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My college did, My room mate was a Special Ed Major, he taught me some ASL, But since I never had a chance to use it past when I was his roommate, I have forgotten how to do it.
My college did, but unless you needed it for you major it was impossible to get in a class. The year after I finished my foreign language req they decided to add more ASL and allow it to be taken for the Foreign Languag req. I was so upset as I have always wanted to officially learn it and I believe it would have been more beneficial than some of the other languages offered.
I know the alphabet and some basic things because our 2nd grade teacher taught us. Her adopted son was deaf and I think it inspired her to kinda give kids a basic knowledge of it.
If everyone were taught sign language we could have a universal easy way to communicate through the world.
Is that actually the case. I know almost zip about sign language, but I have seen adverts for learning sign language with the name of a foreign language in front of it....what I mean is "English sign language" "German sign language."
That led me to believe that some languages at least had a sign language tailored to their culture, and that it would not necessarily be intelligible to those who learned sign language in another culture.
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I took ASL 101 at college, it was fascinating and I learned a great deal about Deaf culture and the complexity and richness of signing. The class was completely immersive, our instructor was deaf and although we had an interpreter for a week, after that we were on our own and were only allowed to sign, any speaking was strongly discouraged. It is something I would like to learn more of but it doesn’t apply to my major, so it will have to wait. I’ve already gotten rusty even after learning enough to have basic conversation. Like any language it must be practiced to maintain your skill. And yes there are definitely regional differences in sign language, both in the broader sense and regional differences within a country, such as different parts of the US.
We were also shown a historical film about how some Native American tribes were able to communicate by using a sign language they held in common, even though they had different spoken languages.
Another thing I found interesting, and challenging, was that meaning could change by inflections, subtle changes in position or how a gesture is made, including facial expressions that can be critical to understanding.
I took it along with my son who was about 6 or 7, at our local community college. It was interesting and fun.
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