Overview
The dialog includes some common ASL phrases used in greetings and everyday conversations along with some basic ASL sentence structures and popular conversational signs. These are great sign language phrases for beginners to look at as they begin to become familiar with ASL. The importance of facial clues in ASL grammar is described and techniques for asking questions are introduced. Several insights into some common activities associated with the lives of Deaf people are presented.
To begin, read the English dialog and become comfortable with it. Then proceed to the next section to see the ASL version of the same dialog and learn the signs used to sign the dialog.
Sally:Hello. What's up?
Fred:Nothing. I'm bored.
Sally:Oh, poor you. Hey, guess what!
Fred:What?
Sally:I'm learning ASL.
Fred:That's cool! Can I learn ASL with you?
Sally:Sure.
Learning the Signs
A translation of the dialog to ASL is shown below. Sometimes, there is only one way that something can be translated from English to ASL. But often, there can be several ways for an English sentence to be translated to ASL. The translations in each of these lessons are common ones and you are likely to encounter them in everyday ASL conversations. As you become fluent in ASL, you will be able to sign sentences in many different ways. An explanation of the translation is shown in the section "Creating Sentences."
Click the words in the ASL translation below to view the signs on the right. Some signs have more than one variation. When you view a sign, variations are listed below the sign. Click on the variations to view it. When you encounter a sign that you do not know, practice the sign several times before continuing.
Sally:Hello. What's up?
hello. what's-up?
Fred:Nothing. I'm bored.
nothing. i bored.
Sally:Oh, poor you. Hey, guess what!
pity-you. guess what!
Fred:What?
what?
Sally:I'm learning ASL.
i learn asl.
Fred:That's cool! Can I learn ASL with you?
cool! i learn asl with you?
Sally:Sure.
sure.
WHAT'S-UP
NOTHING
BORED
PITY-YOU
WHAT
LEARN
COOL
YOU
SURE
Creating Sentences
Click each line in the ASL translation below to see it signed on the right and to learn more about the translation. Pay close attention to the facial clues that you should use when signing the sentences. Before moving on to the next sentence, practice signing the sentence at least 10 times or until you are comfortable signing it.
Sally:Hello. What's up?
HELLO. WHAT'S-UP?
Fred:Nothing. I'm bored.
NOTHING. I BORED.
Sally:Oh, poor you. Hey, guess what!
PITY-YOU. GUESS WHAT!
Fred:What?
WHAT?
Sally:I'm learning ASL.
I LEARN ASL.
Fred:That's cool! Can I learn ASL with you?
COOL! I LEARN ASL WITH YOU?
Sally:Sure.
SURE.
When you translate from English to ASL, you are translating the meaning. Sometimes this might result in one sign being used for several English words. Other times, it will look like you are translating one sign for one word. We have both examples in this opening dialog. There is one sign for the word "Hello" but there is also just one sign for the phrase "What's up?" which is in fact three English words (What is up?).
"What's up?" is a question that is seeking information. Think of what facial clues you would use. For "What's up?" you (1) squeeze your eyebrows together, and (2) tilt your head forward.
When asking this type of question, you accompany your signing with the following facial clues: (1) squeeze your eyebrows together, and (2) tilt your head forward.
ASL does not have signs for the verb to-be (i.e., ASL does not have a sign for the words is, are, am, and be). Instead, their meaning is incorporated into the context and structure of the sentence.
Fred shakes his head when signing NOTHING. This is a common thing to do when making a negative sign (e.g., NO, NEVER, DON'T-KNOW). Accompany your signing of BORED with a "bored" expression on your face.
The expression "Oh" is shown in the facial expression that a person makes. The same can be said of "Hey." Although there is no sign for "Hey" there are facial expressions and gestures that will be correctly translated as "Hey." You will acquire these expressions and know what gestures to use as you become more familiar with ASL.
Note that the sign PITY or PITY-you can be made with one hand or two hands. The sign PITY-you is called a directional verb sign. The movement of the sign is away from Sally and towards FredÑSally is feeling sorry for Fred. Now, if Sally were to turn her hands around and move the sign from Fred towards herself, she would be saying "You are feeling sorry for me." As you go through each course you will learn much more about directional verb signs.
Notice Sally's facial expressions when she signs PITY-you and GUESS WHAT! Each expression is appropriate for the statement she is signing. She has a look of sympathy when she signs PITY-you. But when she signs GUESS WHAT! she is clearly excited.
This is a word to word translation.
What facial expressions would you use with the sign WHAT? Review facial clues for asking questions.
Fred's facial clues clearly indicate that a question is being asked. He squeezes his eyebrows together and tilts his head forward.
ASL does not have signs for word endings (affixes) such as -ing, -ment, -ness, and -tion. In this sentence, some signers might repeat the sign LEARN to indicate the progressive tense.
A simple sentence in English can usually be translated in the same word order in ASL.
Notice the smooth transition from one sign to the next.
The expression "That's cool!" is translated with just one sign. When Fred asks "Can I learn ASL with you?" he is asking a yes/no question. The facial clues for yes/no questions is different than that for questions that are seeking information. Without the correct facial clues, the signed sentence could mean, "I am learning ASL with you."
Fred's facial clues for "That's cool" shows that he thinks what Sally had said is really neat. Fred raises his eyebrows and tilts his head forward when signing this yes/no question.
