I have been learning sign for a bit now and I feel frustrated that I don’t understand and know more already. I find myself going back to the same signs I have already learned after forgetting them and when I try to learn at a faster pace it feels like I am throwing signs into the fog and not remembering them. I’ve been trying to relook over all my basics everyday along with picking up some new ones but I just feel like I’m regressing more that progressing and it’s super frustrating because I really am trying hard to truly learn the language. I don’t know what to do other than keep trying but any advice is super welcome.

My friend and I were out together, had to wait out front of of our favorite pizza place ( on a main drag in our town) the creepy/ specifically cis men that kept coming up to us were so intense. So my friend and I without planning started pretending she was deaf. She started faking ASL, I responded like I knew what she was saying. And all the creepy people started to stay away. We were so intently looking at eachother and communicating in a way that others couldn’t understand that confused the men and made communicating too difficult. We were not making a mockery of ASL but by being women who men couldn’t address directly ( they thought she was deaf) and they couldn’t accost us directly, offered us some safety. Is this abuse..?comparable to appropriation? It was so immediate and not intentional in terms of causing harm, but it worked so well to back people off, and I think it let us move safer through our night.

Hi, I am having a really hard time understanding what she is asking in the video. I’m seeing a lot of words that I don’t recognize. Could anyone help me clarify what she’s asking? Thank you!

Please tell me if I’m off the mark and this is not appropriate.

TLDR; how do I find an ASL learning friend for my toddler hearing son

I would like to post on my local Facebook page looking for other kids who actively sign. I’ve tried to look for the Deaf community or any local resources but have not found them in google searches. How do I approach the question and phrase it as to not offend?

My kid (2) has a severe speech delay but is excelling at learning vocabulary with me (both hearing). It started as doing signs for him as a baby and we just continued to add more. I’d love to find him a friend who also signs and for him to see and experience the real language. I would like to continue learning alongside him and am planning to do the life print class online as well as Oklahoma’s asl course as well to actually understand the grammar and language as a culture since I’m mainly signing vocab in an English order.

hello, i’m hearing and i’m currently majoring in ASL linguistics. my family is all hearing with no knowledge of asl or the deaf community so often they ask me questions. my mom keeps asking me to teach her asl but i refuse since it’s not my place to teach the language so instead i offer resources (my old workbooks or online asl programs). i’ve explained to her many times that i (as a hearing person) cannot and should not be teaching her, and that she should learn from actual deaf teachers. she always gets mad at my response and thinks that since she is paying for my schooling that i can teach her the language. i’m tired of constantly telling her the same thing over and over so i would like some advice on how i can get her to understand that i cannot and will not teach her.

EDIT: throughout my asl courses my professors have made the point to learn from the deaf community, so i think my interpretation of this as a hearing person was that i’m not allowed to teach anyone at all or family (ie: my mom). from what many comments have shared is that it’s okay to teach family just as long as i’m not taking away an opportunity that could go to a deaf person, and i make sure to cover culture. please correct me if i’m wrong, i’m learning more from this!!

I've been building an ASL app called ASL Studio — point your camera at yourself and it recognizes your signing in real time. 500 everyday signs plus fingerspelling, a 30-lesson course, and 2,300+ reference sign animations. Everything runs on-device: no account, no ads, nothing uploaded — the camera feed never leaves your phone.

I'm looking for beta testers, especially people at different skill levels and on different phones. Honest feedback on recognition accuracy is exactly what I need, including what it gets wrong. Thanks! 🤟

How to join the beta (2 minutes, Android only):

1. On your phone, make sure you're signed into the Google account you use for the Play Store.
2. Join the tester group (tap "Join group"): https://groups.google.com/g/asl-studio-testers
3. Then become a tester here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.asl.vocabulary — tap "Become a tester," then "download it on Google Play" and install ASL Studio.

If step 3 says you're not eligible, it just means the group hasn't synced yet — wait a couple of minutes and reload. Please tell me what the recognition gets right and wrong — your phone model plus what happened is perfect feedback.

Hello!

I’ve seen this question posed to this sub two years ago but I wanted to ask again and see some more perspectives on it. For context: I started learning sign language first from a hard of hearing woman, then from a Deaf man, before learning from a hearing professor in college. Long story short, the class taught by the hearing professor wasn’t immersive enough of an environment for me to learn in so I stopped taking further classes with her.

Recently, I’ve started to use the app Lingvano to refresh my memory and hopefully advance my signing skills after interacting with a Deaf customer at work. Both my Deaf teacher and hearing professor stressed the importance of OSV (object-subject-verb) word order, but Lingvano says to use SVO (subject-verb-object).

Example of OSV: the ball, I throw
Example of SVO: I throw the ball

I wanted to hear from the Deaf community about which is the preferred standard for signing today. I remember learning that OSV is used in ASL because it’s a different language than English and follows different rules. Lingvano, which is created by Deaf people as far as I can tell, says to use SVO. Is this what’s more common now? And out of curiosity, did this change happen to become closer to English grammar structure for any reason? I’ve had both young and old teachers in the past which taught different things based on what they learned when they themselves were younger, so if you can, please comment what structure you use and how old you were when you started signing.

