American Sign Language: 50 Basic Signs

My intentions of learning American Sign Language (ASL) have been around for the past 20 years and while I’ve learned various signs through the decades, I’ve never committed to really learning the language (or even remembered what I learned months later).  That’s typically the case with many of us isn’t it?  We intend to do something, and might even start, but often times life gets in the way.  Well not any more!  As part of this challenge, I’ve decided to learn at least 50 basic signs in ASL. “Why?” you might ask… well, I guess for several reasons.  First, I think it’s important in my field of Human Resources to be able to communicate with the wide range of individuals I encounter each day.  Here in Central Florida there is an amazingly compassionate and supportive deaf community that I’ve had the absolute honor to work with in various ways.  The one challenge has always been that I need a interpreter to effectively communicate the most basic of messages.  Second, it appears my family is in the midst of a baby boom and I find myself surrounded by small children communicating from an early age by dancing their hands around and signing various messages.  It’s frustrating to always have to guess what my two-year-old niece is trying to say to me with her hands.  Duh! If she knows… why don’t I?  So I set off and challenged myself to learn 50 basic ASL signs as part of this new 365 challenge.  Two weeks later and I have to admit that it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought. ASL really does relate many of the signs to “common sense” gestures.  I kept the learning to simple basic signs like the alphabet, greetings, and basic words like hungry, hello and I’m sorry.  Below is an entire list of the signs I’ve learned so far.  And I’m going to continue to learn more each day. I’d like to be able to really learn the language this year and finally be able to say that I’m “bi-lingual” (at least conversationally).  Plus I really feel this will help me better communicate with others.  :) ~ Christina

1. Alphabet (24)
2. Thank You
3. Bathroom/Toilet
4. Book
5. Sleep
6. Eat
7. Love
8. I Love You
9. Good Bye
10. Hi
11. Quiet
12. Drink
13. You’re Welcome
14. Sorry
15. Television (TV)
16. Please
17. You
18. Me
19. Hungry
20. Hug
21. Hot
22. Happy
23. Sad
24. Dancing
25. Bath
26.  Careful
27. Excuse Me