When signing SURE, your facial expression means a lot. If you really mean it then you have to show it with your facial expression.
Sally's facial expression and body movement forward shows that she is thrilled that Fred will learn ASL with her.
The Complete Dialog
Now that you have learned the translation from English to ASL, expanded your sign vocabulary, and learned how the signs flow together to form sentences, let's see how the entire dialog may look. Remember, when you are signing with someone, always maintain eye contact.
Watch the video below to see the dialog signed. While you watch, try to intrepet the signs. If you would like to see the text of the dialog, you may reveal the text script of the dialog.
Read the dialog below and watch the video to see the dialog signed, you may hide the text script of the dialog.
Sally:Hello. What's up?
HELLO. WHAT'S-UP?
Fred:Nothing. I'm bored.
NOTHING. I BORED.
Sally:Oh, poor you. Hey, guess what!
PITY-YOU. GUESS WHAT!
Fred:What?
WHAT?
Sally:I'm learning ASL.
I LEARN ASL.
Fred:That's cool! Can I learn ASL with you?
COOL! I LEARN ASL WITH YOU?
Sally:Sure.
SURE.
Additional Signs
In this section you will learn several new signs that can be used in conjunction with the sentence-creating techniques and other signs you learned in this lesson to further expand your ASL fluency.
Click the words to learn the individual signs. When you encounter a sign that you do not know, practice the sign several times before continuing.
Sally:Hello. What's up?
Related Sign(s):good-bye
Fred:Nothing. I'm bored.
Substitution(s) for BORED:TIRED
LAZY
Sally:Oh, poor you. Hey, guess what!
Substitution(s) for PITY-YOU:TOO-BAD
Fred:What?
Sally:I'm learning ASL.
Substitution(s) for ASL:ENGLISH
FRENCH
Fred:That's cool! Can I learn ASL with you?
Substitution(s) for WITH:WITHOUT
Sally:Sure.
Related Sign(s):OK
GOOD-BYE
TIRED
TOO-BAD
ENGLISH
FRENCH
WITHOUT
Practice Activity
Practice makes perfect! In this section you will exercise your newly acquired signing vocabulary and sentence-creating techniques.
Below are several new sentences. Translate these English sentences into ASL and then sign the translated sentence. Imagine that this is a real dialog. Ask yourself questions about what you might do when you sign each sentence. For example, do you normally smile when you say hello to someone? If the answer is yes, then you should smile when you sign HELLO. Click the English sentence to see a potential ASL translation.
1. I am lazy.
2. French is cool!
3. Are you learning without me?
4. Guess what? I'm tired.
5. Are you learning English?
ASL101 - Lesson 1 Quiz
| Questions: | 14 |
| Attempts allowed: | Unlimited |
| Available: | Always |
| Pass rate: | 70 % |
| Backwards navigation: | Allowed |
A Word About Deaf Culture
In learning a foreign language, it is important to understand the culture of the people who use the language. It is within a community of people that a language is created. This language is an integral part of the community's culture. American Sign Language is the language of the Deaf community. American Sign Language is usually referred to as ASL. ASL is a part of Deaf culture.
Deaf culture refers to the way Deaf people live.
- Deaf people are those people with a hearing loss who identify with the Deaf community.
- Being able to sign ASL is an important criteria for accepting oneself as a member of the Deaf community
- Not everyone who has a hearing loss says that they belong to the Deaf community.
- We use the term "Deaf" to talk about people and events related to the Deaf community.
- We use the term "deaf" to talk about anyone who has a hearing loss that makes it difficult to communicate by speaking and hearing.
- Deaf culture is about Deaf people and the way they live.
Here are some notes about Deaf people:
- Deaf people are just like any other group of people. They eat, dress, and have jobs just like anyone else. There are more similarities between Deaf and Hearing people than there are differences.
- Deaf people all have some degree of hearing loss and use sign language as a major means of communicating with one another. In the United States and most parts of Canada, the sign language used is American Sign Language.
- The Deaf community includes the lives and activities associated with Deaf people.
- There are no hard and fast geographical boundaries that identify the Deaf community.
- It can be a small community if we are talking about the Deaf community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- Or it can be a large community if we are talking about the community of Deaf people in the United States.
- Or it can be a highly populated community if we are talking about the community of Deaf people in the Washington, DC area.
The term Deaf culture is a reference to a wide range of activities, technologies, and organizations. A discussion about Deaf culture in the United States, for example, can touch upon the following topics:
- Organizations
- National Association of the Deaf
- USA Deaf Sports Federation
- Education
- Gallaudet University (Washington, DC)
- National Technical Institute for the Deaf (Rochester, New York)
- California State University in Northridge
- Schools programs for deaf children
- Technology
- TTY's (a keyboard device that allows deaf people to use the phone), video calls, text messaging
- Close-captioning on TV and videos
- Entertainment
- National Theater of the Deaf
- Deaf actors and actresses acting in movies and TV programs (ex. "Switched at Birth")
- Literature
- Newspapers and news magazines devoted to information about the Deaf community
- Books and articles written by Deaf authors
- And much more!
You will learn more about Deaf culture as you go through the ASL courses in the Signing Online American Sign Language series.
Reference:
- Language in Motion: Exploring the Nature of Sign. By Jerome Schein and David Stewart, (1995). Published by Gallaudet University Press.
- American Sign Language the Easy Way. By David Stewart, (1998). Published by Barron's Educational Series.