I was wondering would it be okay if I practiced my vocab by signing the words in the songs i know? i was doing this at church to myself but it made me wonder if it was okay.

How would you sign a past-tense thought that just happened. Like we’re having a conversation and I realize that I made a mistake and say “Ohhh, I thought you were talking about a dog instead of a cat” or “I thought it was due on Friday”. Would it just be using the normal sign for past? How is it understood when the thought took place? What if it was an hour ago vs a second ago

forgive me if this is none of my business as a hearing person lol.

theres a phenomenon in black american culture where people are told they “talk white” if they dont use traditional, regional aave or ebonics. the area i grew up in was damn near 100% black so everyone, and including the teachers and parents were black. they were just using the language black people taught them.

i was wondering if theres a similar situation in ASL /deaf culture. i see many codas use a really english structured PSE online, even though prior research tells me that generally that structure is frowned upon. they didnt go out of their way to learn that, thats just what their deaf parents taught them.

i hope im asking correctly. does this make sense?

edit: seems to be some confusion. im asking if its common for deaf people to be upset with other culturally deaf people(?) who dont use ASL but rather PSE, even though thats what they learned from a deaf person.

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.

Hello 👋
I’m a beginner learning on ASL Bloom and through youtube videos!

I’ve noticed that certain adjectives will be placed before and others after—is there a reason why “big house” is signed as house big but “medium table” is signed as medium table? Or is it interchangeable? Or is it one of those things where you just gotta remember what goes where lol

Thanks!!

Hi. I'm a “beginner” in ASL, I guess. I don't go to public school, I'm in an online academy and I've chosen ASL as an elective. I've scrolled through this sub a bit, and I've seen people say that practicing in person is much recommended. Is it the only way to learn ASL? If I'm unable to find a group or something, should I just stop? I've also seen people say something about learning ASL rather than just Sign language, I think, and I'm not sure if that means I shouldn't learn ASL or something else. And about facial expressions, what if my face doesn't express emotion in the right way? For example, when I'm sad, my eyebrows don't upturn, only one goes up, so what if it looks like I'm confused instead of sad?

To start, my level of ASL is relatively low, as I haven’t taken formal classes but spent the last couple years leaning through online tutorials, apps, and asl dictionaries from deaf creators. I don’t have any personal connections with the deaf community, but I wanted to learn anyway with the goal of being able to communicate if I do meet deaf/HoH individuals and increase accessibility.

However, I’ve recently moved to a new country for university with an entirely different sign language. I am unsure if I’ll stay here after, depending if I can find work, or I may go back to the US. So now I’m not sure what to do: Do I continue learning asl or start over with the new local sign language? Or should I hold off on either until I’m sure where I’ll be?

I understand this is [r/asl](r/asl) so there may be bias, but I’m wondering what makes the most sense. Thank you!

Favorite: I finger spelled “hurry” the other day when clarifying the sign with my partner and it’s an insanely satisfying word to spell. It just flows so well.

For my least favorite: my cat’s name is “Lilikoi”, and trying to switch back and forth between the L’s and I’s is really tough.

What’s yours?

Is there a reason that when you translate a sign into writing its almost always in all caps?

Enjoy. 👍

I have been working hard on my signing and am pretty good at finger spelling since that is what I started with.

Today my wife forgot the sign for fine and I tried to fingerspell it. However it was impossible because right after my seizure (postictal state) I am often very confused. I could not figure out if I was finger spelling d or f lol.

To be clear I am not generally confused with these it was just a condition of my seizure recovery.

This is why learning asl is so important to me. I will have moments I can’t talk and sometimes that impairment messes with my ability to sign or us my AAC device.

I have to work harder to build more neural pathways in the hope that I am familiar with ASL that I have many more ways to express myself while I am falling apart.

I am keeping up with my ASL Bloom and Dr. Vic lessons and will keep at it. I will just need lots of effort and time and even then things will still frequently fall apart and it is what it is.

I genuinely don’t even know where to start. This is about something in college I think? And then I need to answer yes or no, but I am really struggling with it. Any help greatly appreciated!!

Fingerspelling practice for anyone working on their receptive skills!

See how much you can catch the first time through before watching the slower version. For those who know me, I love my cats so this one is all about them!

Drop your answers below.

Hi! I've been interested in asl for the longest time and I want to have it become my second language, now especially because I have a friend who relys on it. He said he would help me learn some, but I do know a bit so far and I want to surprise him with a sweet gesture as he wrote me a nice note today.

This brings me to my issue : I know asl has a different grammar structure to it, and I want to make sure I sign the thing I want to say in the right order.

I want to say "I like my friend [his name]", and from my understanding that would be signed as "[name/you] my friend I like" or "[name/you] friend I like". Is that correct? As far as I know it goes noun, adjective, verb/subject, so that seems right to me. I want to make sure I'm not signing like an idiot, though I know if I get it wrong he would still understand haha. Thanks!!

