American Sign Language

<p>Does anyone on here sign? I'm taking a course later on this year.</p>

<p>Me! I took ASL 1 a few semesters ago. It was a lot of fun!</p>

<p>Is it difficult to learn?</p>

<p>My friends at CTY taught me how to sign "Awkward Platypus Dance Party."
1. Wave your arms up and down.
2. Hands atop each other, wag thumbs up and down and around.
3. Put 2 fingers on palm of one hand, make them dance.
4. Wave pointer fingers sideways in air.</p>

<p>No, it's not bad. Just pay attention in class (harder than it sounds if you have a deaf professor!), don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't get something (once again, harder than it sounds if you have a deaf professor!) and get involved in an ASL club, if you school has one. Most of the people in the one I joined were either in ASL 1 or were deaf ed. majors who were at least ASL 3 level and were more than happy to help. I probably would have failed all of the fingerspelling tests if it weren't for them! Oh, and practice every chance you can get! Stopped at red lights, watching tv, etc... Explaining what you've learned and are practicing to friends also helps.</p>

<p>If you have any other questions just ask! I only made it through ASL 1 (I only had to have one foreign language class), but have friends that have gone through ASL 4 and Interpreting. I did have a deaf professor, so I can also give some hints about dealing with that.</p>

<p>Thanks so much. I speak English, French, and Croatian fluently, and I have a general knowledge of Spanish. Obviously, sign language is pretty different from all of these, but do you think they would help at all?</p>

<p>I'm in ASL 2 this year and my teacher's Deaf. I don't speak any other languages, but I know it's a lot more visual. You have to have a good memory- there aren't any asl books at my school and you can't just memorize vocab. off a list to get by in classes or anything. I absolutely love it. Everyone seems to think it's a blow off class, but it's really quite difficult. It's a beautiful language. So much fun! I love learning about Deaf culture and history too. Good luck!</p>