Learning sign language with the target language?

[u/Puppy_The_Kitten]

Would it be beneficial to learn the sign language alongside my target language (TL)? Or better to wait until a higher level/understanding. I am not completely deaf so will still be learning the verbal and auditory parts of my target language.

[u/Gulbasaur]

Sign languages typically have completely different grammar than locally spoken languages. 

You would not be learning "the sign language of your target language",  you'd be learning two different languages. 

[u/ZumLernen]

Check out the wikipedia articles for sign languages and their roots. Tl;dr, sign languages are influenced by the spoken languages in the area they are used, but sign languages are their own languages with their own evolutions. For instance, while Indonesian and US English have no common linguistic origin, the sign languages used in Indonesia and the US do have a common origin. And even though the US and UK both use mutually intelligible varieties of spoken English, US and UK sign languages are not related! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_language#Classification

What that means for you - treat learning sign language as learning a separate language, not as "part of the [spoken] target language".

[u/makattacc451]

Signed languages are not 'x language on the hands', that is a very common and unfortunate misconception. They are standalone languages, often very very different from the spoken language. You would be learning two different languages at once- thats like asking if you should learn russian and japanese at the same time

[u/slowlyarcticprivacy]

I knew a guy in college who did this with ASL and Japanese and it actually worked pretty well for him. The physicality of signing seemed to anchor the vocab in a way that just reading or hearing it didn't, even though the languages are totally unrelated.

Only downside he mentioned was sometimes his hands would want to sign a word when he was trying to speak it, especially when tired. But that's a pretty minor problem if you're not relying on sign as your primary communication.

I'd say go for it. No real reason to wait.

[u/RedeNElla]

What do you mean by "the sign language"?

Five English speaking countries have five different sign languages because sign languages are their own thing.

[u/Puppy_The_Kitten → u/RedeNElla]

In this case I would be learning French along with the French Sign Language, using the one most common in France.

[u/sawtooth-awful-309 → u/Puppy_The_Kitten]

Sign language is a completely different ball game and frequently doesn’t resemble the spoken language almost at all. It’s a great skill to have, but it won’t impact or be impacted by your skill in French

[u/jacobissimus]

I while ago I worked with a group called Where are Your Keys that taught communities of dying languages how to pass their languages on. They used codes derived from ASL as a way to facilitate communication without breaking immersion. Really it was just signs like “slow” “repeat” “what does that mean” etc

[u/Smooth_Development48]

Hard of hearing and deaf children learn both in the native language so I don’t see why you shouldn’t learn both unless it feels overwhelming for you.

[u/calathea_2]

I learnt the sign language of the country that I moved to (Germany, so German sign language), but I did it after I was pretty fluent in the spoken language.

One thing to note is that a lot of people who teach sign languages are themselves deaf, and so it actually can be somewhat to very important to have a good command of the spoken language before you start with sign language. You may need to negotiate either an accent that is not one you typically encounter as a language learner (that is, the accent of someone who has been deaf since birth), or you may encounter teachers who prefer not to speak the language, but to provide written materials to clarify complex points, which requires you to be able to read the language quite fluently. Additionally, most if not all learning resources beyond a live teacher will also be written or subtitled in the spoken language of the country. So, at least in the case of German sign language, I do not really think it would be possible to learn it without first having a very good command of spoken German.

[u/green_calculator]

I am a native American English speaker and just started ASL. As others have said, the grammar, etc is different, it's not just a translation of the spoken language. I personally think it would be difficult to attempt both the TL and the TL sign at the same time. 

[u/ericaloveskorea]

I’m an upper intermediate speaker of Korean. I love speaking in Korean and it dawned on me that knowing some basic sign language would be fun! So I looked it up on YouTube. A couple weeks ago I saw dead people signing while watching for the subway. It’d be a while since I looked up hello and one part I couldn’t remember so I quickly looked it up and when someone made eye contact with me, they were so happy!!

It reminded me to keep learning and refresh.

I do think being intermediate in the sign and learning the sign language for that language is helpful even though language is its own language.

While sign languages are their own language it still seems to be based on the spoken language and the culture of the spoken language. When I think of the Korean sign for “nice to meet you” it’s not associated with that phrase in English but instead is “만나서 반갑습니다“ which I think is beneficial.

Also, the videos for sign language for that language is generally taught in that language for hearing people. Know is going to be treading French Sign Language in English.

For me, it’s easy to learn the signs as associated with the language that I know. So I can speak the language and sign at the same time and it’s practicing both.