# How best to learn sign language **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844 "2010-05-09T23:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/1 "2010-05-09T23:01:32Z")
One option for my PhD is to pass a test in sign language (I have to check but I do not believe its signed American English). Assuming I have a year and a half and don’t have time for a lot of classes (maybe time for a couple), what is the best way to learn? Books? Internet? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/2 "2010-05-09T23:19:24Z")
Get a book and learn some basic signs. Then… Hire a deaf tutor to practice with. I took a couple classes at college. The second class was taught by a deaf instructor. The only communication allowed was sign language. One sore spot in the deaf community is the new signs. ASL added silly letters to the signs these people have used since infancy. It’s a little presumptuous. I rarely see textbook ASL used among my deaf friends. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/3 "2010-05-09T23:27:32Z")
Another tip Sign is not pure English. They don’t sign complete sentences with connectors and prepositions. When you read sign, you have to fill in the gaps. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/4 "2010-05-09T23:32:50Z")
a few basic sentences with video. Your first hundred signs. 😉 > **[100 first signs: American Sign Language (ASL)](http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/concepts.htm)** > > 100 beginner ASL signs. Great for Parents of Deaf children or anyone who wants to learn baby sign language. Also includes American Sign Language related information and resources. ---
**Author:** ![freakstasy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@freakstasy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freakstasy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/5 "2010-05-09T23:42:45Z")
Using a book to start learning sign language is like trying to learn a spoken language without sound – you could do it, but you’d be missing out on a lot and possibly be saying things wrong. A sign language book is only as good as its illustrations and the reader’s ability to interpret 2-D drawings or pictures. Plus, they’re likely to contain outdated signs. Try video instead. There are a lot of [basic lessons on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=american%20sign%20language). You can easily get the fingerspelled alphabet and the number, food, color, etc. signs out of the way. I’ve found [ASL Pro’s conversational dictionary](http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/phrases.cgi) helpful for grasping ASL syntax. I second the recommendation of a deaf tutor (or any fluent signer, deaf or hearing). If not, a class with a deaf teacher is the next best thing. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/6 "2010-05-10T00:04:18Z")
What are you doing your Ph.D. in? Why do they ask for ASL (American Sign Language) as one of the options for this requirement? What are the other options? How will you be tested? Where do you live? aceplace57 writes: \> Sign is not pure English. They don’t sign complete sentences with connectors \> and prepositions. ASL is not anywhere close to English. It’s a completely different language. I guess this has to be stated any time that a thread on ASL comes up. It’s not English with words replaced by signs. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/7 "2010-05-10T00:05:11Z")
The best way to learn spoken languages is to go to the country where they are spoken and live there for a year or so. So, find a group of deaf people to hang out with. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/8 "2010-05-10T00:29:57Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/9 "2010-05-10T02:37:26Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > The best way to learn spoken languages is to go to the country where they are spoken and live there for a year or so. So, find a group of deaf people to hang out with. Deafland, just to the right of Sealand. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/10 "2010-05-10T03:24:41Z")
My youngest had delayed speech, and she and my wife went to a local school for the deaf which offered classes. It wasn’t very expensive, and they learned a lot of signs there - and how to do it. I think the feedback you get from a real teacher is good. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/11 "2010-05-10T05:10:15Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > ASL is not anywhere close to English. It’s a completely different language. I guess this has to be stated any time that a thread on ASL comes up. It’s not English with words replaced by signs. Which is why I specifically stated in the OP that it was _not_ signed American English. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/12 "2010-05-10T06:03:34Z")
Make sure that you get the correct language. American Sign Language is a completely different animal than Signed American English, and both are different from British Sign Language, which is different from Signed British English. You will be dealing with different grammar, with a completely different set of “phonemes” than you’re used to: they’re not even noises, but facial and body gestures. English is spoken with your mouth; SL, with everything above your waist and sometimes with parts below. One of the BSL teachers in my uni demo’d the difference between Signed English and BSL: the four handsigns meaning “Am I speaking too fast?” in SE became full-body “quick I?” in BSL. Videos and suchlike may be helpful as reinforcement, but they’re not likely to be good to build a foundation on. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/13 "2010-05-10T06:10:23Z")
**St Cad** , too often, videos are only labeled “Sign Language”. Your best bet would be (and sorry, I got out of time… again; I should stop posting before breakfast) asking the ASL teachers closest to you: the ones at your university, people at a local Deaf association, etc. There may be things like conversation groups easier to fit into your schedule than regular classes. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/14 "2010-05-10T10:18:06Z")
Saint Cad, I could tell from the OP that you understood the difference, but I wasn’t sure that aceplace57 understood. Aceplace57 said merely that it wasn’t “pure English,” which is either deliberate understatement or just a mistaken understanding of what ASL is. I would still be interested in knowing the answers to the questions I asked in my post. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/15 "2010-05-11T22:44:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Another tip > Sign is not pure English. They don’t sign complete sentences with connectors and prepositions. > > When you read sign, you have to fill in the gaps. I once heard (mediated by a hearing interpreter) a talk by a deaf linguist who might dispute what you said. Not that it is not English; it certainly isn’t, but that it is not complete. He claimed that it has a syntax fully as formal as that of any spoken language. You just have to learn it. There are many languages without connectors and maybe some with no prepositions, but they all show grammatical relations somehow, usually by inflections. The linguist mentioned that learning to read English was learning a foreign language. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-best-to-learn-sign-language/538844/16 "2010-05-11T23:57:12Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > ASL is not anywhere close to English. It’s a completely different language. I guess this has to be stated any time that a thread on ASL comes up. It’s not English with words replaced by signs. QFT. I cringe every time someone tries to characterize ASL grammar as ‘broken English’ or ‘incomplete’ or any of the other terms that have come up. There are nuances to ASL and its sister languages that have no counterpart in spoken language, just as there are tonal nuances in spoken languages that simply don’t translate. That said, Nava’s advice is good. There is no substitute for interacting with real live speakers of the language and yeah, your local community college or higher learning institution will very likely have some resources you can take advantage of.