Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: American Sign Language and You 5
Chapter 1: You Already Know a Little Sign 7
Discovering Signs That Look like What They Mean 8
Building on the Basics of Sign: Gestures and Expression 9
Spelling with your fingers 9
Shaping up those hands 12
Benefiting with body language 14
Gazing at the face of expression 15
Chapter 2: Signing Grammar Basics 17
Explaining the Parts of Speech 17
Distinguishing between noun/verb pairs 18
Modifying with adjectives and adverbs 20
Talking Tenses 22
Structuring Sentences 24
Subjecting yourself to nouns and verbs in simple sentences 24
Placing subjects and objects 24
Exclaiming in Simple Sentences 31
Signing Conditional Sentences 36
Personification: The Secret of Agents 37
Clarifying with Classifiers 39
Chapter 3: Starting to Sign Basic Expressions 41
Initiating a Conversation 41
Attracting someone’s attention 42
Using greetings and closings 43
Getting Acquainted 47
Sharing feelings and emotions 49
Connecting your thoughts 52
Talking about where you’re from 53
Acting the Part: Constructed Dialogue and Constructed Action 62
Constructed Dialogue 62
Constructed Action 63
Chapter 4: Getting Your Numbers and Times Straight 65
Counting on Numbers 65
Getting from one to ten with cardinal numbers 67
Ordering ordinal numbers 69
Signing phone numbers and the like 70
Talking about Time 70
Signing calendar dates 74
Chapter 5: Signing at Home 79
Handling Signs about Your Home 79
Touring all the rooms 83
Furnishing your home 86
Hanging Out for the Holidays 92
Teaching the Tots 95
Keeping Track of Your Subjects in Space 97
Part 2: Refining Your ASL 99
Chapter 6: Asking Questions and Making Small Talk 101
Signing Key Questions: Six WS, One H 102
Discussing Family, Friends, and More 107
Family and friends 107
Relating where you live and work 111
Using Possessives and Pronouns When Chatting 123
Personal pronouns and possessives 123
Demonstrative pronouns 125
Chapter 7: Asking for Directions 129
Finding Your Way 129
Looking to Natural Landmarks 135
Searching the Streets 138
Transporting Yourself 141
Directing Your Sentences with Conjunctions 143
Chapter 8: Dining and Going to the Market 147
Eating Three Square Meals a Day 147
Having breakfast 152
Munching on lunch 154
Enjoying dinner 159
Dining Out 163
Ethnic food around town 164
Don’t forget the drinks! 166
Attention, Shoppers! 170
Signing specialty stores 170
Getting a good deal 172
Chapter 9: Shopping Made Easy 175
Clothes for All Seasons 175
The winter look 176
Fall fashion 180
Spring style 182
Summer suits 186
Clothing by color 188
All about Money 194
Shopping Superlatives and Comparisons 199
Chapter 10: The Signer About Town 203
Making Plans 203
Going to the movies 206
Going to the theater 211
Going to the museum 213
Selecting Your Social Station 215
Chapter 11: Takin’ Care of Business 221
Occupying Yourself with Occupations 221
Sorting Office Supplies 227
Getting to Work 230
Chapter 12: Recreation and the Great Outdoors 235
Exercising Your Right to Recreate 235
Getting into the competitive spirit 236
Setting out solo 242
Playing Indoor Games 246
Having Fun with Hobbies 248
Seeing the Night Sky 251
Getting the Weather Report 254
Asking Rhetorical Questions in ASL 259
Chapter 13: Here’s to Your Health 263
Going to the Doctor 263
Signaling medical personnel 263
Figuring out how you feel 265
Expressing medical terms 267
Describing Ailments and Treatments 269
Pointing to Body Parts 272
Handling Emergencies 277
Part 3: Looking at Life Through Deaf Eyes 281
Chapter 14: The Deaf Community and Deaf Etiquette 283
Digging into Sign’s Past 284
Examining When and How ASL began 284
Facing the Challenges of the Deaf Community 285
Putting the past behind us 285
You’ve come a long way, baby 286
The Deaf as an Ethnic Group 288
Understanding Deaf culture 289
Knowing who falls into the Deaf cultural community 289
Living as bilingual/bicultural people 290
Being Sensitive to Being Deaf 291
Living together in a hearing world 291
Getting the Deaf perspective 292
Participating in the Deaf Community 292
Finding your place in the Deaf community 293
Communicating with new Deaf friends for the first time 294
Questions you shouldn’t ask 295
Interpreting for the Deaf Community 295
Chapter 15: Soliciting Social Justice 297
Oralists and Manualists Meet in Milan 298
The Deaf Have It 299
Rejecting Language Oppression 299
Movers and Shakers 300
Chapter 16: Using Technology to Communicate 301
Using Videophones: Can You See Me Now? 301
Communicating with videophones 302
What to expect when using a video relay service 303
Keeping quiet what is private 304
Using Other Communication Methods 304
Texting 24/7 304
Chatting visually 305
Calling through Captioning 305
Part 4: the Part of Tens 307
Chapter 17: Ten Tips to Help You Sign like a Pro 309
Watch Yourself and Others Sign 309
Discover Multiple Signs for Communicating One Thing 310
Practice Your Signing — with Others 310
Always Fingerspell a Name First 310
Adjust Your Eyes; Everyone’s Signing Is Different 310
Use Facial Expressions like Vocal Inflections 311
Journal Your Progress 311
Get Some Signing Space 312
Don’t Jump the Gun 312
Watch the Face, Not the Hands 312
Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Pick Up Sign Quickly 313
Volunteer at a Residential School for the Deaf 313
Volunteer at Local Deaf Clubs 314
Attend Deaf Social Functions 314
Make Deaf Friends 315
Assist Deaf Ministries 315
Attend Conferences for Interpreters 315
Work at Camps for the Deaf 315
Attend Silent Weekends 316
Go to Deaf Workshops and Deaf Conferences 316
Watch Sign Language Videos 317
Chapter 19: Ten Popular Deaf Expressions 319
Swallowed the Fish 319
Train Gone 320
Pea Brain 320
Rats!/Darn! 321
I Hope 322
Your Guess Is as Good as Mine 322
Cool! 322
Oh No! 323
That’s Superb! 323
That’s Pretty Straight-Laced 324
Wow! 324
Index 325
