Anybody can learn to use sign language by, using the hands, body, and facial expressions. For instance, when we are happy or are attracted to something, we move forward. When we are afraid or are repelled, we move back. Above all, remember to remain observant and maintain eye contact. Looking away is a sign of rudeness in the deaf community.
Remember these basic concepts when learning to sign.
- Relax your physical inhibitions and make full use of your body gestures.
- Use facial expressions to enhance meaning. The same sign can have subtle differences of meaning depending on the facial expressions of the speaker.
- Use natural gestures. As in a game of charades, many formal signs actually look like what they mean. Practice conveying ideas without using words.
- In sign language, it is not impolite to point.
- Mouth movements aren't always used to make English words. Use mouth movements as adjectives-a pucker for sourness for example.
- To communicate in American Sign Language, You must draw pictures that show spatial relationships. You must "set the stage" before you will be understood.
- If you can, volunteer at a school for the deaf or some other place where you can observe the language as it is fluently spoken by members of the deaf community.
- Study; take courses at the local college.
- Be patient! The transition from spoken English to ASL is difficult. The languages operate differently and cannot be interchanged word for word. Learn the distinct rules of grammar, style, and usage as you would for any foreign language.
- Enjoy! Enter the flow of this beautifully expressive language, and let it move you.
