As well as the option to learn foreign languages at school, there should also be the option to learn Sign Language. It's more universal, and could help thousand of people communicate better, amirite?

There is at my school.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Mine too. I wanted to take it, but my mom wouldn't let me.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Same here, my mom doesn't think it's as applicable as Spanish (although I can see her point considering I live in SoCal.)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I didn't have room left in my schedule for ASL this year :(

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Same! Well, I heard that the only university that doesn't accept ASL is USC, and I don't plan on going there, so I could've taken it...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Mine, too.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I'm going to jump on the comment bandwagon and say "mine, too". Really funny watching people sign across classrooms, too.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

me too

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Some schools can't afford to have all that though. We only have three languages, I wish we had more. Sign language would be great to have.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I went to tafe and learnt sign language (well enough to have a simple convo haha) It's probably a bit less practical because each country has it's own "language" so it's not really universal.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Ah, yeah, I only just got told that there is more than one sign language.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I have ASL at my high school.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

My HS has it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Call me, ill tell you the reason, in sign language, why sign language is so great

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Haha, I think more people use text messages nowadays, though.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

glad someone caught the irony (i hope?)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah, I was just gonna say that it actually isn't more universal in a lot of ways- I mean, I think it's fantastic to learn ASL, my dad is hard of hearing and he's fluent, and it's really cool, it's an entire culture, but most countries have their own sign language. ASL is American Sign Language. Some are similar, but in the same kind of way that many romance languages are similar.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Thank you, I didn't know that at the time of posting. But, still, even if it's not universal, it could still be useful, as tourists and people who move to another country usually try to learn the language before they arrive, or have a tour guide or something, whereas even if only a small percentage of a country's native sign language was known amongst some of the citizens, it could greatly aid communication for people without hearing.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I wrote a thesis paper on this, and I agree, even though it's not universal, people are more likely to come in contact with others who are hard of hearing or deaf than people who fluently speak something like French. Don't get me wrong, I think learning French or Spanish is important but in my personal experience I have seen more people signing to each other than speaking a foreign language.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Haha ASL is also age, sex, location ;)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The first time I saw that online, I was so confused. I seriously thought it only meant American Sign Language... haha

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I take ASL off an itouch app in my spare time. I work at a place where I need to communicate with customers and hope to impress managers by communicating with the deaf

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Where do you work? I've worked at restaurants where deaf people come into, and mimic writing on their hands, so I get them a pen and paper, but obviously taking an order (and writing back to confirm it) is far easier than having a whole conversation, if you work somewhere that sells expensive items with negotiation, or plans events.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Theres one at my school too! :)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

my school is poor. we only have one language, period.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's only if everyone is to learn American Sign Language. There's also Spanish Sign Language and others too. I'm not exactly sure what the differences are though.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Unless you plan on working with the deaf/hard of hearing or you are often surrounded by them, it isn't nearly as applicable as Spanish if you live in the U.S.. Don't get me wrong, I have complete respect for signing. But in this day and age Spanish would likely be a lot more useful in the country I live in. There are so many points throughout my week where I encounter someone that communicating with would be a lot easier if I knew Spanish (I live in SoCal). So that's why I take Spanish at my high school. And yes, I've met deaf people before. I'm friends with some too. But I come upon more Spanish speakers than hard of hearing people in my life. Plus, ASL isn't universal. :(

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I live in Australia, and there's not a lot of Spanish speakers here. Learning a new language does require thought, though. Like, if you're planning for the future, a dialect of Chinese would probably be best, or Arabic, for certain business jobs. If you want a job in international/European entertainment, or in fashion, then German. If you want to learn a language for fun, or how it sounds, then French or Italian, as they have similar roots to English, and apparently sound "romantic".

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah the point I was trying to make was to take a language that is applicable in your society. I guess I didn't make that clear. xP But I totally agree with you there.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

My school has a sign language program, it's actually the most popular option among the slackers.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

you know how when you read some posts you feel as if the person posting had come and read your thoughts/listened to your conversation from a couple days ago? Well, this is one of those posts.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There's ASL classes at my high school. ghchs!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I took ASL my freshman and sophomore years but then moved to a school that only offers Spanish. It was amazing to learn sign language and about the deaf culture; there are so many things that I didn't know before. Sign language is very complicated because there are some signs that mean different things and some that are similar to others. Facial expressions are incredibly important and when having a conversation you are supposed to look at the other person's face and not their hands. For tests, my teacher would stand at the front of the classroom and sign and we would write down the answer. We also had some entirely written tests.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Okay guys, this is how it goes. ASL is so not universal. its mostly just used in us and canada. its derived from french sign. it is NOT a blow off class no mater what people think. because its not just the signs you have to know, you need to know facial expressions and the order of the words, you have to sign fluently or else its awkward, and there are 'sign accents'.Deaf with a "D" is the COMMUNITY of deaf people and thier CULTURE!this is my 3rd year of asl in hs. and im hoping to get into deaf education:)

by Anonymous 13 years ago