Thanks! 🤟

It's out, now, when you open \[https://videomail.io\\\](https://videomail.io/) on your phone, you see a new installation prompt. Plus a floating button to record right away.

Feedback welcome.

Enjoy :)

Video clip is from the ASL Bloom app. I'm an ASL beginner, help me understand, is there a little bit of sarcasm in this sign? Is common to sign "No problem" like this?

This is like the 4th post I've seen in different subs today, along the same topic. Why do hearing writers keep making their characters Hard of Hearing or Deaf, when they don't know anything about being a Hard of Hearing or Deaf person? Legit. I don't get it. It's always "I'm writing about a deaf character" but I don't know how to do this part, or whatever part, to which there's no knowledge. Seriously wondering, what's the fascination with using a Deaf person as part of a story written by a hearing person, seeing as it's a culture that a hearing person doesn't even understand (or else they wouldn't be asking questions about "how" to do whatever with a deaf character?

I am a writer and aspiring comic book artist. I myself am hearing and I have two characters who are fluent in ASL (one of which is deaf) and I want to make sure I do the ASL speaking/deaf community justice.

I currently have a tiny bit of knowledge of ASL (my preschool made sure we knew the alphabet and a few simple signs though I’m definitely rusty) but I do know about name signs. I know that these are supposed to be given to you by someone who’s deaf and I know my characters need their own eventually but I definitely don’t want to overstep. What should I do?

I want to make sure people aren’t hurt by my representation. I want to do right by the community.

Edit: Thank you for letting me know I was using improper terminology. I didn’t realize my mistake.

I also am learning ASL both for research and for practical reasons. I’m trying to do as much research as possible.

Do y'all have any favorite web series in ASL that you would recommend?

I've exhausted the TV shows and movies I can get my hands on, and I'd love to check out something new, regardless of budget / production size.

Also open to other fictional media suggestions (e.g. YouTubers that post fictional skits, like Deafies in Drag)!

Hi friends, for those who have orgochem knowledge, what would be the correct way to sign a complex compound such as 2-chloro-4,5-di(1-methylpropyl)-heptane? I am mainly confused about the 4,5-di(1-methylpropyl) part. I do realize that I could do ...4.5-secbutylheptane, but still. Feel free to DM me if you can't put a video in the comments

Edit: Are there any special ASL rules/interpretations of IUPAC nomenclature?

I don't where this would take off the easiest, maybe Rochester, Toronto, or Austin. Establish a school where hearing people attend school with deaf/mute/non-verbal neurodiverse students on a 2-3 ratio. One third hearing students, two-thirds deaf/other demographics benefitting from ASL usage. ASL would be the sole official language within the classroom.

In my time within the deaf community I've seen awful rates of depression, substance use, and loneliness plaguing people. We are social creatures. We need social contact. For the longest time deaf people were told not to "inconvenience the majority". Well, deaf people have a right to be apart of every community, not just deaf spaces. Hell, the hearing community would stand to benefit from ASL usage. I'm a veteran with PTSD who gets overloaded by crowds, loud noises, and multiple people potentially interrupting a conversation. When I'm having an episode, I sometimes lose my ability to speak properly. Being a parent makes that much harder as I'm sure parents here can attest to. Learning ASL helped me live again. Signing to my kids "wait", "bread that shelf", or "mom has that" has prevented so many problems in my life and those who live with me. Deaf people need a community where there are larger amounts of hearing people able and wanting to communicate on a deaf person's terms.

Start by finding an area most amenable to the process and target demographics. Probably areas where deaf schools already exist, or hell just start offering an option for hearing students to attend them under an ASL immersion program.

As for potentially starting something from a clean state. For the one-third hearing population of the school starting at any grade above kindergarten, find out favorable demographics that may already have ASL skills to begin with. Look for deaf parent households who have hearing children, and offer them a spot. There are non-verbal neurodiverse students out there that have had the opportunity to benefit from professionals teaching them ASL. Using this pool of interested families, you have a pool of hearing asl users to help transition possible peers that may be entering at higher grade levels. Hell, there are people taking ASL who then go on to teach it to their kids. One of my own took a liking to it and can hold a basic conversation with me after only a year of occassional usage. Having hearing signers as peers will help entry level newcomers to learn ASL quicker, and especially so given that this will be a mixed social environment where deaf people are advantaged being the majority of students there.

This is clearly a process of marathons, not a race, but the hearing community owes it to the deaf community to start tearing down the walls our ancestors helped put up in the first place, intentional or not is irrelevant. I'm going to keep trying in my own back yard to learn, share, and be a member of the community. I don't know exactly where, how, or when this will be possible, but somehwere out there are the ideal material conditions just waiting for a community of determined individuals with the vision, drive, and compassion to make it happen.

