I’ve bought a few used books on sign language before and kind of ignored them. It occurred to me an app might be better substitute for actual lessons and You Tube.
So I tried Lingvano. It seems pretty good, but is about $14 Canadian a month, at the cheapest price which is an annual subscription. Not that high, but not nothing either.
I read they gave a 50% discount for Deaf Day, which is today, and indeed there is a discounted price for $7 Canadian (US $60 for the first year). I decided to give it a whirl.
Anyone here familiar with sign language or apps and videos for learning ASL?
FWIW Lingvano is an app introducing basic deaf signing, possibly to level asl 3. It features a variety of deaf signers using slightly different styles and features nuggets on deaf culture. It starts off very basic. People like that it has a “mirror” function to get better at signing. Some dislike the fee, and a few complain it does not use enough fingerspelling and omits words like “the”. Still, it seems pretty highly regarded. I am not currently interested in complete fluency given time and other constraints.
The only APP we’ve used is SignSchool.com.
Mainly for the kids. And it’s free.
I’m not quite a native signer. But I learned early in a classroom of mostly hearing impaired students. I’m hearing so of course I was sorta a fish outta water.
In the end we’ve found using sign language daily ends up being a hodge podge of adapted, for us signs, and legit signs. And abbreviated signs.
My daughter probably speaks it more fluently because she uses it at her work as well.
Like any language, practice with other speakers is best way to learn. Maybe not everything is grammatically correct. But you can get a rhythm going and learn adapted signs.
Lingvano has good reviews. So it’s probably great for what it can do.
Good luck.
Lingvano basically is constant show and quiz with frequent reviews. I tried it for a couple days, then waited until I thought it might be cheaper even though it seemed quite good.
Of course, it is not a substitute for formal courses or comprehensive YouTube tutorials or a strong community. But there are worse ways to spend ten minutes a day, the format was more fun and informal, and I believe it is a practical option. Of course, I know little from other options apart from a brief web search.
I read in the reviews the tests/lessons repeat too often…only by using it awhile will you know that.
Beck, is your daughter affiliated with the Arkansas School for the Deaf? I may have worked on her computer.
I worked 25 years at the Deaf school, and never learned to sign well despite lessons and tests. The grammar is different. English" I am going to the store tomorrow. Do you want anything?
ASL: “Tomorrow I go store. Want you?”
One test went to hell because she asked where I lived. There is some expansive gesture meaning “this city”. I had to finger spell “505 S. L Avenue”, and she was confused when she saw “505SLAVE.”
For me, lots of repetition has its advantages. Of course, it can be too much.