Okay so my sisters history teacher used to teach at a deaf school, and she taught ASL. I know the basics but i am struggling to learn more- Im hearing and so is she, but i was wondering if she is still a good person to learn from?

I really hope I'm not making this sign up bc I vaguely remember seeing it somewhere but anyways.

It starts by crossing the forearms in an outward X format and bringing them downward.

Help is appreciated, thanks!

For example, if I was signing trying to sign “On Friday I smoked” (assuming I don’t know the sign for smoke) would I sign “FRIDAY I S-M-O-K-E” or “FRIDAY I S-M-O-K-E-D” I don’t really know how to ask this coherently but I hope someone out there understands what I’m trying to ask.

I recently ordered a visual vernacular book from 58 Creativity and also loved this shirt of theirs: https://58creativity.com/collections/apparel/products/that-shirt but it's sold out in most sizes. are there other Deaf-owned companies that have similar products?

hi, i have an ASL to english translation assignment and i understand what most of the signs mean in this video, but i'm completely lost on the first one. link to video

since this sign is always followed by a number, i assumed it meant something like "sentence" or "part," but none of those appear to be correct. i feel like it's a basic sign that i'm probably blanking on. would someone mind helping me? thank you so much!

Batman's sidekick Robin. If it matters which Robin, I'm specifically referring to Dick Grayson, though I'd love to learn all of them if they have separate signs! I know the animal is the sign for bird, then finger spelling robin, but I also know Batman has a particular name sign, so I'm curious if his sidekick does too.

So I'm not deaf, but I am trans. And I understand different cultures do things differently so I in no way intend to shit on Deaf culture. But in my cursory research, I learned hearing folks have to finger spell their names until they're given a name sign by a deaf person. Is that true? And if it is, what if you're given a name signz but your name changes? Or what if you're born Deaf, but you're the only Deaf person you know? Or what about people who rely on sign due to gradual hearing loss? I'm so confused about name signs in general and the idea that it's assigned by someone who may or may not give you something you resonate with or doesn't understand who you are internally since the only person who truly knows you is, well, you. Can you give yourself a name sign, am I misunderstanding something?

Hi! I’m starting to learn ASL and I’m so obsessed with the language, but my biggest hurdle is translating into OSV or just the correct structure. I know a lot of vocabulary but struggle understanding the order I should put it in. For example I need to sign these sentences:

“I want to save money by cutting down on my electricity usage. I could turn off the heater. If it gets cold, I could use a space heater instead. Another way to cut down on electricity costs would be to make sure the lights are off if no one is in a room.”

And I’m having troubles translating it into ASL. I always want to sign it SEE. How would you sign this section? Here’s my poor attempt:

“I want save money electricity usage. Heater I could turn off. If it gets cold, space heater I could use.” Then I’m really lost on the last sentence.

Any help is so appreciated 🫶

I’m a new speech therapist at a Deaf school, not 100% fluent but getting there. One of my students repeatedly signs something similar to “favorite” with the middle finger touching the chin, but brushes it off the chin several times. Anyone know what this means?

Furrowed eyebrows, and you take your index finger and swipe it from the middle of your eyebrow to an inch or two away from your face/head. It comes after the sign “where?”. It’s NOT the sign black. Any help is appreciated!

The sign sequence for this sentence is: Where This mystery index swipe sign And then it looks like she signs where again but I don’t know how that makes sense.

Thanks!

Found this t-shirt, but I am far removed from grasping what it means. I am curious.

I need some help understanding these sentences. If you know ASL, please DM me. Thanks! :)

Hi! So in my high school, we hold this event every year. It’s purely for entertainment and basically a mix of everything. Some students read poems , some play instruments and some sing songs. I was in the choir before but I’m not anymore because I had to drop out due to some personal reasons. Anyway my favorite music teacher found out I’ve been learning ASL , and offered me to interpret a song while the choir is singing. I told him that I’m not good enough to interpret. But he really wants me to do it, he said he wants to try something different this year and this would be it. I really like my teacher and I don’t want to disappoint him, and he also said he thinks I can handle this because there’s still like 1.5 months until the event happens, so I will have a lot of time to memorize the whole song until then (in asl)

But at the same time I had awkward experiences with interpreting before. I even posted it here in case anyone remembers … So I’m a little hesitant, although I’m better than I was back then. And this is kind of different because I won’t actually be interpreting word by word, but rather will be performing something I have already memorized.

