Would You Consider American Sign Language a Foreign Language?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Would you consider American Sign Language to be a foreign language? I'm not asking solely for application reasons, I mean it's not like I can take it as a class in my High School, but would you?</p>

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<p>No! It’s another form of communication - not its own language. Colleges won’t treat it as meeting the foreign language and culture requirement.</p>

3

<p>Whether it meets the language requirement depends on the college, but I would say yes.</p>

4

<p>JamCAFE, you are incorrect.</p>

<p>[Universities</a> That Accept ASL In Fulfillment Of Foreign Language Requirements](<a href=“http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox/UNM/univlist.html]Universities”>Universities That Accept ASL In Fulfillment Of Foreign Language Requirements)</p>

5

<p>^and</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ncssfl.org/links/ASL.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ncssfl.org/links/ASL.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>(States that recognize ASL as a foreign language)</p>

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<p>I wasn’t asking in hopes of using it as a foreign language on my transcript or whatever. I want to learn for personal fufillment. Just asking for opinions.</p>

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<p>ASL is a language. For those who might think it is English translated for the non hearing, that is SEE. ( signed exact English) ASL has its own structure and grammar, different from English.</p>

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<p>I would personally say that it shouldn’t be considered it’s own language, because there’s really no separate culture or history behind it. it was artificially made by English speakers.</p>

<p>but, language or not, it’s pretty awesome :)</p>

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<p>Here’s something: <a href=“http://www.ncssfl.org/links/ASL.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ncssfl.org/links/ASL.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks for the correction GoldenWest. That list of schools is extensive. </p>

<p>Still agree with stressedout that, while awesome, its not a foreign language (even with many colleges accepting it).</p>

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<p>Sign language is a foreign language class at a school near mine. I don’t think it should count since its “American” sign language.</p>

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<p>I don’t consider it a foreign language personally, but I’d consider it a second language. It’d be similar to a Canadian, who knows English and French, saying that they can speak a foreign language, even though they are both official national languages.</p>

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<p>@Jawmess: If it was French Sign Language, would you say then that class the school offers is a foreign language class?</p>

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<p>@AeroMike: Once they step out of Canada and into the US, that French they speak is now a foreign language.</p>

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<p>

That’s some failed logic. You don’t hear Americans saying, “I speak a foreign language (English) because once I leave the US another country doesn’t speak it.”</p>

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<p>“Foreign language” is a relative term.</p>

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<p>Would you consider Navajo a foreign language?</p>

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<p>I personally wouldn’t accept it, it does sort of seem like a sub-language or second language. But I do think it’s cool, and a nice thing to learn</p>

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<p>A foreign languge is a “language used in another country other than one’s own” or “a language indigenous to another country”. </p>

<p>@TheAtlantic Navajo is a sub language of what?</p>

<p>@halycon Yes, the term “foreign language” is relative. It cannot be applied one own’s country, though because well…it’s not foreign.</p>

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<p>I was refferring to signing being a sublangauge</p>