Jump to content

Hi everyone!


Recommended Posts

Hi everyone! 

I am a non-native English speaker, but I moved to the UK when I was 16 and spent my formative years here. I had my first encounter with BSL back in 2015 when I did a free internship at a non-profit that specialised in connecting BSL interpreters with those who needed their assistance. 

I currently work for the University of London, and for the first time in my life I have a couple of deaf colleagues. I looked back at my university experience and decided to pick up BSL. Although my colleagues use hearing aids and don't need me to sign to communicate, I thought it would be nice to have the option to do so. 

Also as a bilingual person, I can understand how challenging communication can be when you mishear things. I've always relied very heavily on facial expressions, especially in my early years in the UK when I didn't know every word Brits used or every slang word, and especially when I befriended people with stronger accents. I think everyone in my family has relatively weak hearing: I noticed struggling to understand colleagues speaking even my native language if they spoke too quietly or while turned away from me. During the pandemic I struggled to understand the people around me, especially if they wore a mask and spoke quietly, since I couldn't rely on their facial expression and fill in the blanks by guessing what they'd said. 

Another reason to pick up BSL is my job. I am a content officer, and a big part of my role specifically is filming videos. Now, when we're on set and recording an interview, I sometimes have to communicate with my colleagues without making a sound - telling them to move the camera, check the focus, reframe the shot etc. I hope to teach them some signs one day so we can do this efficiently and improve our filming on the spot without having to interrupt the speaker on camera. 

I think BSL would be great to learn for anyone who has to work in a loud environment or can't make a noise but has to communicate nevertheless. I wish I'd started learning it a bit sooner, but then again, I'm not sure it would have helped if the shop assistants and people outside of Deaf community didn't understand me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Latest Posts

    • Hi everyone New to BSL. want to do level 1 but missed the sign up so waiting for next round of admissions. Doing the BLS intro stuff online at the moment to learn basics.  Here to meet people, get to know folks and learn  Nice to meet you all
    • Hi! I’m Emily, I was a CoDa (child of deaf adult) between ages of 5 and 12 as we used BSL at home to communicate with my stepdad who was deaf.    I recently watched a show with a deaf actress in who used ASL and it reminded me that I know quite a lot of basic BSL but I want to brush up on my skills so I can effectively communicate with any BSL users I come across! It’s also a fun hobby ☺️