anyone know British Sign Language?

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erin.oldham

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Anyone there from UK know British Sign Language? I only know American Sign Language because it's only my English language in the United States. So i want to learn how to sign with British Sign Language. Thank you.
 
Check your local library if they have books on British Sign Language?
I understand spoken English is the same in United Kingdom , United States even here in Canada amongst other English speaking countries.
 
drphil said:
Check your local library if they have books on British Sign Language?
I understand spoken English is the same in United Kingdom , United States even here in Canada amongst other English speaking countries.
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While "English" is generally the same - there are actaully a fair amount of differences from country to country in terms of spelling (tyre/tire, jail/gaol etc) as well as terminology (cart/buggy/trolley, lorry/truck etc). In some cases the differences are enough to create multiple misunderstandings. Of course accents fall into the equation as well.

For those interested in linguistics (like myself) the differences across English speaking countries is absolutely fascinating.



Regarding BSL information, there are actually a number of good online websites and dictionaries for BSL. It's rather unlikely that you'll find much (or any) BSL material in either Canada or the USA because it's not used in either location.
 
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I made reference to "spoken" not "written" English to avoid a discussion in linguistics. No interest whatsoever in linguistics.

Assuming one can get tell by context what variance for similar items-intend.
 
drphil said:
I made reference to "spoken" not "written" English to avoid a discussion in linguistics. No interest whatsoever in linguistics.

Assuming one can get tell by context what variance for similar items-intend.
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The implication of your post was that spoken/written English was basically universal, but that there is effectively no carry-over from ASL to BSL - is that correct?

If so, it's not entirely correct.

While ASL and BSL are quite different (the main difference actaully being fingerspelling) that there is actaully a fair amount of signs that are the same, or similar between ASL and BSL - enough that fluent users of one can often understand at least the general context of the other quite quickly. (as an example someone posted a 2year old and their mum having a conversation in BSL - I don't know BSL, but knowing ASL, I was able to understand about 75% of what was said without using any subtitles etc to translate the BSL to text)

Part of this is because in many Signed Languages there are a number of object and action signs which are iconic, or have iconic "roots". This makes it quite easy for someone who understands how iconic signs "work" to apply that knowledge to another signed language (for example ASL, BSL etc).

On a side note, countries that share similar cultures, gestures, body language cues etc tend to share iconic signage more than to different cultures - meaning that ASL, BSL, LSF, LSQ etc share more in common (thus easier to understand) than ASL and Chinese, Israeli, Japanese, Russian sign languages.
 
Canadian English is halfway between American and 'British' English. American terms but many British spellings are used: colour and honour being the best known examples.

I've found many British people get extremely upset over anything they perceive as 'Americanization' of English, even though their own regional dialects 'mangle' it far more than spelling 'licence' with an S instead of a C. :roll:

I'm supposed to be meeting with a professional BSL terp to discuss my career plans at some point, I'll be interested to hear what she thinks about the differences in the sign languages.
 
I understand there are differences between ASL and BSL however it depends on where one utilizes which sign communication system-live where? Likewise Australian Sign Language is "different"-supposedly.

Being Canadian not unduly excited over the differences.

Cheers!
 
drphil said:
I understand there are differences between ASL and BSL however it depends on where one utilizes which sign communication system-live where? Likewise Australian Sign Language is "different"-supposedly.

Being Canadian not unduly excited over the differences.

Cheers!
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Why bother even posting to this thread then?
 
erin.oldham said:
Anyone there from UK know British Sign Language? I only know American Sign Language because it's only my English language in the United States. So i want to learn how to sign with British Sign Language. Thank you.
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I'm currently learning BSL from a Deaf BSL teacher which is the best way to learn. I don't know if you are able to stream BBC programmes in the US, but I like to watch BBC programmes (the UK's major TV station) that provide both subtitles and a BSL interpreter in the corner. By simultaneously reading the subtitles and watching the interpreter I find myself learning BSL. Also you could try YouTube as there are numerous BSL clips on there, but the standards vary and many of them are rubbish BSL.
 
I learned how to sign BSL from friends who I met on Deaf4life. I'm profoundly deaf and sign fluently in ASL. I went to the University of East Anglia as part of study abroad program. I took a BSL class as one of my elective classes. Also I met deaf people who live there. There is cultural differences in both countries. I have noticed that British deaf people relies on their mouth movements for their signs. It's not a bad thing, just different.
 
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