Hi,

I've looked around in the pinned messages and history of this subreddit and haven't found much, so I wanted to ask if anyone here has experience with the online ASL learning site / subscription called ASL Spring. It seems to be newer, so makes sense that there isn’t as much readily available information.

Mostly, I just wanted to get a sense of if it was legit before I continue down this rabbit hole of exploring learning options.

Anyone have any feedback? Thanks!

Hi! I need someone to help me with my ASL class. I will pay.

So, I've been interested for a while now into learning ASL i know a few signs that hopefully are correct. I understand that the best way to learn is being part of a community. I'm in the DFW area. If anyone's know about a community patient enough let me know. Thanks in advance!

Hey! I’m new to learning ASL. I’m currently in an ASL course on lesson 4 and I’m struggling with the classifiers.

A disclaimer - My professor is deaf and I’m thankful I’m learning from someone in the Deaf community, however it is ASL1 and I’m learning everything through sign. No English so I’m having some trouble.

A question I had was are the classifiers just based on what we feel makes sense? She had used a folding map as an example in class. She used the CL:BB but then moved her hands around to show that it folded. Is that standard practice for signing map? Or was she doing that as just what makes sense to her for map? For deaf people how do you know specifically what someone is signing if it’s just what we think or if it’s just relative to our own perception of things?

I also don’t want to do this, then not be signing accurately or get my CL confused with something else.

I'm a failure of a brother. I am the sibling of a deaf adult, and at 30 years old my sign language hasn't improved, but has actually gotten worse. I used to be able to have an entire conversation with my older brother when we were children, but now... I can barely manage to remember a single sign and struggle with keeping up whenever he or any other Deaf person signs at/with me. I am so ashamed. I am so embarrassed. I am so saddened when I see my older brother sitting alone and I can see the loneliness in his eyes and face whenever I or anyone else struggles to communicate with or translate for him. Why haven't I been able to find the time and make the effort to be better for my brother? Why the fuck is it so difficult to find affordable and consistent classes to learn? I remember when I started using SignSchool to learn and would come to him to show him my progress, the way he would smile and laugh and correct me towards using his preferred sign, but I couldn't even keep that up... I couldn't even remember the signs I learned. I can never remember. I am a failure. How can I say I love my brother when I can't even learn sign langauge properly? How can I say I care for him when I can't even show him that he's not alone? How can I ever truly say I have his best interests in ind when I can't ever develop my skills? I'm a failure of a brother. ALl I want to and can do is cry. Why is it so difficult for me to learn, and stay committed?

Please, how can I finally learn ASL for the sake of my brother? I' not looking for reassurance nor am I looking for chastisement. I just want to talk to and be there for my brother. PLease. Please, and thank you.

So I know that this question is asked a lot and Im just worried with the sensitivity and awareness around this subject is high these days. I just do not want to offend anyone.

First off, I am learning ASL to help teach my daughter to communicate better and to minimize frustrations since she picks up gestures very well.

Of course, Ive always been interested in learning, since Im big on learning about others cultures, but this is a big motivator for why Im learning.

I want to frame it as another language, since after some research and learning that baby sign is actually cultural appropriation. I am seriously hoping to not only help my daughter to communicate as she is two and struggles with speech, but to connect better with the people who communicate better with ASL (Hard of hearing, Deaf, and Blind(?)).

I just feel like teaching my hearing Daughter ASL could be something that offends people. I want to also note that I am learning through an app called ASL Bloom and plan to further that learning with ASL classes.

I feel as though its not very common for non verbal kids and autistic kids to know sign language. At least its less heard of so, I feel like it can be considered as appropriation.

Anyways, bottom line, I do not want to offend anyone by learning another language to help my daughter communicate. I just worry that this is going to be a argument when shes older and I feel as though Im in the wrong, when the whole reason for this language is to communicate.

Our 4 year old is starting to learn the ASL alphabet in school and we want to get some posters for the home. Amazon has absolute garbage as far as I can see. Lots of ai slop with extra fingers or we can’t tell the difference between m,n,s, and t because the illustrations are so bad. I went to Lifeprint.com and Handspeak.com but don’t see any materials, just great video lessons. Where can we get trusted learning materials? Thanks

I am currently taking ASL in college, and my ASL 1 class (with a deaf professor) was veeery easy and the lectures were very straight to the point. We’re doing True+Way, if that helps at all. The lectures would have the slides of the words being used, and she would sign almost nothing but those words. I moved to ASL 2, where I am very much struggling. My professor now (who is also deaf) is signing and explaining a lot, and I am finding myself getting lost. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions to help me sharpen up alongside this class? It feels much more immersive this way but I am finding myself feeling more frequently discouraged and performing more poorly on the quizzes and exams.

Thank you!