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American Sign Language is one of those fascinating forms of communication. As you walk through a grocery store, a restaurant, or a park, you might see some people moving their hands in the air as they look at each other. We know that they are communicating because they are responding to each other with gestures and facial expressions. There is meaning to the movement. How often have you thought that you would love to know how to do that? Well here is your chance.

About This Book

American Sign Language For Dummies is designed to give you a general understanding of how to communicate in American Sign Language, as well as a general understanding of Deaf culture and Deaf history. As you’ll soon see, the language and the culture go hand in hand and can’t be separated, and an understanding of both makes you a better signer. As you go through this book, you will see that ASL has rules about how to shape the hands, how the hands move, and how to put signs in order.

To clarify, this book focuses solely on what’s known as American Sign Language (ASL) because it’s pretty much the only form of communication for the Deaf community in the United States.

This book is categorized according to subject. You can use each chapter as a building block for the next chapter or you can skip around wherever you please. Just find a subject that interests you and dig in, remembering that the most important thing is to have fun while you’re figuring out this stuff. It never hurts to have a study buddy. Having a friend to watch you sign, bounce off your questions, and applaud your progress may be just the thing. And if you like to fly solo, that’s ok too. Whichever way you go, the construct of the book is simple enough to follow.

After you understand a concept, we strongly recommend that you practice with those who are already proficient. Conversing with Deaf people is highly recommended as they are the experts. Doing so helps reinforce the knowledge you obtain from this book and allows others to help you hone your skills. If others understand you, you’re probably on the right track. And if you don’t understand something, don’t despair. People all over the world learn how to sign. You'll get there with practice.

Here are some conventions we use to help you navigate this book:

❯❯ We capitalize the word Sign when we use it as another name for American Sign Language. We don’t, however, capitalize it when we use it as a verb (to sign) or a noun (referring to a person – a signer – or to a specific sign).

❯❯ We always capitalize Deaf because it means culturally Deaf (whereas lowercase “deaf” simply means that someone has an audiological hearing loss and communicates in spoken English rather than ASL).

❯❯ Whenever we use Sign in lists, examples, and dialogues, we print it in ALL CAPS to show that it’s the closest equivalent to its English counterpart.

❯❯ When we introduce a new sign, we bold it in the text so that you know you’re about to learn a new sign.

❯❯ ASL doesn’t use punctuation, so we add hyphens to show slight pauses in Sign translations.

❯❯ The text (Sign and its English translation) always comes before the illustration.

❯❯ To save space, manual numbers and words that are fingerspelled don’t have illustrations. See Chapter 1 if you need help remembering how to sign a particular letter or number.

❯❯ A Q in a line of ASL indicates that you need to sign the manual question mark (flip to Chapter 6 for more on the manual question mark).

Don’t think of the translations of English sentences into ASL as word-for-word translations. In fact, many signs have no English equivalents. Throughout this book, you find English equivalents that are close in meaning to Sign but not exactly the same. Remember that ASL is a completely different language from English. Fortunately, many gestures that hearing people use are also used by Deaf people in ASL, so you already have a head start that you can build on.

Foolish Assumptions

We hate to assume anything about anyone, but when writing this book, we had to make a few foolish assumptions about you. Here they are (we hope we were right):

❯❯ You have little or no experience in this type of communication, but you’ll try anything once. Fair is fair.

❯❯ You don’t expect to become fluent in Sign after going through this book. You just want some basic vocabulary, and you want to see what particular signs look like by themselves and in simple sentences. There is nothing like intellectual curiosity.

❯❯ You aren’t interested in memorizing grammar rules; you just want to communicate. However, for you grammar gurus, Chapter 2 is written for you. There are rules and concepts sprinkled throughout the book.

❯❯ You want to know a few signs to be able to communicate with Deaf friends, family members, and acquaintances. There is strength in thinking of others.

❯❯ Because ASL satisfies a foreign language requirement at your college or university. Good for you!

❯❯ You met an interesting Deaf girl or engaging Deaf guy, and knowing some Sign will really help out. At least you’re honest.

Icons Used in This Book

To help you find certain types of information more easily, we include several icons in this book. You find them on the left-hand side of the page, sprinkled throughout:

This icon highlights tips and tricks that can make signing easier.

This icon points out interesting and important information that you don’t want to forget.

To avoid making a blunder or offending a Deaf friend, pay attention to what these paragraphs have to say.

This icon draws your attention to information about the culture of the Deaf community.

This icon indicates “Signin’ the Sign” dialogues and other elements that are featured in video clips online. You can see Sign in action and practice with the signers.

Beyond the Book

This book comes with an online Cheat Sheet that contains helpful reference information. To get the Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type “American Sign Language For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.

Your purchase of this book also gives you access to lots of online videos. Many of the dialogues in this book are shown online (as indicated by the Play This icon), and you'll also find a handy mini dictionary of common terms. You can access all of the videos at www.dummies.com/go/aslvideos.

Where to Go from Here

The beauty of this book is that you can begin anywhere you want. You may find it helpful to start with the first few chapters to get down the basics, but if that’s not your thing, feel free to jump in wherever you want. Use the table of contents and the index to point you in the right direction (no pun intended). Find a subject that interests you, start signing, and have fun! Just remember, you’re going to make mistakes, but don’t let that discourage you. Instead, use those mistakes as opportunities to solidify and strengthen what you now know to be right. Nothing worthwhile comes easily.