I see several views for signing this, so I'm curious how folks attack it.

My possibly erroneous take is to FS Latte then PUMPKIN - FS SPICE, but I think I could benefit from some thoughts and feedback.

Please feel free to share, criticize, and discuss other fall related signs - and thank you for responding!

There are so many different signs and so many signs for 1 word. How do I know if I’m signing the right one? I’m trying to learn how to sign a song and I don’t know if I’m doing anything right

Hey! Long time lurker, current ASL student. Its not super important, as I understand the general statement (we are discussing Chapter 4 of Introduction to American Deaf Culture by Thomas Holcomb). I just wanted clarification on the meaning of the sign so I can know for future discussions.

Its 2 "K" handshapes, directly in front of the signer, with the dominant hand circling around the non-dominant hand (similar to how "year(s)" is signed but not as large of a movement)

I was speaking with a healthcare professional about language and the topic of American Sign Language came up. The woman I spoke too explained that she had a child learning after an interaction with the deaf community while near Gallaudet. I was telling her that I started learning after recently meeting with an ASL interpreter while working in a courthouse.

After I had signed 'Have a good weekend' to her, a third party corrected me on the sign for 'Have.' She used a 'V' handshape towards her chest and told me that was the sign for 'Have.' I didn't make a big deal about it and thanked them for their time.

I'm pretty damn sure that this is not correct, but I'm also open to the fact that this person might have a regional difference, or something to that effect. Is a 'V' handshape pointing towards your chest an alternate way to sign 'Have' or does that mean something else entirely?

Letting this group know DPAN and PBS NewsHour are partnering to provide ASL for election night coverage. The streams will be available on https://dpan.tv/ and DPAN social channels and https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour (no registration required). [Image description: Graphic with Harris and Trump, with text "DPAN & PBS NewsHour Election Night Coverage Partnership. Live in ASL Election 2024 Tuesday Nov 5th 6pm-2amET"]

I’m only up to very very basic words, not even phrases yet, but all the directions say to use your dominant hand. I’m left handed but using my right hand to start signing just felt more natural.

I am hearing. Apologies in advance I’d say something wrong.

I know the sign for the animal. I’m inclined to use the sign for goldfish (the animal) with my toddler because it’s a new sign, because in my circle (my toddler and myself) that would be understood.

If you eat/refer to Goldfish crackers, do you sign the animal’s sign, or do you sign something like crackers and then finger-spell “goldfish”?

While I’m down to learn the proper/correct way , I’m mainly curious as to the differences to your personal way. Like, the amount of English speakers who say “oven” vs. “stove”.

Thanks in advance!

so i’m learning asl and thought that learning signs would be great bc there catchy and easy to remember. but then people told me that it’s not good because you would be thinking in English, and i’m not really sure what that means but when i try to learn signs on asl i don’t do SEE i sign it in a way to have proper grammar and everything, and i’ve seen people say it’s because your supposed to sign what the song means not what it’s saying but i don’t get that bc are there no metaphors in asl? like why do i have to change “i was blue” to “i was sad” bc in the metaphor blue is sad yk

edit: thank you guys i understand more now.

Hi! I work with a student who is Deaf and has limited signing. Today she signed what appeared to be “BARELY” (see attached) though she held it and there was no motion — just this sign. She has a single cochlear implant on this side that was turned on. I was just wondering if this sign meant something different. Thank you!

Looking for someone I can sign with regularly over video! There’s lots of platforms I can use to do so!

I’m a beginner, so I need some practice learning more signs and just getting them memorized!

Also, finger spelling practice would be good!

Thanks!

I went to ASD for my deaf history class it was fascinating. Our tour guide was great but was doing something weird. He was speaking and then using ASL igns at the same time but it was not sign language. It was word for word translation of English. Is this what deaf children are learning how do they learn sign language? Can someone explain this?

Apple released a new commercial yesterday featuring a dancing weightlifter (to show how powerful their new M4 chip is).

At the end of the video, the weightlifter holds up the weight with what appears to be signs for A.I. (as in artificial intelligence)