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Hello everyone, my name is Cole. I'm taking my first ASL class at college right now and would love to have some friends to talk with since none of my friends know ASL. I don't know too much sign yet, but I bet we could all learn from each other! I have no idea how we actually talk through this site.. but I will do some research on it. (I figured out how to add a video to the post tho!)

Hi, my name is Nadeema and I’m just starting my journey in learning ASL. I’m a complete beginner. Like I don’t even know the basics yet but I truly want to learn.. Two years ago, I had ear surgery when i faced some hearing problems and i gain back my hearing after that surgery. But recently, I’ve started experiencing hearing loss again. The doctors told me I might need to go through the same surgery, but I also know that this may keep happening. It’s emotionally and financially heavy, I don’t want to keep depending on expensive treatments or be a burden to those around me.. and also I’ve reached a point where I feel like, if this is what life is offering or god is giving, maybe I should accept it with strength and prepare myself. That’s why I want to learn ASL..not only because I may lose my hearing permanently someday, but also because I believe sign language is one of the most beautiful forms of communication. I don’t want to feel like I’m disappearing from the world..I want to connect, express, and live fully, even if it’s in silence.. I’m hoping to find kind people here who will help me step by step.. I don’t want to feel alone. I really hope I can be part of this community and learn with your support.. And yeah here I'm with an open heart, ready to learn.. Thank you for being here.

I think the designer cleverly used erroneous shapes since the message is Don't Trust Anybody (even the shirt designer). :-)

Hello! My name is Andy, and I've been looking for a website where I could connect with more people who sign and/or deaf people! I'm fifteen years old and have been practicing sign since I was ten. I want to be an interpreter in the medical field, and have always wanted to be some sort of interpreter. I have two dogs, one is a Shiba Inu named Gracie, and one is a mutt named Elvis. I currently live in Central PA, and would love to get to know some people in this community. I'm the youngest of three boys, and the only one who knows ASL in my family. Please feel free to text me!

Hi! I'm Demi. I have decided to pick up ASL because it seems very fascinating and interesting. I've been in the situation before where I meet someone who is deaf and have no idea how to communicate with them. After watching a short film on youtube about being deaf it made me want to learn ASL. I'm still really new, but I'd like to have a practice partner so I could work on my speed and reading skills.

Hi Ben, I saw ur video and im trying to brake it down to understand you. I am learning ASL and Im trying to practice, hopefully I am doing it correctly. did you sign .... 2 --( something, I cant figure out that 2nd sign, ) 1st one is fs . KITCHEN, sign for cook, 2nd (again that sign) fs COOK sign cook different what? like= whats the difference between kitchen and cook? Is that correct?

Hello , My name is Jenny, I am learning ASL 3 this semester. My teacher placed the link on the module for this site and became very interested in practicing my fingerspelling. I am still trying to get the hang of this platform so hopefully I can make new friends along the way. I am hearing, ASL will be my 3 language for me, English and Spanish I can manage so far, lol. Anyways, hope everyone here keeps going in growing knowledge for ASL. Good luck to us all.

Hello! I am a High School student currently taking ASL 2, I'm not very good and pretty much only know the basics. On top of that I just recently broke my thumb and signing has been really hard because it's my dominant hand. However, I love the ASL community and the language so so much, if anybody would be willing to just to sit down and have a supper chill VC just to get some practice in and meet some people that would be awesome!!!

Even as a hearing person, you can benefit immensely from learning to sign. Here's why. You can meet new people, be more sensitive human benchmark to the environment around you, and develop skills you didn't know you could possess.To sharpen your cognitive skills by experiencing a different way of learning. To explore the multiple perspectives on deafness and communication.Many careers involve interacting with deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals, such as teaching, interpreting, or working in the healthcare field

I am so sorry but I am still learning ASL in high school right now I am a freshman and I don't mean to be rude but Idk what you are saying. So sorry.😂

Hi, my name is Ben. I am hard of hearing. I took a renewed interest in learning ASL after i hung out with a deaf person at an event. Communication was awkward and slow going, and i wished i could communicate better. Afterward, i took a beginner level online ASL course with all deaf teachers. I learned very quickly because we used ASL immersively. I am currently taking a local ASL course taught in person by a hearing teacher who has a deaf brother. It's a lot of fun! As kids, he and his brother used home sign, because they were not allowed to sign in school. Now he is teaching ASL as a community service. I have a hearing friend on the east coast of Canada who practices ASL with me in video chat. Her teachers taught ASL, but they had a background in "maritime" sign language, or something like that. Our vocabulary overlaps about 80% and we can generally understand each other. My intention is to seek clarification in this forum as i continue to learn sign language. I love to explore little details which sometimes takes me down rabbit holes to unimportant corner cases. I look forward to meeting other folks along the way.

