ASLBarbie

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.

looks like possibly a variation of "how"

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.