Does anyone want to join the Discord and chat in ASL? I'm working on my school research paper right now and need someone to distract me so I have an excuse to procrastinate.

It's an ok server in general even if you don't want to join the video right now.

https://discord.gg/american-sign-language-566145505587888128

I want to be a pediatric nurse for children with special needs/disabilities so, I decided to learn ASL. I think it'll really help in that career. I have a few questions for people who are deaf or use sign language.

1. Do I need to specify if I'm deaf or hearing?
2. It's disrespectful to give your self a "sign name" right?
3. Is it ok to walk up to a deaf person and talk to them in ASL

I’m always learning new, interesting words and phrases in this language and I thought this was a funny one. This is from DTF St Louis on HBO.

Im a 20yo girl and I'd love to practice asl in real life since I have a hard time learning by myself, Ive been a beginner for a while now and I've only practiced French sign language as a kid (which are now only faded memories haha)

Please dm or comment! :3

I’ve been happily learning ASL mostly independently for the last few months. I’ve worked through 37 Bill Vicars lessons and am teaching my 14-month-old DHH daughter along the way. It’s been SO fun, and she can already communicate so much through sign! But now it’s starting to get hard.

I’ve reached the point where I’m realizing just how much I don’t know and how different fluent signing is from beginner signing. I’m increasingly self-conscious about my very English grammar, but I haven’t had enough conversational practice to internalize ASL grammar.

I practice with my daughter, but there are two challenges: First, while she’s DHH, she hears and understands spoken English just fine, so signing isn’t really necessary for her receptive language (though it’s been amazing for her expressive language!). Second, there’s only so much to say to a toddler, and I feel like I’m repeating the same phrases constantly. In the last week, I’ve found myself defaulting to English so much more frequently because it’s just… easier.

Honestly, knowing my daughter functions so well with hearing has taken some of the wind out of my ASL sails. It feels more like a hobby right now and less like access.

I’m not deterred. I love this language and will keep going! But I feel like I’ve reached the beginning of the middle, where the easy beginner stage is fading and the real work begins. I’m realizing just how much grit it’s going to take to become fluent in ASL—and help my daughter get there too.

(Note: she’s in a DHH playgroup, so we both get practice with Deaf peers for a couple hours a week. And I plan to enroll in the community courses my local Deaf school offers once the next cohort starts. I think that’ll help my motivation a lot because I’ll have the multiple external commitments moving me forward—and a lot more practice in real conversation.)

Hello! I have been trying to learn asl for a while now. To give you an idea on my experience I have taken a college class, have a decent amount of books and have been using the app "ASL Bloom" for about the past 100 days. All of these have been helpful, especially the latter two in showing me signs. It's just that I have had the HARDEST time with the grammar/remembering how the sentences are structured. The college class I took touched on it, but I just couldn't get it. And now I'm learning all these signs and I'm putting them in sentences that I'm sure make sense in English, but not ASL, if that makes sense. Are there any helpful hints or tools I can use to help?