American Sign Language for dummies
Book - 2017
"Grasp the rich culture and language of the Deaf community. To see people use American Sign Language (ASL) to share ideas is remarkable and fascinating to watch. Now, you have a chance to enter the wonderful world of sign language. American Sign Language For Dummies offers you an easy-to-access introduction so you can get your hands wet with ASL, whether you're new to the language or looking for a great refresher. Used predominantly in the United States, ASL provides the Deaf community with the ability to acquire and develop language and communication skills by utilizing facial expressions and body movements to convey and process linguistic information. With American Sign Language For Dummies, the complex visual-spatial and lingui...stic principles that form the basis for ASL are broken down, making this a great resource for friends, colleagues, students, education personnel, and parents of Deaf children. Grasp the various ways ASL is communicated, get up to speed on the latest technological advancements assisting the Deaf, understand how cultural background and regionalism can affect communication, practice signing with videos online. If you want to get acquainted with Deaf culture and understand what it's like to be part of a special community with a unique shared and celebrated history and language, American Sign Language For Dummies gets you up to speed on ASL fast."--Amazon.com description.
- Subjects
- Genres
- Handbooks and manuals
- Published
-
Hoboken, NJ :
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
[2017]
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Other Authors
- Edition
- [3rd edition]
- Item Description
- Preceding editions titled Signing for dummies.
Includes index. - Physical Description
- xi, 340 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- ISBN
- 9781119286073
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1. American Sign Language and You
- Chapter 1. You Already Know a Little Sign
- Discovering Signs That Look like What They Mean
- Building on the Basics of Sign: Gestures and Expression
- Spelling with your fingers
- Shaping up those hands
- Benefiting with body language
- Gazing at the face of expression
- Chapter 2. Signing Grammar Basics
- Explaining the Parts of Speech
- Distinguishing between noun/verb pairs
- Modifying with adjectives and adverbs
- Talking Tenses
- Structuring Sentences
- Subjecting yourself to nouns and verbs in simple sentences
- Placing subjects and objects
- Exclaiming in Simple Sentences
- Signing Conditional Sentences
- Personification: The Secret of Agents
- Clarifying with Classifiers
- Chapter 3. Starting to Sign Basic Expressions
- Initiating a Conversation
- Attracting someone's attention
- Using greetings and closings
- Getting Acquainted
- Sharing feelings and emotions
- Connecting your thoughts
- Talking about where you're from
- Acting the Part: Constructed Dialogue and Constructed Action
- Constructed Dialogue
- Constructed Action
- Chapter 4. Getting Your Numbers and Times Straight
- Counting on Numbers
- Getting from one to ten with cardinal numbers
- Ordering ordinal numbers
- Signing phone numbers and the like
- Talking about Time
- Signing calendar dates
- Chapter 5. Signing at Home
- Handling Signs about Your Home
- Touring all the rooms
- Furnishing your home
- Hanging Out for the Holidays
- Teaching the Tots
- Keeping Track of Your Subjects in Space
- Part 2. Refining Your ASL
- Chapter 6. Asking Questions and Making Small Talk
- Signing Key Questions: Six Ws, One H
- Discussing Family, Friends, and More
- Family and friends
- Relating where you live and work
- Using Possessives and Pronouns When Chatting
- Personal pronouns and possessives
- Demonstrative pronouns
- Chapter 7. Asking for Directions
- Finding Your Way
- Looking to Natural Landmarks
- Searching the Streets
- Transporting Yourself
- Directing Your Sentences with Conjunctions
- Chapter 8. Dining and Going to the Market
- Eating Three Square Meals a Day
- Having breakfast
- Munching on lunch
- Enjoying dinner
- Dining Out
- Ethnic food around town
- Don't forget the drinks!
- Attention, Shoppers!
- Signing specialty stores
- Getting a good deal
- Chapter 9. Shopping Made Easy
- Clothes for All Seasons
- The winter look
- Fall fashion
- Spring style
- Summer suits
- Clothing by color
- All about Money
- Shopping Superlatives and Comparisons
- Chapter 10. The Signer About Town
- Making Plans
- Going to the movies
- Going to the theater
- Going to the museum
- Selecting Your Social Station
- Chapter 11. Takin' Care of Business
- Occupying Yourself with Occupations
- Sorting Office Supplies
- Getting to Work
- Chapter 12. Recreation and the Great Outdoors
- Exercising Your Right to Recreate
- Getting into the competitive spirit
- Setting out solo
- Playing Indoor Games
- Having Fun with Hobbies
- Seeing the Night Sky
- Getting the Weather Report
- Asking Rhetorical Questions in ASL
- Chapter 13. Here's Your Health
- Going to the Doctor
- Signaling medical personnel
- Figuring out how you feel
- Expressing medical terms
- Describing Ailments and Treatments
- Pointing to Body Parts
- Handling Emergencies
- Part 3. Looking At Life Through Deaf Eyes
- Chapter 14. The Deaf Community and Deaf Etiquette
- Digging into Sign's Past
- Examining When and How ASL began
- Facing the Challenges of the Deaf Community
- Putting the past behind us
- You've come a long way, baby
- The Deaf as an Ethnic Group
- Understanding Deaf culture
- Knowing who falls into the Deaf cultural community
- Living as bilingual/bicultural people
- Being Sensitive to Being Deaf
- Living together in a hearing world
- Getting the Deaf perspective
- Participating in the Deaf Community
- Finding your place in the Deaf community
- Communicating with new Deaf friends for the first time
- Questions you shouldn't ask
- Interpreting for the Deaf Community
- Chapter 15. Soliciting Social Justice
- Oralists and Manualists Meet in Milan
- The Deaf Have It
- Rejecting Language Oppression
- Movers and Shakers
- Chapter 16. Using Technology to Communicate
- Using Videophones: Can You See Me Now?
- Communicating with videophones
- What to expect when using a video relay service
- Keeping quiet what is private
- Using Other Communication Methods
- Texting 24/7
- Chatting visually
- Calling through Captioning
- Part 4. The Part of Tens
- Chapter 17. Ten Tips to Help You Sign like a Pro
- Watch Yourself and Others Sign
- Discover Multiple Signs for Communicating One Thing
- Practice Your Signing - with Others
- Always Fingerspell a Name First
- Adjust Your Eyes; Everyone's Signing Is Different
- Use Facial Expressions like Vocal Inflections
- Journal Your Progress
- Get Some Signing Space
- Don't Jump the Gun
- Watch the Face, Not the Hands
- Chapter 18. Ten Ways to Pick Up Sign Quickly
- Volunteer at a Residential School for the Deaf
- Volunteer at Local Deaf Clubs
- Attend Deaf Social Functions
- Make Deaf Friends
- Assist Deaf Ministries
- Attend Conferences for Interpreters
- Work at Camps for the Deaf
- Attend Silent Weekends
- Go to Deaf Workshops and Deaf Conferences
- Watch Sign Language Videos
- Chapter 19. Ten Popular Deaf Expressions
- Swallowed the Fish
- Train Gone
- Pea Brain
- Rats!/Darn!
- I Hope
- Your Guess Is as Good as Mine
- Cool!
- Oh No!
- That's Superb!
- That's Pretty Straight-Laced
- Wow!
- Index