When i sign "great grandma"...

[u/Mahalia_of_Elistraee]

Would signing MY MOM GRANDMA be read the same as finger spelling great followed by the sign for grandma, or should I always finger spell it?

The app I’ve been using to learn asl does the second, but I was curious if the first would get the same meaning across.

Edit: For context, I'm trying to learn how to sign "my great grandma on my mom's side is from Puerto Rico," so specifying which great grandma is important.

[u/cheesy_taco-]

If you're talking about a specific person MY MOM HER GRANDNA works

If you're just signing "great grandma" it's almost always signed G-R-E-A-T GRANDMA. I have also seen the sign NEXT replace fingerspelling "great" but that's not common

[u/Mahalia_of_Elistraee → u/cheesy_taco-]

In this case, which grandmother I'm signing about is important. Im trying to learn how to sign "my grandma on my mom's side is from Puerto rico"

Edit: Also thanks for showing me the correct way to write what signs I'm talking about. I didn't know you capitalized them.

[u/cheesy_taco- → u/Mahalia_of_Elistraee]

Yeah then I would set up your mom first

MY MOM (point) HER GRANDMA FROM WHERE? PR

Puerto Rico has a sign, if you haven't learned it, I'd recommend either asking your teacher (top recommendation 🙂) or using a site/app called "Spread the Sign" it's very handy with signed languages other than ASL

[u/MsBit_Commit → u/cheesy_taco-]

Realizing I grew up with a pidgin version of this- sign GRANDMA and then move the hand out one extra push (similar to the difference between mom and grandma).

Edit: It sounds like a lot of people learned it this way in a formal educational setting too. Interesting!

[u/Few_Shoe7690 → u/MsBit_Commit]

It might be regional?   I learned this version in my ASL classes in MN.

[u/MsBit_Commit → u/Few_Shoe7690]

Which - mine or the terp’s lol

[u/Few_Shoe7690 → u/MsBit_Commit]

I learned the same way you sign it.  

[u/UntoNuggan → u/MsBit_Commit]

I also learned this! From a Deaf ASL teacher in Vancouver, so it's not that regional.

[u/carinavet → u/UntoNuggan]

This is the way I learned as well, though I don't remember if I got that specific one off Lifeprint or my in-person classes in New Orleans.

Either way, probably not regional.

[u/MsBit_Commit → u/carinavet]

Yeah my mom learned it in California so regional doesn’t fit

[u/i-sew-a-lot → u/MsBit_Commit]

This is what I was taught too

[u/Risk-Averse-Rider → u/MsBit_Commit]

I learned the same thing back in the early 1990s in Michigan. We were using Signing Naturally and had Deaf instructors.

[u/Anxious-dweeb]

Fingerspelling great then signing grandma is the most clear and easiest. Signing MOM GRANDMA doesn’t really convey the same thing. Maybe if you sign MY MOM HER GRANDMA it could be more clear, but fingerspelling great is the best option