American Sign Language For Dummies with Online Videos

Adan R. Penilla, Angela Lee Taylor

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781119286097
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Sign Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Grasp the rich culture and language of the Deaf community

To see people use American Sign Language (ASL) to share ideas is remarkable and fascinating to watch. Now, you have a chance to enter the wonderful world of sign language. American Sign Language For Dummies offers you an easy-to-access introduction so you can get your hands wet with ASL, whether you're new to the language or looking for a great refresher.

Used predominantly in the United States, ASL provides the Deaf community with the ability to acquire and develop language and communication skills by utilizing facial expressions and body movements to convey and process linguistic information. With American Sign Language For Dummies, the complex visual-spatial and linguistic principles that form the basis for ASL are broken down, making this a great resource for friends, colleagues, students, education personnel, and parents of Deaf children.

• Grasp the various ways ASL is communicated
• Get up to speed on the latest technological advancements assisting the Deaf
• Understand how cultural background and regionalism can affect communication
• Follow the instructions in the book to access bonus videos online and practice signing along with an instructor

If you want to get acquainted with Deaf culture and understand what it's like to be part of a special community with a unique shared and celebrated history and language, American Sign Language For Dummies gets you up to speed on ASL fast.

Part 1

American Sign Language and You

IN THIS PART …

Trying out the signs you already know.

Structuring what you know and adding to your foundation.

Learning some basic expressions, numbers, and new vocabulary.

Building on your base of knowledge with things you know from home.

Chapter 1

You Already Know a Little Sign

IN THIS CHAPTER

Knowing some of ASL’s iconic signs

Managing the manual alphabet

Creating compounds

Handling handshapes

Communicating using gestures and facial expressions

Signing isn’t difficult, although moving your hands, body, and face to convey meaning instead of just using your voice may seem odd at first. But with time, practice, and interaction, you’ll see that hand movements can be meaningful. Your goal and reward is being able to meet and communicate with a whole new group of people — people who share your opinions, hobbies, and more. That’s definitely worth the initial awkwardness!

This chapter illustrates the manual alphabet in American Sign Language and talks about hand and body movements. Here, we show you the basics of making handshapes and using facial expressions and body language to get your ideas across. And we start off by reassuring you that you already know some signs. Trust us — you do.

For example, Sign is interwoven in your gestures when you use your index finger to motion to someone to “come here,” when you shake your head “yes” and “no,” and when you give someone the “evil eye.” When you put these in signing context, you convey volumes of information.

Discovering Signs That Look like What They Mean

Iconic or natural signs look like what they mean — the up and down motion of brushing your teeth that means toothbrush, for instance, or the right and left punches that mean boxing. Iconic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: American Sign Language and You
• Part 2: Refining Your ASL
• Part 3: Looking at Life through Deaf Eyes
• Part 4: The Part of Tens
• About the Authors
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement