Hi! I’m a complete beginner and very eager to learn ASL at least to a basic conversational level, all just for fun so far. My problem is that I have almost immersion opportunities (middle of nowhere + tiny country that has a different sign language but I chose ASL because of resources), so I have nowhere to practice receptive skills.
1. How can I practice reading ASL, any resources?
2. Also, do you think I should scrap ASL altogether and do our local SL even though I’m just 16 and with no opportunities to interact with Deaf people? Our online resources seriously suck and there’s only a few classes not close to me.
3. Is it possible/realistic to learn more than one SL in a lifetime? Or do they mess with each other too much? ASL is so much easier at home, but when I grow up I could see myself taking a class
Hi there!
Sorry for taking so long to reply, things got a bit crazy right before the holidays. Anyhoo...
1. Practicing on your own is obviously never ideal, but it's something I think most of us face rather often. Personally, I've found that a great time to practice sign language is when you're focusing on something alone (i.e. scrolling through tumblr, watching a movie, binging youtube shit) because it allows you to react to things mostly silently, and that at least appeals to me. Also, since you're moving at your own pace, you have the time to pause whatever you're doing, look up a word or phrase you want to use in reaction to something, go back and try it out.
2. I think that, especially if you're from a small country with little to no sign language resources, that learning your native sign language could be a great opportunity! It sounds like you've had enough almost-chances to really consider it. And if you do decide to learn it, you could go on to compile all your own notes as a new resource for other learners!
3. In a lifetime? I think it's perfectly possible. I might not suggest learning them at the same time as that does very much get confusing, but there's absolutely no reason you can't learn more than one over time. Plenty of people speak more than one language and it's really no different than that. Go for it! Learning is never a bad thing and any quest for knowledge has my utmost respect.
