adapted to words in Spanish, and an deaf person in the U.S. would not understand the structure of the signs used in Spain. Some of the signs maybe similar to those used in ASL, but have a different meaning and neither would be able to communicate using their respective signing.

As far as grammatical structure, the source you quoted is accurate as ASL is in broken syntax.

Example: Spoken a sentence would be; "I have to go to the store."

In sign, that sentence would be; "I store go I".

To someone who is deaf, or is fluent in sign language they would interpret "I store go I" as "He must go to the store".

It's a condensed syntax missing a lot of the smaller words such as to, the, etc., and it's not uncommon for deaf people to write communication much in the same way as they sign.

If you listen to a person who lost their hearing due to damage to the inner ear, in time, because they are not able to hear the annunciation and forming of words, their speech deteriorates, and will continue to do so until they no longer can form words. This is due to their inability to hear the sounds of words being formed through speech.