Learn American Sign Language Lessons Online
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Sign language is the language used by deaf communities all over the world. There are more than 300 different types of sign languages used across the entire world.
Sign languages have been used throughout history, and there have been uncountable changes in them since their invention. One of the most common variations of sign language is American Sign Language, otherwise known as ASL for short.
It was invented by government programs so that they could teach it to deaf people around the nation so that every deaf person would have the same sign language.
Every single country has its own sign language and some even more than one, however American sign language is one of the only ones used in a couple of other countries, some prime examples being some parts of Canada and Mexico, along with of course America itself.
American Sign Language is just like any other when it comes to learning, while some claim that it can be even harder to learn completely. This is why there are so many lessons online that can help you.
14 Websites to Learn American Sign Language Lessons Online Reviews
1) Udemy
There are almost 50 different courses that you can take on Udemy in order to learn American Sign Language. These courses are mainly for people that are beginners at ASL and wish to get a better understanding of the entire thing, so naturally they will teach you simple things.
This includes things like signing your feelings, holding conversations via signing and learning about the origins of ASL as a whole.
Other things like learning verbs and learning how to sign simple sentences that you’ll need in daily life situations will also be included.
Some smaller lessons cover small and simple things like teaching you about the alphabet in ASL and how you can sign much simpler things like colors and animals.
Most of these courses include closed captions for better understanding of things as well. Some courses can also help children learn the language, being made much simpler to build their foundation.
These types of courses are made for both parents and children, meaning that parents will have no problem explaining them to their children
2) edX
EdX are a website that have a good quantity of different lessons related to different things. From architecture to history, the site most likely has a lesson on whatever you want.
They also have multiple lessons about ASL as well. Although there might not be a lot of them, the courses on edX can get you a much better understanding of ASL than you already have.
These courses have been designed by experts who have made them easy to understand even if you have no prior experience regarding the language.
While obviously focusing on teaching you ASL and helping when it comes to growing your skill, the courses also focus on other related things as well.
While most other courses would focus on simple things like providing you with an understanding of ASL’s origin, these courses will teach you about the origins of sign language as a whole and how all of them are connected to each other in different ways. Some lessons will also focus on teaching ASL which focuses on specific topics.
3) Skill Share
Skill Share has more than 30 different classes that you can take to improve your skills when it comes to signing ASL.
These classes have been taught and designed by expert tutors who have made them as simple as they possibly could I order for you to get a better understanding of their lessons.
These classes are usually taught by the teacher using American Sign Language, while also saying the words that they are signing at the time. This has been done so that complete beginners can hear the words that the tutor is signing.
In case the student is hearing impaired and doesn’t have a good understanding of ASL, most of them also have captions that they can read.
These courses mainly focus on teaching students ASL and providing them with a wide variety of exercises and practices that they can imply in order to improve their skill.
These exercises allow them to sign much faster than they would be able to, while some will also teach you signing multiple letters at once.
4) Take Lessons
Take Lessons is an online platform that is accessible by anyone in the world with an internet connection. The website is a place where both teachers and students can come for their own benefit.
There are tutors for nearly anything on the website and there are more than enough teachers that can teach you ASL as well.
These teachers come from different parts of America and most of them have grown up communicating through the language. These teachers can communicate with you through an online video call and can teach you how to sign ASL at your own pace.
Their teachers have been tested by the website and are more than capable of helping you become an advanced user of ASL.
Some of these teachers are also practiced when it comes to working with children, being capable of helping your child learn ASL or at least its basics.
There are also some tutors that can teach parents baby sign language so that they can build a foundation for their hearing impaired child.
5) Study
Study.com is an online platform where teachers and students alike can come to in order to learn new things.
There are a variety of different lessons regarding American Sign Language on the platform and almost all of them have been taught and designed in a variety of different ways.
They mostly focus on different things. For example some of them will take on an approach towards the history of sign language while others will focus on how signing ASL can be made faster with some techniques etc. while maintaining a common goal.
The goal being the fact that all of them intend to familiarize you with ASL as soon and comfortably as they possibly can.
Some of them will teach you completely basic stuff like greetings and alphabets in sign language while others will take on a more advanced approach to the matter for those that are familiar with the language.
For teachers that may be teaching deaf students, there are separate courses that can teach them how to communicate and teach their students.
6) Reed
Reed.com doesn’t have a huge variety of ASL lessons, since there are only 8 of them in total on their website.
They are a platform that provide users with a very wide variety of lessons when it comes to most topics but this is one topic in which the number falls short, however you can rest assured since the quality of the lessons doesn’t.
The 8 courses are certified and have been designed by people that are masters when it comes to ASL.
A lot of these few lessons focus on helping you become a level 1 student when it comes to ASL, teaching you basic things that you’ll need to build a foundation for yourself.
These type of lessons are usually a little short and are pretty good at explaining everything in detail so that students don’t have a single problem getting familiar with the concept.
A couple of them however are a bit more advanced, focusing on teaching you and others advanced signing and a good understanding of ASL.
7) Signlanguage101
Signlangauge101 is an online organization that has been solely dedicated to deaf people so that they can learn different sign languages and how to communicate with others.
There is a wide variety of different lessons that have been taught through video to teach deaf people or others that wish to learn sign languages like ASL.
These videos are numerous enough in quantity and each one of them covers different topics, meaning every video will be teaching you how to sign things related to specific topics such as food, time, greetings etc.
The best thing about the site is that since it is dedicated to deaf people, their video courses are completely free as they believe no one should have to pay in order to learn how to communicate with others if they have a disability like hearing impairment.
