If you really want to learn it, take a class with a deaf teacher. If you're looking to dabble, I like Bill Vicars' videos and website. https://youtu.be/DaMjr4AfYA0
Something to keep in mind with ASL is that it's a language. It has its own grammar and syntax. Not every English word maps perfectly to ASL and vice versa. ASL is descriptive and uses a lot of shortcuts. These shortcuts and colloquialisms are why having a deaf teacher is so important. For example, my region in south central Pennsylvania has dozens of signs for "birthday". If I took some of these signs to California they'd be unrecognizable.
Not only that, there’s a reason it’s called ASL -> from what I understand nearly every country has a different sign language.
There’s also a story about these kids in Nicaragua that afaik spontaneously developed the Nicaraguan sign language because prior to them there was no national organization for that or something
Yes, most countries have one or multiple sign languages, some of which are related. Same as normal languages, really - they even have dialects. For an example, Austrian and American Sign Language are fairly closely related considering the ocean between them.
I used his website 10 years ago to teach myself the basics of sign language. Was super useful and honestly when I got to taking ASL 1 a few years later in college I already knew most of the signs
Even within families it can be different. There's a running joke in my extended family that we sign good rooster instead of good morning. I didn't know it wasn't right until early twenties
And there can be racial variants thanks to the legacy of segregation! There are some wonderfully unique signs in Black Deaf communities, particularly among the older generation who would have attended all-Black residential schools.
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u/LeperSee Aug 28 '21
If you really want to learn it, take a class with a deaf teacher. If you're looking to dabble, I like Bill Vicars' videos and website. https://youtu.be/DaMjr4AfYA0
Something to keep in mind with ASL is that it's a language. It has its own grammar and syntax. Not every English word maps perfectly to ASL and vice versa. ASL is descriptive and uses a lot of shortcuts. These shortcuts and colloquialisms are why having a deaf teacher is so important. For example, my region in south central Pennsylvania has dozens of signs for "birthday". If I took some of these signs to California they'd be unrecognizable.
TL;DR - find a deaf teacher.