The Real Reason The UK & USA Use Different Sign Languages

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SOURCES & FURTHER READING

[camelopardalis]

Switzerland has several sign laguages, and it's not even like the French one is the same as the French one used in France, or the Italian one being the same as the Italian one used in Italy etc.

[tozainamboku]

I am a CODA (a word that should be familiar due to the movie). My mom, though hard-of-hearing, did not become totally deaf and use sign language until I was in university. In fact, we attended ASL classes together. My level of ASL is intermediate+. I can converse with deaf people who use ASL, but it takes a lot of work. Super Thanks!

[ahmedisl]

Man thank you for the subtitles in this video

[FoggyD]

I'm British but have two deaf American stepsisters so I'm well aware there are differences.

That said, as a hearing person I can often be unaware of the specifics. I also have a degree in German where the course involved spending a semester in Austria...

... yet I didn't know German and Austrian Sign Languages were distinct until fairly recently.

[birkner]

7:01 the subtitles say International Congress of Education of the Death.

[jordanschriver]

Finally, manually-produced captions. I'm not deaf, but I'm autistic, and since autists tend to have difficulty processing speech, subtitles make things much clearer for me. (And no, I don't qualify YouTube's auto-generated captions.) Thank you. :)

[Jan_Koopman]

I have a BA in Dutch linguistics. When I was taught in class about Dutch Sign Language (NGT) and Flemish Sign Language (VGT) - and BSL/ASL - and that they're seperate languages, even though their spoken counterparts aren't, and that NGT had an SOV order, whereas spoken Dutch has an SOV order with a V2 rule, I had a somewhat similar reaction to yours. It made sense when it was explained, though: it's not like all mute/deaf people came together and decided to make up signs based upon the spoken language. No, sir! They slowly developed their own ways of communicating by theirselves! In the same way spoken languages were formed!

[generalZee]

I'm a huge fan of your work, but this might by my favorite video yet. I know some ASL to communicate with some of my partial-hearing friends, but I never knew of its French history, or that BSL was entirely different! This was super fascinating to me, and I hope you continue to look into ASL/BSL etymologies as you go forward because I bet some of those are fascinating as well.

[courtneypuzzo]

I learned ASL at 2 years old due to having had birth injuries that prevented me speaking until age 3.

[rogerwitte]

The only natural language that has emerged since 1900 is Nicaraguan Sign Language which emerged during the Nicaraguan Sign Language when a load of deaf people were evacuated to a remote monastery in the jungle. However they were forgotten for several years. When they were rediscovered, a new sign language had emerged among the community there.

[sohopedeco]

I was once surprised that sign languages are not called "pounds" in English. The English money is called "libras" in Portuguese and "pounds" in English. The American kilos are called "pounds" in English and "libras" in Portuguese.

But it turns out that "libras" is an acronym for "Língua Brasileira de Sinais" ("Brazilian Sign Language") and it has nothing to do with pounds.

[traveltheworld]

Thank you so much for making this! I spend so much time explaining that there is a difference between BSL and ASL as an American who knows BSL and is learning ASL. Also that there are over 300 sigh languages in the world, not to mention all the unique indigenous sign languages. While I love educating people on the differences it is frustrating not having many easy to understand videos to share with people if they want to learn more. Anyway the main point of this comment is to say thank you!

[xhoques]

kudos for this video
Really really many channels about languages just ignore sign languages. And in many polyglot meetings I'm the only one with sign language in my list. It's like two worlds.

[perceivedvelocity]

In the mid 90's I was in middle school/highschool. It was required that I (attempt to) learn another language. My options we Spanish, French, German, Japanese and ASL. I seriously considered taking ASL but ended up going with Spanish. During my adult life knowing basic Spanish has been a huge help. I don't know if I ever would have used ASL.

[DeathMetalDerf]

This is straight up fascinating!! What an excellent idea for a video! I'm a huge fan of your books too! I signed up for Audible so I could get both!! Thank you for sharing this with us! I hope you are well and having a great day!!

[kristophersurma]

Minor fun fact the Wakandan salute is ASL meaning hug or love.

[kainingyao]

It's good that you included your very own subtitles in this video, so that deaf and hearing-impaired people (Or people who aren't very good at interpreting verbal speech) can know what you're saying properly. I hope you include this feature in your future videos. Thanks.

[castlering]

Sign language is, at least for the BSL community, a key part of Deaf culture. It's vitally important to remember it's not a gimmick or something that is 'nice to learn'. It belongs to the Deaf community, and as hearing people, we must never forget that. Please, if anyone decides to learn BSL or whatever is the local SL, learn from a qualified Deaf tutor, not a well meaning hearing person - unless they are a CODA, but even then, Deaf is best. You'll learn not just the language, but also about the culture, history and so much more, and also meet Deaf people, a community that's often overlooked. Once you have a foot into the Deaf world, it will change your life.

[modmaker]

Nicaraguan Sign Language is the best language. As it's the only natural language we witnessed be birthed that isn't based on a preexisting language like pidgins and creoles.

[EGEowo]

Another sign language that comes from the french is the spanish sign language (LSE), wich has different dialects, for example in Madrid, Albacete, Murcia and Malaga there are pretty noticeable differences in how we sign