Hello,
We have a 19 month old son, and he has been learning American Sign Language since he was 6 months old. He is not deaf, but we feel that by learning sign language he could communicate with a population in the world that he would not be able to otherwise. Since he is young, he is learning fast.
The question is, we are not sure if he would necessarily live in America when he grows up, so we would like him to learn a sign language which is mostly universal around the world – if at all there is a such a thing. If not, is ASL a good option, or should we concider a different sign language?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Regards,
Hooman-
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“ASL is also used (sometimes alongside indigenous sign languages) in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar, and Zimbabwe.” (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_sign_language
Each country has their own sign language and cannot be understood by others in another country. I’ve met deaf germans before and did not understand their German Sign Language, and I’ve seen a video on YouTube of British Sign Language, and I did not understand it at all.
While I understand how some languages are commonly spoken in other countries such as English, French and Spanish, but this does not apply to sign language. It is much newer than spoken language. ASL seems to be only mostly used outside of the USA, but it is in not very common areas.
BSL is only used in the UK.