These examples are all U.S. state signs. 1. Alaska vs. Hawaii vs. Beautiful vs. Pretty vs. Face ALASKA, HAWAII, BEAUTIFUL, PRETTY, and FACE all use the dominant hand near the face, however, different handshapes are used or different movements are added. ALASKA: Uses the dominant hand in the A handshape beginning at the non-dominant ear, then opens to a 5 handshape as it slides over the top of the head, then closes down again back to an A handshape at the dominant ear. To remember this sign, think of the fur on a hooded parka. HAWAII: Uses the H handshape ..read more

Time for Spring cleaning? Take advantage of our 72-Hour Spring Pop-Up Sale! Save 25% on 1-year and 3-year individual membership and gift memberships. Use the promo code: SPRINGCLEANING It's a great time to try Signing Savvy for the first time, add membership time to your existing membership, or purchase a gift membership for a friend or family member. Get Signing Savvy Membership for as little as $2.71 per month! With the sale, a 3-year membership averages out to only $2.71 per month and a 1-year membership averages out to only $3.12 per month. Our regular 1-month membership pricing is $9.95 p ..read more

This is our last sale of the year! Save 25% on 1-year and 3-year individual membership and gift memberships. Use the promo code: THANKYOU2023 It's a great time to try Signing Savvy for the first time, add membership time to your existing membership, or purchase a gift membership for a friend or family member. Get Signing Savvy Membership for as little as $2.71 per month! With the sale, a 3-year membership averages out to only $2.71 per month and a 1-year membership averages out to only $3.12 per month. Our regular 1-month membership pricing is $9.95 per month. The current sale saves you 73% ov ..read more

We are celebrating Independence Day this 4th of July week by holding a 25% off sale on 1-year and 3-year individual memberships and gift memberships to Signing Savvy! Sale ends Sunday, July 9, 2023. Use promo code: INDEPENDENCE2023 With 25% off, membership averages out to as low as $2.70 per month for a 3-year membership or $3.12 per month for a 12-month membership. Note: 3-year and 12-month memberships are purchased as a single payment. Membership has its benefits - unlock all the great features of Signing Savvy with Membership! Our most-loved member features are: No Advertisements ..read more

We are excited to welcome a new instructor to our team! Susan Dramin-Weiss is now available for one-on-one tutoring sessions. Note that Susan offers times for evening sessions, so if you are looking for sessions offered later in the day and evening, she will be a great fit! one-on-one 30 minutes online Our one-on-one tutoring sessions let you meet online through video chat. Each session is unique to meet the needs of the person who scheduled the chat, whether your goal is to begin learning ASL, prepare for a quiz or test, or to practice your signing so you may improve your expressive ..read more

These examples are all food signs. 1. Breakfast vs. Lunch vs. Dinner BREAKFAST, LUNCH, and DINNER are all compound signs that start with the sign for EAT. BREAKFAST is the combined signs of EAT + MORNING. LUNCH is the combined signs of EAT + NOON. DINNER is the combined signs of EAT + NIGHT. 2. Soft Drink vs. Tea vs. Vote SOFT DRINK, TEA, and VOTE all have the dominant hand, palm down, start in the F handshape and do movement on top of the non-dominant O handshape. SOFT DRINK has the dominant hand in the F handshape go inside the top of the non-dominant hand and then the dominan ..read more

ASL has a number of approaches to identifying the 50 U.S. states. Some are a combination of signs from older post office designations (2-, 3-, and 4-letter postal abbreviations). Some require spelling the entire name. Some use established signs. Emerging Regional and Generational Signs for U.S. States Some state signs are still emerging, but not yet fully recognized and used in regular practice across North America. For example, signers in the West have developed an initialized sign for OREGON, using the O handshape coming from the shoulder, like the well-known sign for WASHINGTON.   ..read more

Just as athletes warm up and increase their stamina in increments, so should signers. This is especially important when first learning to fingerspell and sign. You should do warm-up stretches before fingerspelling practice. Focused fingerspelling practice is often for extended lengths of time, and will work parts of your body that may not be attuned to that type of exercise. Warming up can limit potential cumulative trauma disorders. The following warm-up stretches work to reduce the amount of stress the hand, wrist, arm, and shoulder receive while fingerspelling and signing. Before you b ..read more

Because of their deafness, deaf people sometimes feel isolated, especially in public where many people do not know sign language. They may in fact enjoy it if you come up and “say hi” and make small talk using sign language. Before you approach a deaf person(s) think about the environment and situation at the time. Are two or more deaf people signing with each other? Make sure you are not interrupting them. Does the person seem busy or in a hurry? If so, try not to delay them. These are just common courtesies and likely the same types of things you would notice before going ..read more

The manual alphabet used in ASL consists of 26 individual hand shapes corresponding to letters of the English alphabet and has its historical roots in Spain. The hand shapes of the manual alphabet were originally taken from a book of prayers written by a Franciscan monk, Melchor Yebra in 1593. Each letter of the alphabet had a prayer associated with it; if a monk was too ill to recite the prayer, he could indicate his prayer intent by making the corresponding hand shape (Lane, 1984). Use of the hand shapes to form whole words and messages evolved, allowing monks to communicate without vio ..read more