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"]

Sucks , first year being alone for Halloween, drunk and alone … welp 29 /M/ NY

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)

I've been signing ASL for 3-4 years now. One of the signs that's inextricably linked to my vocalizations is "thank you."

This has been beyond an incredible opportunity to talk to brilliant people in my daily life.

It should also be noted that I loved the musicians & performers I've seen live blowing me a kiss, with direct eye contact, post-show/during bows. Wow, so cool!

It should additionally be noted that I was mixing clapping with signing "thank you," and from the stage, that looks a lot like blowing a kiss.

TLDR; a tragic number of stage acts thought I was kissing them when I was trying to say, "Thank you for the incredible show!" I haven't stopped because it means leagues to me to be able to communicate, but it HAS solidified for me the importance of clear gesture and letting it tf go when it's misinterpreted by someone who doesn't sign.

It’s similar to the sign for DISLIKE but it’s both hands and at the shoulders.

You do the “pinch” for DISLIKE at both shoulders, and “toss” (?) the air away, similar to the wrist flick from the aforementioned sign. It’s also made with a disgusted face.

This isn’t homework, I am just blanking so hard on it.

I’ve been wondering for a while - do all y’all very tall and very short sign language speaking folks ever have trouble when signing to each other? Is there ever a risk of misinterpretation or misreading/mishearing (apologies, I’m not sure what the right term is here. Thanks in advance!

I was watching the American Sign Language - MacBook Pro Announcement and I was a bit taken back by the interpreters face expressions. She did a great job emphasizing the key points of the presentation, but at times it was a but extra? Idk, I would look at the individual speaking and they would have a general interested face, nothing to over the top, but then I would look at the interpreter and her face would really show excitement over the points being shared. Is this common?

Normally i practice fingerspelling by spelling out random words from my thoughts, signs, etc, but i felt like it was still slow going. It's a great way to distract myself from my anxiety and soothe my AuDHD brain, so i do it quite a bit and felt like i should have more to show for it.

I recently read the advice that when you're fingerspelling you should sound out the word instead of spelling letter by letter as it slows you down. and holy heck, they were right! immediate improvement on speed and focus. i'm dyslexic so normally fingerspelling and numbers are the most difficult part of ASL (at least the most difficult part for a beginner, i'm sure i'll get tripped up as i advance) and somehow this makes me fumble with the letters less.

so if y'all are struggling with fingerspelling maybe give this a shot!

Hi ! I want to give some background in case I need to ask you all for further help in my interactions with one individual.

I work in customer service in an intimate environment, and we are known for being very friendly and sincere in our community care. It’s the kind of place where staff knows all regulars by name. Being in place so community-oriented, I was bothered that I couldn’t talk to the many people who use ASL. So, I began learning ASL a few months ago in order to better serve my local population and make the environment more inclusive. I also just love to talk and learn about people LOL and knowing ASL lets me be of service to many more folks.

Happily, I’ve been able to talk to multiple customers using ASL, but none have been regulars until Dominic (name changed for anonymity).

Context: I was ringing up Dominic’s items; the first item that he set down was a glass container. He was looking downward as he unloaded his things; my eyes were fixed on him because I wanted to greet him.

He immediately signed…

• Double Vs. One hand on top of the other and beat them together twice. For the hand on top, the palm of the V faced the chest. For the hand on the bottom, the palm of the V faced away from the chest. (The sign was like the second half of this — https://www.handspeak.com/word/4823/). His eyes were looking down the whole time.
• Either 1 or D. Pointer finger starts on mouth, with palm facing chest, and moves downward towards the item I was ringing up. As finger left his mouth, he flicked his wrist toward the item I was ringing up, with his palm facing downward. His eyes were still looking downward.

If Dominic was telling me to watch out for the glass item, what does the sign described in the second bullet point mean? Ie, is it a general sign for emphasis? How would it be used in other contexts?

edit: fixed bad spacing

hoping to clarify when it's appropriate to use the phrase "SAY" AGAIN PLEASE. is it appropriate to ask someone who is signing to SAY something again or would SIGN be more appropriate given the context? i guess i'm wondering if SAY refers to verbal communication/language only. thanks y'all!💖🤟

I work alongside a deaf woman—today we were chatting about ASL sentence structure and neither one of us truly knows the answers. She was raised going to oral schools and started learning the language late, so she admits her adherence to grammar is questionable.

I’ve tried my best to read up on SVO format but the resource even said that sometimes people would say that’s incorrect and that the proper format more closely follows a Time, Noun, Verb format. For example:

Should it be:

• YESTERDAY STORE I GO-TO, or
• YESTERDAY I GO-TO STORE?

Additionally, where do adjectives fall in this equation? For example:

Should it be:

• LAST WEEK BEAR BROWN I SEE, or
• LAST WEEK BROWN BEAR I SEE?

If we want to get real pedantic, where do adverbs go? I know they are mostly included in the verb sign. You wouldn’t sign JUMP HIGH, you’d likely just sign JUMP and emphasize the height. However for swim, you might sign SWIM FAST and not just emphasize SWIM. Does the adverb always follow the verb?

Sorry if this is confusing. Is there one explicit grammar rule for ASL regarding sentence structure? Everything I read is always saying “yes, but”. There doesn’t seem to be one specific rule.

I work in the service industry, and a regular at my job uses ASL. I asked him his name today; he finger-spelled Dominic before showing me what I believe to be his name sign.

Dominic formed a D with his left hand and brought it from the center of his chest to his right shoulder. He then tapped the D a few times against his shoulder.

Is what Dominic signed simply an arbitrary/initialized name sign, or is it a combination of an initialized and descriptive sign? If it’s a combination, what sign(s) is it inspired by? I am very much a beginner and do not know enough signs to tell.

Side note, I actually have a snippet of the security camera footage of this interaction. My boss gave me permission to review the footage because I couldn’t recognize the letters quickly enough to catch his name. Throughout the interaction, he used a few signs that I do not know. I am wondering if anybody would be comfortable watching the footage (45 seconds) so I can understand what else Dominic is saying.

Edit: clarity