Although the site is free, they are open to donations, all of which will go towards helping deaf people. These courses are simple and can make you proficient at ASL and other country’s sign languages as well.
8) Gallaudet
If you live in the USA, you may have heard about Gallaudet University. Gallaudet University is a university that has been made for students that are hearing impaired or just hard of hearing in general.
The campus is situated in Washington, D.C and is a place for all those that suffer from hearing impairments of any sort to continue their studies after school level in order to obtain a degree and get a job much more easily, while also being able to gain the knowledge that they’ve always wanted to.
Their website has also been made for people that are deaf to easily access and learn different things, while also featuring lessons for them or others that just wish to learn ASL.
Both their online and campus courses have been designed expertly in order to make them easier for deaf people to understand.
They have a variety of lessons on their websites that can get people introduced to the basics of ASL for absolutely free, while also having more advanced lessons that can be purchased.
9) Cudoo
Cudoo is a website that primarily focuses on helping people around the world by providing them with different guides on different things.
They have a very wide variety of lessons available on their site that can be taken by anyone to learn sign languages from different countries around the world, including American Sign Language.
They obviously start from level 1, teaching you the fundamentals of ASL and working their way up to make you a proficient user of the popular sign language. Thy cover things like family relations, helping you point out exactly who it is that you are referring to when signing about someone and other helpful things.
These include the proper and efficient use of hands when signing for the ease of the person observing you, while also teaching you how to tell the time and much more.
The site is a charity organization that as mentioned above, has made helping people around the world their main goal. This is why that you’ll find their lessons to be completely free.
10) Start ASL
You can pretty much guess from the name of the platform that Start ASL are a place where you can begin your journey to learn ASL.
The site was made for those that wish to communicate with others that have hearing impairments but have no idea how to do so since they cannot communicate. The sites owner went through a very similar experience in her life and went on to overcome difficulties and earn a degree in deaf studies.
This website is a way for her to achieve her goal which is to help other people with a similar struggles.
The site believes that most of which ASL teaching resources teach you about can sometimes be a bit less for you to be able to fully communicate with someone with a hearing impairment, and they with you.
This is why the site offers lessons that focus on teaching you about all that you’ll need to in order to communicate with anyone using American Sign Language.
11) International Open Academy
This is an online video course on the international open academy. International Open Academy are a platform usable by anyone in the world in order to increase their knowledge regarding anything educational and more.
The video course has 66 and counting videos that can help to teach you about ASL and how you can hold a conversation in the language.
The course’s videos are very easy to follow and are easy to understand, allowing even those that don’t have prior experience with ASL to learn without facing any difficulties.
The videos explain gestures that you’ll have to make in order to reference specific things and do it slowly so that you can copy the tutor as they make gestures.
The course will cover everything that you’ll need to know in order to become a proficient user of the language along with how you can also use it to communicate with babies who can easily start understanding the gestures after a small period of practice. It also covers ASL grammar courses.
12) Life Print
This lesson regarding ASL can be taken by pretty much anybody as long as they have a basic understanding of the English language.
The course features the same technique utilized by institutes in order to teach foreign young students a specific language, which is to teach them 8 or 10 of the most commonly used words in that language, for example words like you, me, I, ok and others for English.
This allows them to get a steady insight on what the language is like and lets them get a better understanding of most sentences.
The course takes this same technique and applies it to ASL, teaching students some very commonly used phrases in order for them to piece together one or two sentences before they can move on to a more advanced part of the language.
The lessons covers simple phrases and verbs while explaining some grammar and eventually moving up the difficulty and teaching you how you can use different techniques so that people can understand you without the slightest of problems.
13) Columbia Online
The courses on Columbia online are something that will allow you to develop a complete sense of understanding when it comes to ASL. Columbia online is the online home of Columbia College in Chicago, who are experts when it comes to studies like this.
These lessons will be able to make you a much more proficient American Sign Language user. It will work its way up after introducing you to the fundamentals of ASL, teaching you all that you’ll need to get started before making you capable of holding entire conversations with the language’s gestures.
The course allows you to build a strong enough understanding to communicate easily with a deaf friend or to hold communications with a colleague from work about their professional or personal lives.
The course has been authored by professionals who have a great understanding of ASL and are experts at what they do. The course is easy to follow and can be studied at your own pace, not requiring you to spend too much time working on it.
14) Class Central
Class Central are one of the better websites that you can try out to learn different things. Instead of being a website with lessons of their own, Class Central searches for lessons from similar websites all over the internet, providing you with a list of some of the highest rated lessons related to your topic on the internet.
This also includes classes related to almost any kind of sign language. There are more than enough courses on the site that can help you get started with ASL.
These courses have been designed by universities and top institutions in America in order to provide students with a proper understanding of ASL along with its origin and why it is important that most people should have a better understanding of the language.
There are lessons for people that are a bit more advanced than others at signing the language and can’ really be classified as beginners.
These lessons cover signing slightly more advanced and longer phrases along with their use and application in life.
Choosing the Best American Sign Language Lesson Online
ASL is Americas third most widely used language, only falling behind Spanish and of course English.
Whether you are a hearing impaired person that wishes to move to America or a person that wishes to communicate with a deaf friend, there are courses online that can help you learn ASL. While most courses you’ll find online are mainly for level 1 students, there are more advanced courses available.
Once you put some time into it, the courses above will be able to help you become a proficient user of the ASL and teach you about its grammar and techniques.