i want to learn sign language.. i am not in school and don’t know any deaf/ hearing impaired people..
i am always just so curious about it when i see people signing. i have also witnessed many situations where knowing sign language would be helpful.
Any suggestions
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Some about the sign language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_language
Official American Sign language Reference
http://www.lifeprint.com/
You can get yourself a sign language dictionary and self-learn.. they have pictures in them and it isn’t all that difficult to pick up. To improve at a faster rate you should probably find someone who’s hearing-impaired to practise with though. Have fun! =)
My answer may not be as helpful because I do not live in the States, but there might be courses available at your local adult education centre or local deaf school/centre. See if you can also find some sort of Deaf community web page and ask someone who knows where courses are on offer close to you.
I am learning German SL and enrolled for a course through something called Volkshochschule (basically adult education schools)
SL is a really nice thing to learn because it helps you communicate more visually day to day and one also learns to read the entire body.
Of course, not all deaf people sign. My uncle was as deaf as a post and attended a normal school. he learnt to read people’s lips and functioned very well in society.
If you like, train yourself to mouth words clearly e.g. read aloud with a mirror in front of your and shape each word clearly. Also, check out youtube – there might be something useful there.
Definitely get books on American Sign Language but watch out because a lot of sign language books are really about Pigin Sign English or Signed Exact English, not true ASL. Also, be sure to invest in a good ASL dictionary. I have one of over 5,000 signs that I got from the online site Amazon. And, if you can’t find Deaf or hard of hearing people in your area, try going online to places like Youtube. Two web sites that I recommend for free ASL instruction are ASL University (you can Google it), and aslpro.com. Good luck!