Hey Dave I’m a beginner also looking for someone to practice with.

Hey! My name is Sierra! I'm a sophomore in college getting a minor in ASL and I'd love to talk to anyone willing to practice!

Hello! My name is Angel, AKA ASLBarbie. I am a nonspeaking girl and a high intermediate ASL speaker. ASL has recently become my primary language and I am considering becoming an ASL Twitch streamer, as well as relaunching my YouTube channel, once I cqn figure out how to do it without being able to speak. I am always down to practice or help anyone learn to sign.

remember, ASL is a very visual language, so we communicate more with our body language and facial expression than actually with our hands. when in doubt, try to "act out" a word or provide an opposite, or associated word. Your facial expressions will communicate a large portion of what you are trying to say. If your face says nothing while you try to sign the word "yucky", it will be difficult to understand, even if the sign is correct, but if your face says "yucky", your conversation partner is more likely to understand, even if the sign is exactly correct, and they may even be able to provide a correction. When I don't know a sign i make a confusedy face with an "I don't know" kind of body language and then if context isn't enough, i spell it out. If you make a mistake, visually wipe out the word as if you are writing it in the air, which you technically are doing, and make the face that says "oops! i screwed that up, let me start again" When reading fingerspelled words, do not memorize each letter and then try to put it together. Doesn't work. Do what you do with written words, sound it out as you encounter the letters. Same with fingerspelling. Don't spell out V-E-R-O-N-I-C-A as it is spelled out to you. Instead, observe the name as it is spelled out and forms sounds ve-ron-ick-a. Resist the urge to stare at the hands, when being signed to. Focus on the face and see the hands in your peripheral vision, or you will miss a lot and have difficulty mentally connecting. And, never be afraid to ask for someone to repeat an important word, or to ask people to slow down. People tend to sign and fingerspell at THEIR speed, and that speed will often be faster, or slower than your speed, so the words "slower' and "again" need to be in your vernacular early. And just understand that you are going to miss words here and there, but if you can follow the essential ideas being conveyed, you will be able to follow.

the simplest way to do that is to do what is implied by written word, but not practiced in spoken word, leaving a slight pause, or rest note between words. one of the most difficult parts of learning a new language is a problem referred to as segmentation. when we speak fluently there really are no natural breaks between words, so if one doesn't know the words well enough to understand where one word ends and the next begins, it can be difficult to figure out. with ASL, this is somewhat similar, so we need to leave an actual temporal break between words. bear in mind, that people do not generally fingerspell entire sentences, outside of a practice scenario, so you are unlikely to fingerspell more than 2 to 4 words (ie; single persons full name) in a row at any time, and we generally do not spell out verbs and adjectives and non-nominal or label type nouns, so this pausing will not create a strangely halted speech, as it would if we did this while speaking.

Hi Keeley, my name is Jill! I am a freshman in college and I would love to practice and chat with you if you would be interested!

Hi all, I hope this message finds you all well. I am new here, and excited to continue my ASL journey. My fiancé and I have a 1 year old going on 2 in a couple months, and when she was born I took a particular interest in the effectiveness of communicating with babies via sign language as a conduit for enhancing our little girls ability to convey her her emotions and intent. My knowledge is rudimentary, but we have decided we would like to become fluent in order to raise our daughter to have the same skill. We hope to impart the value of mastering skills like language and communication in all its forms, so she can have a positive impact with anyone she encounters in life. I look forward to sharing our journey to a better understanding of something new, and through the process of learning a better understanding of ourselves.

I’m learning ASL because I want to become an ASL interpreter, it is my dream job. I want to also connect more with this beautiful community.

My mom and brother are hard of hearing. Decades ago, the local school system offered SEE classes to family members of students that were receiving services. Years later, I used baby signs with my children. Now I want to learn ASL. Honestly for the first time since SEE and "baby sign" are not ASL. Sure, there are crossover signs, but that only gets one so far. I also have occasional aphasia, so I'm hoping that learning ASL will do two things 1)offer me a resource when I get stuck and 2) help me recall when I get stuck.