A person in a black shirt signing, one hand raised to the shoulder and the other open at the waist, lit against a dark background

Your first month

Tick each step when it is done

How ASL works

ASL is not English on the hands. It grew out of the signing used at the first American school for deaf children, founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817, where French Sign Language met the signs deaf Americans already used. That is why it shares more with French Sign Language than with British Sign Language, which an ASL signer cannot follow. Every sign is built from five parts: the handshape, where it is made, how it moves, which way the palm faces, and what the face and body are doing. Change one part and you have a different sign. Sentences usually set the time first and the topic next, then say something about it, so a signer says the equivalent of yesterday, store, I go. There is no separate word for is or are, and tense is set once and then left alone. The space in front of you does grammatical work too. You place a person or a thing at a spot in the air, then point back to that spot to mean him, her or it.

Five skills to build first

Fingerspelling

Used for names, places and anything with no sign of its own. Keep your hand steady at shoulder height and let only the fingers change. Bouncing the hand on each letter makes it hard to read.

Clean handshapes

About forty handshapes cover nearly every sign. A sloppy one can turn a sign into a different word, so slow down until each shape is exact.

Your face

Eyebrows up marks a yes or no question, eyebrows down marks a who, what, where or why question, and a head shake turns a sentence negative. A blank face reads as a monotone or as the wrong sentence type.

Using space

Set people and places at points in front of you and keep them there for the whole conversation. Verbs such as give and help move from one point to another to show who did what to whom.

Reading other signers

Watch the signer's face, not their hands. Your side vision picks up the hands, and the face carries the grammar.

Free fingerspelling chart and practice

A paper poster pasted on a wall, printed with rows of line-drawn hands forming manual alphabet handshapes — Manual alphabet handshapes on a street poster

Deaf culture and good manners

Deaf with a capital D names a community and a culture with its own history, humor and art. Many Deaf people do not see deafness as something to fix, and the term hearing impaired is widely disliked. Say deaf or hard of hearing.
To get someone's attention, wave in their line of sight or tap them lightly on the shoulder or upper arm. In a group, flicking the room lights is normal.
Hold eye contact while someone signs to you. Looking away is the same as covering your ears while a person talks.
If two people are signing and you have to pass between them, walk straight through at a normal pace. Stopping, ducking or waiting for a gap interrupts more than passing does.
A name sign is given to you by a Deaf person once they know you. Until then you fingerspell your name. Do not invent your own.
Do not make up signs for words you do not know. Fingerspell the word or ask how it is signed.
Learn from Deaf teachers and Deaf-made material when you can. It is their language, and many videos by hearing beginners online teach signs incorrectly.

The community's own organization

National Association of the Deaf The national civil rights organization of, by and for Deaf people in the United States

A man in a denim shirt holding one open hand up beside his face, in front of a plain gray backdrop — An open hand raised at face height

What trips beginners up

What to expect, and the habits to drop

Expect understanding to lag far behind producing. You will be able to sign a sentence months before you can catch the same sentence from a fluent signer, and fingerspelling is the last thing to click.
Expect regional variation. Signs for common things such as birthday, pizza and early differ by region and by generation, so two correct sources will sometimes disagree.
Expect a year or more of steady study before a relaxed conversation. A dozen lessons gets you through introductions and simple questions.
Drop English word order. Signing one sign per English word, with a sign for every is and the, produces something a Deaf person has to decode.
Drop the habit of mouthing or speaking full English sentences while you sign. It pulls your grammar back toward English and freezes your face.
Do not study from still pictures alone. Signs are movements, and a drawing with arrows cannot show speed, rhythm or facial expression. Check every new sign against a video.
Do not practice only alone. Without a person signing back to you, reading skill never develops.

Two hands hooking their index fingers together against a black background

Where people take it

Open one to see where to start

Everyday conversationSigning with Deaf friends, relatives, coworkers and people at community events. This is the base path and it needs nothing beyond the main kit.

Start here

Search for a Deaf coffee chat, a silent dinner or an ASL social near you and put the next one on your calendar, even if it is a month away. Before you go, practice signing that you are hearing and that you are learning ASL, plus how to ask someone to sign slowly.

Signing With BabiesHearing babies can make simple signs months before they can say words. Parents use a small set of ASL signs for needs like milk, more and sleep.

Start here

Pick three signs that match what your baby wants most, usually milk, more and all done, and make each one every time you say the word. Keep the same three for two weeks before adding any.

Family SigningA household learning together, often because a child or a relative is deaf or hard of hearing. Picture-based material keeps young children involved.

Start here

Choose five signs for things your family says every day (eat, drink, please, thank you, bedtime) and use them at dinner tonight. Let the kids quiz the adults, since children usually remember the signs first.

Interpreting PathWorking toward a career as a sign language interpreter. It takes years of ASL plus a formal training program and certification, and it starts with understanding what the job involves.

Start here

Read the certifying body's page on how interpreters are trained and certified before you spend anything. Then look up the interpreter training programs at colleges near you and note which ASL level each one expects on entry.

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf

Where to learn

A free structured video course is enough for the first year. Follow its lessons in order instead of collecting single signs from social media.
Video dictionaries answer how do I sign this in seconds. Use two, since a second source shows regional variants.
Community colleges, Deaf community centers and state schools for the deaf run in-person ASL 1 classes, often taught by Deaf instructors. A class gives you what video cannot: someone watching your signing and correcting it.
Paid online tutoring with a Deaf tutor is the fastest way to fix your reading speed. Even one half-hour session a month helps.
Once you know a few hundred signs, watch Deaf creators and signed news with captions on, then again with captions off.

Video dictionaries, apps and signed news

A man in a plaid shirt looking down at his open palm, his other hand raised beside his head, against a dark green wall — Hands and face working together

Why the kit is this small

ASL needs no equipment, and the best beginner lessons are free videos. What is worth paying for is the thing video lessons do badly: a book you can leave open on the table. A coursebook gives the lessons an order and explains grammar in writing, a print dictionary lets you browse related signs side by side, and a book on Deaf culture explains the community whose language this is. Every other line is tied to a direction. Babies and families get picture-led material that children will pick up on their own, and the interpreting path gets the two books a training program will expect you to know. The optional lines solve two specific problems: finding a sign you saw but cannot name, and seeing your own signing from the outside.

A hand held up against a white wall with the thumb, index finger and little finger extended — One handshape, held clear of the body

Fill the bookshelf

Compare the options on each line, then set your tiers and check out from the cart. Clicking a card selects it there. The coursebook, the dictionary and the Deaf culture book start on the shelf. The baby, family and interpreting books stay off until you switch them on in section 06 or with the chips in the cart, and the handshape dictionary and the phone tripod stay off until you add them.

Beginner ASL coursebook

recommended · Course

Gives your study an order: vocabulary grouped by topic, grammar explained in writing and practice sentences to sign. It is what turns a pile of single signs into things you can say.

budget

Barron's American Sign Language: A Comprehensive Guide to ASL 1 and 2 with Online Video Practice

4.7(1K)

$18.69

American Sign Language

Your first month

How ASL works

Five skills to build first

Deaf culture and good manners

What trips beginners up

Where people take it

Where to learn

Why the kit is this small

Fill the bookshelf

Beginner ASL coursebook

ASL dictionary

Deaf culture book

Baby sign language guide for parents

Baby sign language board book

ASL flash cards for kids

Children's sign language book

Introduction to interpreting book

ASL grammar and linguistics book

ASL handshape dictionary

Phone tripod