Borrow public library books through inter-library loan, such as:
~ The Joy of Signing: The Illustrated Guide for Mastering Sign Language and the Manual Alphabet by Lottie L. Riekehof
~ Signing Made Easy by Butterworth & Flodin
~ The American Sign Language Phrase Book by Fant & Fant
Choose new words daily and practise regularly. Find someone else who wants to learn and communicate using ASL. Contact the local Deaf community and organizations to see if they offer free American Sign Language courses or inexpensive tutors.
To keep in mind: ASL is a language with its own grammar and is different from spoken English. Pay attention to the word order in phrases. Also, an important part of communicating in ASL is the use of facial expressions.
Practise frequently and don’t be afraid to try conversing with others in sign. The best compliment you can give anyone who communicates in a different language from your own is to make the effort!
Good luck and have fun! 🙂
Any free source isn’t going to teach you ASL. You can learn signs by looking at online dictionaries and by looking through books, but you won’t learn the grammar (facial expressions, body language, sign order). Your best bet is to take a class. In lieu of that, learn some signs and find local Deaf organizations that have social events and start going. Hanging out with Deaf and hard of hearing people will help you learn things the books won’t give you. But again, your best bet is to pay for classes.
Try …www.aslpro.com
There’s a website http://www.deafcoffee.com/ that lists all of the deaf socials at your local coffeehouse. Almost all of the states are listed, just click on the state you live in and find the nearest city/social taking place. Some of these deaf socials take place once a month or 2x a month. It’s a great way for you to meet other local deaf people and practice your signing skills. The deaf community is very friend and sociable involving deaf, hard of hearing, interpreters, students of ASL and those just love sign language!
just look up the letters and learn them
Free ASL learning websites:
~ http://www.handspeak.com/
~ http://kisa.ca/asl.html
~ http://aslbrowser.commtechlab.msu.edu/browser.htm
Borrow public library books through inter-library loan, such as:
~ The Joy of Signing: The Illustrated Guide for Mastering Sign Language and the Manual Alphabet by Lottie L. Riekehof
~ Signing Made Easy by Butterworth & Flodin
~ The American Sign Language Phrase Book by Fant & Fant
Choose new words daily and practise regularly. Find someone else who wants to learn and communicate using ASL. Contact the local Deaf community and organizations to see if they offer free American Sign Language courses or inexpensive tutors.
To keep in mind: ASL is a language with its own grammar and is different from spoken English. Pay attention to the word order in phrases. Also, an important part of communicating in ASL is the use of facial expressions.
Practise frequently and don’t be afraid to try conversing with others in sign. The best compliment you can give anyone who communicates in a different language from your own is to make the effort!
Good luck and have fun! 🙂
Any free source isn’t going to teach you ASL. You can learn signs by looking at online dictionaries and by looking through books, but you won’t learn the grammar (facial expressions, body language, sign order). Your best bet is to take a class. In lieu of that, learn some signs and find local Deaf organizations that have social events and start going. Hanging out with Deaf and hard of hearing people will help you learn things the books won’t give you. But again, your best bet is to pay for classes.
Try …www.aslpro.com
There’s a website http://www.deafcoffee.com/ that lists all of the deaf socials at your local coffeehouse. Almost all of the states are listed, just click on the state you live in and find the nearest city/social taking place. Some of these deaf socials take place once a month or 2x a month. It’s a great way for you to meet other local deaf people and practice your signing skills. The deaf community is very friend and sociable involving deaf, hard of hearing, interpreters, students of ASL and those just love sign language!