Resources for Learning American Sign Language

Written by UPrinting    ●    Updated on November 05, 2023

American Sign Language, or ASL for short, is the language used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing in the United States. This language entirely consists of hand shapes and gestures, and it has a complete grammar all its own. ASL was developed in the early 1800s at the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut, where students and staff blended signs from French sign language with different signs that they used at home with their families. Today, ASL has become a crucial communication tool for people with hearing loss, and it's also a popular second language with hearing people. In fact, it's the third most commonly used language in America.

If you're interested in learning ASL, you should know that it's fairly easy to learn the basics; you should be able to pick up enough to have a simple conversation within a year or so. However, it can be quite challenging to become fully fluent in the language, taking into account the differences in grammar as well as the technique needed to be able to follow a conversation with multiple people using ASL.

Resources

• Words You Already Know: You might be surprised to realize that you have already picked up a few gestures that you can use to communicate without speaking.
• 25 ASL Signs You Need to Know: Watch this video to learn the first 25 signs you should learn in ASL.
• ASL Topics: Click on the different topics on this page to watch videos showing many different useful signs in ASL.
• Learn Sign Language: Lesson 1: Start here and work your way through this course, which includes many videos designed to help you learn ASL efficiently.
• Dr. Bill's Alphabet: Mouse over or click on the letters to see all of the signs for the letters of the alphabet.
• ASL Finger Spelling Receptive Practice: Watch each video and type in what word the person is signing to test your knowledge of the ASL alphabet.
• 150 Basic ASL Words: Start with these words to learn the signs you'll need most often. There's also information on the bottom of this page about ASL grammar.
• ASL Quizzes: Choose the number of questions you want to create a quiz that can help you to test your ASL skills.
• Intro to ASL Grammar Rules: Sentences in ASL are structured much differently than they are in English.
• General Grammar: ASL Is Not English: If you sign words in ASL in the same order you would speak them in English, you may not be clearly understood.
• Sign Language Color Quiz: Can you figure out which color is being signed in each video clip?
• American Sign Language Dictionary: Look up any word in English to see how you should sign it in ASL.
• Test Your Knowledge of ASL: Try this quiz to see how well you know ASL signs.
• Deaf Etiquette: Do's and Don't You Need to Know: Just like with any other form of communication, using ASL has its own conventions, and not conforming to them can make you seem rude.
• ASL Flashcards: Print your own deck of flashcards and use them to quiz yourself on the letters of the alphabet in ASL.
• Sign the Alphabet: Use this game to quiz yourself on letters and numbers in ASL. You can set it to use multiple-choice questions if you're a beginner or require open-ended answers if you want to step up the challenge.
• ASL Nook: At the Restaurant: Watch this video to learn signs that will come in handy when you're dining out. ASL Nook also has a variety of other instructional videos created by a deaf couple and their children.
• The Daily Moth: If you're ready to put your skills to the test, try watching the news in ASL. This site posts a video recap of the day's top stories every weekday.
• American Sign Language for Dummies Cheat Sheet: Get a quick refresher on letters, numbers, and common signs in ASL on this page.
• How to Teach Your Baby Sign Language: Babies can be taught basic signs before they utter their first words, which allows them to better communicate their needs.
• American Sign Language vs. Signing Exact English: This brief comparison illustrates the differences between ASL and a 1:1 representation of English using finger spelling.
• Tips for Learning Sign Language: Learning ASL can be tricky for some people, but it helps to take things step by step, staring with the alphabet.
• ASLCORE: Many industry-specific terms don't have an adequate vocabulary of signs in ASL, which makes learning and communicating about these fields more difficult. This site was developed by deaf people to create and disseminate new signs in ASL to fill in the linguistic gaps.
• ASL STEM: This community-created dictionary focuses on signs related to science, technology, engineering, and math.
• How American Sign Language Is Evolving With Time: Language is always evolving, no matter which language you use. ASL is no different in this regard, adding and altering signs as the meanings of words and how they're used change.