Talk to the Hand

Talk to the Hand!

Indroduce Yourself in ASL

Not-so-fun fact: ASL is not officially recognised as an official language of the United States.

ASL (American Sign Language) is most directly related to FSL (French Sign Language). There are many dialects and creoles that stem from ASL, used on multiple continents by various indiginous cultures (i.e. Bolivian Sign Language).

A typical introduction:1. Wave. "Hello" is pretty universal.2. Bring your palm to your chest. This is the sign for "my".3. Stick your pointer and middle fingers out on both hands and keep the fingers together. It should look like the hand on the left. With your palms facing you, bring the sets of fingers together diagonally and make perpendicular lines. This is the sign for "name".4. You may skip to step five, because ASL does not need to follow English sentence structure. Otherwise, clench your fist and stick out your pinky finger. Touch the side of your pinky that faces the rest of your fist to your chin, and "send it out" towards the person you are speaking to.This is the sign for "is".5. Finger-spell your name, using the guide provided.

Keep in mind that there are several ways to introduce yourself, not just these!