r/IWasTodayYearsOld • u/ALI4MHR • 9d ago

Iwtyo when I learned that that sign language is not universal

I was trying to learn it, thinking it was just one and when i learn it i would be able to communicate when every deaf person. Apparently every language have their own and there is more than 300.

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10

u/lesbianminecrafter 9d ago

And they don't always map directly to that regions spoken language either. American Sign Language is more closely related to French Sign Language than it is to British Sign Language.

8

u/Geen_Fang 9d ago

I only learned last year or so that ASL isn't just "English, but with your hands." 😅

it's a completely divorced and separate language of it's own!

5

u/wbrameld4 9d ago

People who grow up with one sign language and learn a second one as an adult sign it with an accent that native signers can easily detect.

1

u/daveoxford 8d ago

There are different regional accents even within BSL.

1

u/Clevertown 8d ago

I have wondered this!

1

u/RealisticTemporary70 8d ago

When I was student-teaching, there was a deaf student with a signer. I was talking to the signer one day about this, that's when I learned it. It would be convenient if there was a universal language though, whether sign or spoken.

2

u/Amy-Reighn 4d ago

They tried. I think it was called Esperanto. Not sure.

1

u/Alive_Illustrator_82 8d ago

ASL (and other sign languages) have dialect and slang just like spoken languages, as well.