LEARN in sign language

How to sign "learn" in American Sign Language (ASL)? And, how to learn ASL.

ASL signs for "learn"

Definition: to gain knowledge (of something) or acquire skill in (something).

Pronunciation (sign description): Dominant, loosely half open hand, palm down, in contact with non-dominant palm-up palm. The dominant hand moves toward the upper side head where top of dominant hand is in contact with the forehead and the handshape is now "flat-O".

A plural form, meaning "in the process". E.g. "I've been learning a lot." Or "I am still learning."

Verb inflection: to learn from (her/him, etc.) You can change the direction of the palm orientation to indicate whom one learns from who.

Vocabulary

Related signs: PICK UP, ACQUIRE, ASSIMILATE, MEMORIZE.

Phrases

learn a lesson:

Meaning: Profit from experience, especially an unhappy one.

Sign Language Learning

In addition to the ASL dictionary, this online resource has tutorials in the blog section where hearing students can learn in complementary with offline or online courses. In this section, here are some links to sign language learning topics.

What are the ways to learn sign language? There are several ways that you can overlap them for most optimal learning. For ASL learners and students, discover some learning strategies in classrooms. How to support yourself and your classmates through cooperative and collaborative learning.

How long does it take to learn ASL? Learning a signed language is no different from learning a spoken. It takes few to several years to become an intermediate level and many years to decades to become fluent for leaners. Native signers are ones who were born and raised speaking full-fledged ASL or other signed language as their first languages every day in family life and schools for the deaf.

How hard or easy is it to learn sign language? Before signing up for the ASL 101 or equivalent classes, most of our students thought it would be easy to learn it. Somewhere during the near-middle of the semester, most of the students admitted it's rated as "fairly hard" and some "fairly easy". "Hard" or "really hard" for the few others and pretty easy for the few ones. This curve is similar to other foreign or second languages, such as German, Spanish, and French.

First 100 words.

  1. again
  2. also
  3. ask
  4. bad
  5. boy
  6. but
  7. can
  8. come
  9. deaf
  10. different
  11. drink
  12. drive
  13. eat
  14. email
  15. excuse
  16. family
  17. feel
  18. few
  19. find
  20. fine
  21. fingerspell
  22. finish
  23. food
  24. for
  25. forget
  26. friend
  27. get
  28. girl
  29. give
  30. go
  31. good
  32. have, has, had
  33. he
  34. hearing
  35. hello
  36. help
  37. home
  38. how
  39. Internet
  40. know
  41. later
  42. like (feeling)
  43. little
  44. live
  45. man
  46. many
  47. me
  48. meet
  49. more
  50. my
  51. name
  52. need
  53. new
  54. no
  55. not
  56. now
  57. ok, okay
  58. old
  59. other
  60. please
  61. remember
  62. same
  63. say
  64. school
  65. see
  66. she
  67. should
  68. sign, signed word
  69. slow
  70. some
  71. sorry
  72. store
  73. take
  74. tell
  75. text, sms
  76. thank, thank you
  77. their
  78. they
  79. think
  80. time
  81. tired
  82. try
  83. understand
  84. use
  85. wait
  86. want
  87. what
  88. when
  89. where
  90. which
  91. who
  92. why
  93. will
  94. with
  95. woman
  96. work
  97. write
  98. yes
  99. you
  100. your

As you feel more comfortable with the first few hundreds of ASL signs, progress further with your vocabulary and learn signing more.