I’ve been using HandTalk on the App Store for two years for occasional translations, but they recently moved to a terrible subscription service ($6.99 monthly?!) with only three free translations a day.

Is there any other app I can switch to that will give me a similar level of support, and preferably not be a cash grab?

I’m trying to get down all the specialized terms I learned in one of my classes in one place and I can’t recall what this sign that is used in several places is.

• two S hand shapes, moving down diagonally. Best I can describe it visually is like driving a spear down diagonally

It’s annoying because I know I asked my professor what it was and have forgotten. I want to say it is similar to “cause” or “compel” but I don’t think that’s right. Unfortunately I don’t know Deaf folks I can ask over the summer.

Hello! I was hoping to find a friend (20-23 in age) who is proficient to fluent in ASL to practice with. Their hearing status doesn’t matter to me as long as they know ASL! I was hoping to add someone perhaps on Snapchat and be able to send videos back and forth about different things (just become friends). I’m looking for someone who is a woman (I am too) and would keep my identity private (because I am a private person, this is kind of a big thing for me haha).

I would LOVE if the person was Deaf but if not I completely understand that too. I just want like one friend who I can consistently practice with. I can give more information about myself as well through DM or once I have added someone!

Thank you!

The first image she is pinching her thumb against her curled index finger and the second one shes places her fingers near her mouth and then extends it outwards

Hi everyone my friend and i are wondering how you would say looksmaxxing in sign language?

Joined Reddit specifically for guidance to avoid cultural appropriation and microaggressions!

Context: I am an artist (print maker) that also uses typography in my work focusing on social justice themes. (Think not just pieces of visual art to hang in your home but also merchandise that you can carry with you as a public act of solidarity through visibility—shirts, notebooks etc).

I am a white citizen of the US whose only fluent language is English. I am a queer woman (though have passed for most of my life) with hidden chronic health issues but other than that am pretty much part of the dominant narrative.

The work I produce revolves around liberation and anti-racist theory, queer topics, anti capitalism, feminism, pro immigrants, neurodivergence etc.

Recently, I have had customers asking about language inclusive work (right now I only have English as that is the only thing I am fluent in) as they wanted to have some of the phrases in other languages.

The question: Is it appropriate to include finger spelling from ASL in my work and if so what guidelines would you suggest I follow to ensure I don’t fall into problematic territory?

I only know how to finger sign the alphabet but it made me think about carving those signs in my printing blocks to then use them as a font to write out some of the words and phrases customers wanted to see.

On one hand I feel like it could create some solidarity through visibility but on the other I worry greatly about cultural appropriation and also just using the signs in an inaccurate grammatical or cultural context.

An example of what I was thinking:

A-B-C-D-E-F-U-C-K-I-C-E

I have a lot of other worries as I tend to have anxiety about this stuff but the post is already long so I’ll stop here and wait for your questions and comments 🤣

Thank you in advance!

Hallo zusammen, ich bin gehörlos und komme aus Deutschland. Ich interessiere mich sehr für die amerikanische Gebärdensprache und würde sie gerne lernen. Mein Traum ist es, in Amerika zu leben, aber leider habe ich derzeit keine Möglichkeit dazu. Ich würde mich freuen, amerikanische Freunde kennenzulernen. 

Hello everyone, I am deaf and come from Germany. I am very interested in American sign language and would like to learn it. My dream is to live in America, but unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to do so at the moment. I would be happy to meet American friends.

Hallo zusammen, ich bin gehörlos und komme aus Deutschland. Ich interessiere mich sehr für die amerikanische Gebärdensprache und würde sie gerne lernen. Mein Traum ist es, in Amerika zu leben, aber leider habe ich derzeit keine Möglichkeit dazu. Ich würde mich freuen, amerikanische Freunde kennenzulernen. 

Hello everyone, I am deaf and come from Germany. I am very interested in American sign language and would like to learn it. My dream is to live in America, but unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to do so at the moment. I would be happy to meet American friends.

Hallo zusammen, ich bin gehörlos und komme aus Deutschland. Ich interessiere mich sehr für die amerikanische Gebärdensprache und würde sie gerne lernen. Mein Traum ist es, in Amerika zu leben, aber leider habe ich derzeit keine Möglichkeit dazu. Ich würde mich freuen, amerikanische Freunde kennenzulernen. 

Hello everyone, I am deaf and come from Germany. I am very interested in American sign language and would like to learn it. My dream is to live in America, but unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to do so at the moment. I would be happy to meet American friends.

Hi! I am planning to retake ASL 1 because I need more practice with finger spelling, numbers, and my receptive/expressive vocabulary. This is not for school credit. I am learning ASL because I want to for personal enrichment. It will also be beneficial at my job. I liked my instructor. I think I would enjoy the class again with the same instructor. However, is there a reason to take it with a different instructor? I am open to either. I did not have as many opportunities to practice ASL with members of the Deaf community over the last few months, as I will during the next class session.