Sputnik

Hi Chandelle! I read A Quiet Kind Of Thunder a few months ago! Such a good book. I am by no means experienced or fluent in BSL, but there's a couple of things I can share that I hope might be helpful Have you had a look at any online BSL dictionaries? The main ones I use are these three: BSL Sign Bank, SpreadTheSign and SignBSL. They can be really useful for finding different signs. You'll also need to learn to fingerspell your name - you can look up the BSL alphabet in diagram form or have a look on YouTube for videos. I often refer to Jessica Kellgren-Fozard for BSL stuff, a Deaf YouTuber who does lots of BSL tutorials: As for signing book titles, I don't know if one would use individual signs for each word or fingerspell it? I'm guessing fingerspell, but not sure. Also, BSL follows it's own language structure and grammar so to introduce yourself you would sign 'Hello, name mine Chandelle.' However, you can also do BSL in the same order as spoken English, which is called SSE, Sign Supported English. I hope that makes sense, sorry if it doesn't! I recommend looking up tutorials on youtube Good luck with your presentation, sounds like it's going to be great! -Sputnik

Hello! I'm a hearing 19-year-old girl in Devon I started trying to learn BSL some time last year, through Youtube videos and BSL Dictionaries online. My Mum encouraged me to do an Introductory Course, and a few weeks ago I did my Level 1 (well, hopefully - haven't got the results back yet!) I love BSL and often prefer it to verbal speaking because I feel more confident when I use sign. I suffer from anxiety (social anxiety and OCD, mainly) which has a big impact on my life, and having something I feel so excited and motivated by is infinitely valuable in managing my anxiety! I've never been any good at learning foreign verbal languages but sign seems to come more naturally to me. It's a beautiful language and it makes me happy when I use what little of it I know I'd love to practice BSL with somebody, I will be quite anxious as social interaction feels like a big challenge for me but I'm keen to give it a go! Thanks for reading