ASL- American Sign Language

    

    For an external language credit, I decided to take an intermediate American sign language class. I have already been practicing sign language when I listen to music. I usually translate the songs and if there was a word, I didn't know I would search it up. This is a small blogpost about the time I spent learning about ASL.

    In ASL class I learned that Thomas Gallaudet created ASL. It was based off of old French sign language. I learned how to say some really important signs for example appointment. That is only one word of the many words I learned. I also learned about deaf culture and how they get each other's attention. I learned that when you see sign language it won't always be perfect and the exact sign. A lot of our class was learning new words, how to use them, and the variations of the words. My teacher M.C helped us practice the words and the proper facial expressions. One of my favorite parts of this class was learning jokes in sign language. You wouldn't understand the joke unless you spoke sign language which I thought was interesting. I learned a lot of things for example there is a lot of slang in English. For example, words like cool, wicked, awesome, whack, wild, and sick are not in ASL. Of course, in different context these words exist, but in a slang way that could mean "cool" does not exist. There are two variations I have discovered, but nothing more. My overall experience with ASL was awesome. I thought that this class was helpful, and it taught me many things about deaf culture. 

Thomas Gallaudet 

That is a picture of the man that brought sign language to us. His "sign name" is Glasses. Usually, deaf people have a sign name because it is easier to do a small sign then to spell it out. learning ASL was easier than I thought but remembering was harder. I learned my favorite sign "Some" because there are so many other signs that are close to this one. It makes it very complicated to say sometimes.