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How can I learn American Sign Language?

I want to for free but all the sites I see online seem to have different spins on the same words. I want to know if there is some free and ACCURATE resource to learn ASL on one's own.

I hope that you understand what ASL really is. Scores of people start to use Signs without first learning about ASL-- as a foreign language. They wrongly assume that ASL is based on English and that they share the same system of syntax. This is untrue. ASL and English are two very different languages. In fact the syntax of ASL is the reverse of English. We do not simply trade Signs for words. That does not make sense to Deaf people. (There are not Signs for everything that exists.) We do use many English terms, but we organize them, and use them, VERY differently than English-users do. (Like some Deafs use the Sign COW to mean that they are not interested.)

The internet and other forms of media, to include books and dictionaries, are absolutely saturated with abhorrently inaccurate "ASL". The term "ASL" is used WAY too freely by people who are wholly incompetent. Then everyone copies everyone else until we are back at the Tower of "Babble"-- with people unable to understand each other.

Some of the problems?

* improper grammar
* corrupted handshapes, movements, placement, orientation, et caetera
* too much, or too little, repetition
* no facial expression
* no inflection
* no nuance
* no use of Classifiers or Mouth Morphemes
* no translation of English expressions before Signing (just Signing exactly what you hear)
* improper "concept " usage (which RUN do you mean?)
* a total disregard for regional Signing
* a belief that fingerspelling is only used for names, places, and titles

And more!

Then they say, "ASL is so easy!" Right. That's because what they are doing is not remotely like ASL!

It is deeply disturbing to see our cherished language pirated and utterly butchered.

For reliable ASL information, go to http://lifeprint.com/. This teacher is a brilliant Deaf man who has a PhD in linguistics. He teaches less Signs, in quantity, but he teaches how to use them properly-- according to ASL syntax. (If you want to know about ASL, ask Deaf people! After all, Deafs invented the language!) He has free virtual classes that you can take.

There are other sites, of course, but I cannot endorse any of them as what they teach is not really ASL but some version of signing + English. That is not what Deaf adults do.

Know that http://aslpro.com/ is a dictionary; it is not a teaching programme. They have a heavy Texas dialect that is not acceptable in other areas. (Many of their Signs are not grammatically correct.)

Some of what you will find on any site is regional. You must always get local Deaf-adult approval for every Sign that you want to use.

I am Hard-of-Hearing, a native ASL Signer of thirty years, a nurse, a Sociologist, an ASL teacher, and an authour of ASL media. I have lived and Signed all over the United States, so I am well-versed in regional Signing. See my other posts for more ASL information.
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