Wirelessly posted
Sorry about the caps thing. its a habit. and if i can't afford classes yet whats my best option? books? skype with someone to learn?
Thanks about the caps thing, and sorry for being grumpy about it.
Ok, so about classes: I don't know if you're aware of all your options, so sorry if this is something you already know or just plain useless, but- if you mean you can't afford college classes, which can be expensive, it's worth looking for cheaper options. Some places offer non-credit classes, much cheaper than college tuition. You might find them at a center that primarily serves the Deaf community, you might find them at a school for Deaf kids (maybe night classes for adults) or even at a college with an ASL program: sometimes they offer continuing education classes at much cheaper rates. I know that here college ASL classes *start* at hundreds of dollars (depending on where you go, it can be more) but you can get an 8 week course for 60.00 or so at one of these non-credit places.
They're not as intense, you don't learn as much as you would in a credit class (not as much time either) but still very worthwhile.
Part of why you should want to take a class is the instruction and material itself, but part of it is just to have access to someone who knows their ASL very well. You need feedback because it's really easy to teach yourself wrong.
If you absolutely can't take a class, then sure, websites like lifeprint and then using skype to practice with others is useful, but I think you still need at least *some* contact with a competent signer. Someone to ask your questions, someone to correct you when you get on the wrong track. I feel pretty strongly that if you go looking for someone to help you (I mean someone deaf or at least fluent) you need to offer them something in return. Money is probably the best thing to offer, but if you can't afford classes (again, not exactly sure how much you can't afford, see above) maybe you can't afford that. So maybe there's something else you can offer, I don't know. I've done some skill swaps and work trade things with Deaf people in my area which was pretty cool. Anyway. The person doesn't have to be your teacher - just someone to meet with once in a while to help you clean up any messes you get into.
I blogged one of my posts a while back in response to someone who was looking for ways to learn ASL. She was also taking classes, so my answer to you isn't exactly my answer to her, but there might be something in there you can use.
http://www.alldeaf.com/blogs/amylynne/1191-ideas-learning-asl.html
Getting back to your original question: Books are good for deaf culture and history, maybe linguistic stuff like ASL structure once you get your basics down, but to start with when you're trying to learn individual signs, I'd go with something that has a video component. Like I said, lifeprint is a good website, and lots of other stuff out there - dvds, websites etc. Just be careful that you don't just learn vocabulary (like from a dvd) and try to string the words together like an English sentence.
(Just to be clear, you *should* read books on deaf culture and history while you study ASL. Very important and interrelated. And interesting
)
Facial expression/body language is helpful of course. If we can't figure out whats going on, paper/pen or texting always help. You can do it 