Is American Sign Language easy? or it is just as hard as any other spoken language?

Question

I had hear ignorant people to say that ASL is easy because is not a real language, also many stated that ASL is signed English. But for those of you who think that ASL and English are grammaticaly identical, then you would not have difficulty translanting these sentences to ASL. and any deaf person would be able to understand such tranlation.

1. Man is the architec of his own destiny.
2. During World War II, a French soldier was later condecorated by the president for destroying 50 german trenches.
3. I love you from here to the Moon

Is it Easy?

Many say that they know ASL. But do you used CL's in your sign. Also for Cannabia, the sign for perfect is different. Not all deaf people use ASL. So if your brother is deaf that does not mean anything. That one is not ASL, that is SEE. Signing Exactly English

Answer 1

You have three options for sign language:

The first one is the easiest because you just have to spell all words with sign language alphabet.

The second way is easy too because you just speak with vocabulary words without any grammar in it. This is the most used type of SL.

The third way is the hardest because you use grammar on it as well as vocabulary words.

Vocabulary words tend to be easy because they usually are composed of the first letter and the effect of the word. Example... the word "perfect" is done by making a P sign with your hand and then hit your other hand with it.

Answer 2

ASL is not grammatically the same as English. However the three sentences you listed can be easily signed. You can sign an English sentence word for word and most deaf people will understand it. If they can read printed English, they can read signed English. But because it often takes longer to sign that to speak, and the vocabulary is more limited - not every English word has a sign so many have to be finger spelled out - there are a lot of "short cuts" for signing things. Words dropped, single signs for whole sentences, etc. Much like learning a spoken "slang" language. No fast rules. Varies in different parts of the country, and at different deaf schools. I worked my way through college signing for hearing impaired students, and it is a challenge because of the variations in ASL. So I often had to do straight "signed English" to be clearly understood.

Answer 3

American Sign Language would actually probably be harder than a spoken language. With a spoken language, once you learn the pronounciation, you're about done. With sign language, you have to memorize the hand movements to the word, and you have to have a very good memory. It is NOT like any other language, especially since if you are off on a sign, you could have the WHOLE sentance mean something else entirely.
To me, it seems harder, but I do not know sign language, so I am not sure.
(I hope i spelled 'sentance' right--if not, I apologize!)

Answer 4

It took years and years for the University I went to to finally classify ASL as a modern language instead of a communication class.

Your entry really has two ideas. Is ASL a separate language, AND, is it hard?

Yes it is a separate language, and
Maybe it is hard, depending on what you compare it to.

Finland has a language that, it is said, no one can learn unless they were raised there. That's pretty tough.

Answer 5

Easy? No, it's FAR from easy! ASL is the language I know...well am learning...I have taken 3 semesters of ASL.

ASL has a different sentence structure...you don't sign:

"What do you want to do?" you sign

"You do what?"

The same sign can mean different things...depending on your facial expressions!

So no, ASL is NOT easy!!

Answer 6

No it is not easy I took a course in college and let me tell you it is very hard you need to use alot of facial expressions. not to mention all the various hand movements I think ASL is a very awesome language to learn. and I'm not from the deaf culture.

Answer 7

I tried it.
I never became fluent enough even to begin the Interperter Program at Galludet.
Besides straight translation of words to signs is not enough you have to understand grammer that is not the same as Signed English.
There were kids in my class who learned at an amazing pace !
They could carry a conversation in sign language after the second semester. Easily 4x better then me.

I would encourage you to at least try it. Maybe you will be AMAZING !

Answer 8

sign language is greater often than not incredibly complicated to learn, greater often than not with the aid of huge grammatical difference from English. additionally word that there are diverse sign languages, yet i assume you mean American sign Language. besides, by employing sheer accident, i've got heard ASL grammar is reminiscent of jap Grammar. by employing extension, Korean grammar is almost same to jap grammar. you could have a reasonable leg up on different novices.

Answer 9

I took Signed Communications in college. It seemed easy for me since I seem to have a proclivity for languages. I had to think differently, not literally. As I found in the other languages I've learned (8), it's difficult to translate word for word from any language to another.

Answer 10

signing is just as complicated as any other language. it has shortcuts (slang), special symbols, (phrases) specific words(spelling), and is designed not just for the hearing impaired, but the blind also have uses for the specific lettering by feel when they are unable to hear as well (remember helen keller?). while the letters are fairly easy, the use of the symbols which stand for whole words and sentences, takes a great deal of practice and a good memory, to learn and use properly.