Using sign language

When we talk we don’t just use words to tell people what we mean. We show how we feel with body language – the way we move parts of our body when we speak – and our facial expressions. This is the same for sign language, too. For example, the difference between two similar sentences like ‘Did you give me a drink?’ and ‘I gave you a drink’ is shown both by the hand signs used and the direction in which those signs are made. If someone asks ‘Did you give me a drink?’ they signal from the other person to themself, and they raise their eyebrows at the end of the sentence to show they are asking a question. Think about what gestures you make when you speak. You will probably find that you often do many of these kinds of things without really thinking.

Sign language is a language like any other. People can say something in sign language as quickly (if not quicker) as they can using spoken words. You can argue in sign, discuss mathematical problems, or share a good joke.

Sign language

It does not matter which language a person speaks, so long as they can communicate with other people. Many young people who are deaf learn a language that uses the hands, the face and the upper part of the body to communicate. This is called sign language. Sign languages are completely different from the spoken language of a country. They have their own grammar and word order. Different countries use different sign languages. Even though countries like the UK and the USA use the same spoken language, they have different sign languages.

Sign languages across the world

• British Sign Language (BSL) is the most frequently used sign language in Britain. BSL is used by about 70,000 people. It has its own grammar and word order that are not the same as spoken English.
• American Sign Language (ASL) is used by more than half a million deaf people in the USA.
• The sign language of Australia’s deaf community is called Auslan.
  • There are special international signs used at meetings of deaf people from different countries across the world.