Free ways to practice sign language online(wired.com) |
Free ways to practice sign language online(wired.com) |
If you want to be effective signing user[0], you are encouraged to interact with our community. You get a better exposure of our language through social activities and it will help you to retain your memory of our language.
Another resource I recommend is taking sign language classes in community colleges, they are cheap to attend and satisfied your foreign language requirements (if you are undergraduate). You get interactivity from your classmate and teacher, so you get a better benefits to retain our language than relying on those app alone.
Don't be scared of learning sign languages, they can be overwhelming. But it will worth it in the end. One advantage of sign languages my hearing[1] friend told me about that they can eat and sign at the same time without speaking, they don't have to worry about spitting out the foods while they are speaking.
[0] Someone who regularly uses sign languages
[1] Jargon term for a person do not have deafness.
I've done a couple of in-person courses, but I'd really like to learn more vocabulary at my own pace. So far I haven't found much other than a couple of dictionaries (e.g. https://www.signbsl.com/ and https://bslsignbank.ucl.ac.uk/dictionary/), but it's not been hugely helpful in learning which signs are common in my region. I also find that just looking up examples of signs I don't know never really helps me learn.
They're obviously pitched at the level of fluent signers who use these as their primary way to use the TV, but I do find that between the audio, subs and thematic information, a lot can be picked up from the signer. English-with-subs is known to work well for foreigners learning English, and I expect English-and-signed might be good for BSL.
Where about are you based? I joined the bsl soc at uni and later did a level 1 course, so my level is rudimentary, but if you're in the west mids it might be good to practice.
I'm based in Herts/London, so a bit out of the way for a casual meet :-)