Wednesday, March 23, 2011
BSL vs. ASL
I don't know if any of you have had the opportunity to look into foreign sign languages, and if you have, i'd love to get your input! I've learned the British Sign Language alphabet recently, and realized that it is pretty hard. If you don't know, each letter (except for C) is made using both hands, which is a huge difference than ASL which only uses the one hand to make each letter. Can you see the benefits in using both hands for each letter? Do you think there is one?
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This is something I had never really considered before. I had learned a long time ago that BSL and other foreign sign languages had two handed alphabets, but I have never thought about the benefits of it. The only benefit I can think of right now is that it is easier to know the difference between consonants and vowels if you use a two-handed alphabet, because they often use different hands to sign both.
ReplyDeleteI tried to learn the BSL alphabet, but I thought it was so confusing and gave up. I did think the vowels being different fingers on the hand thing was pretty cool though. I have never really thought about benefits though. That is a really interesting question. The only thing I could think of is dexterity maybe? I mean I would think it would be easier if it was a two handed thing for people who have bad dexterity. I know that sounds sort of silly but that's all I could think of off the top of my head!
ReplyDeleteYou should check out the GSL (German) alphabet, it blew my mind, haha.
I tried to learn the BSL alphabet before I went to London and all I ever remember is my name. I think there it is much easier having one-handed letter signs, especially with how often we end up signing one-handed. I suppose, though, that they would be able to understand one-handed fingerspelling with practice the way we can understand one-handed signing when we need to.
ReplyDeleteI also looked at Irish sign language and their manual alphabet is almost the same as ours (except for Northern Ireland where BSL is used). It seems that they copied from the French as well.
Thanks for the post. :) I am interested in all the foregin languages of ASL. I think it is pretty neat to have multiples of one language. Currently, I am trying to learn Swahili, so I have been checking out African sign language. If anyone knows anything about African or Kenyan Sign Language please let me know. :) Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very interesting. I have never really put much thought into how many different sign languages there are out there. I think BSL would be more difficult because you use two hands as opposed to ASL where only one hand is used.
ReplyDeleteThis really is something to think about. I mean I only really know a little of BSL, so I never really took the time to consider the benefits to it's alphabet over ASL. Like the others have said before I think that a major benefit is that some of the letters you would be able to distinguish better then ASL. Otherwise I really cannot think of anything, but that is also with my very small knowledge of BSL....lol I think it is cool, though, to go out and learn other sign languages. It's interesting to think how many different ones are out there.
ReplyDeleteI think this is really neat. I watched you practicing at KYRID :) haha but I'm not sure what the benefit of this would be.. I think it would be much easier to have a conversation and having to finger spell a word with one hand rather than two...
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about British Sign Language but I think that it would be really neat to learn.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the alphabet presented in BSL using both hands and it is definitely interesting. Personally, my bias is toward one handed fingerspelling (since that is what I know), but I believe it has an advantage over two-handed spelling. For instance, you can list, say 4 items on one hand, such as people's names, and can spell each one with your dominant hand while still referencing the list of 4 on your non-dominant hand. Or likewise, you can establish a classifier using your non-dom hand, such as a car or a other item, and spell it with your dom hand while keeping the classifier in view. Is this absolutely necessary? I'm sure it's not, because BSL has ways of conveying similar information while spelling with both hands. But to me, one handed-spelling offers an advantage.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed when practicing with a friend, that it can be difficult to wrap my head around the fact that each letter is on both hands. Although it's a neat concept to all the vowels on the fingers, it's actually really hard to remember which finger means what when the fingerspelled word is done rather quickly. It's definitely hard too, if you aren't in a great eye sight view of the letters, because you can hide what handshape one hand does on the palm of your other... if that makes any sense! It's been fun to learn though!
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