Get ready to learn the 26 most important signs in American Sign Language, the alphabet.
In this video, you're going to learn how to sign each letter in ASL
clearly and properly and also common mistakes that you should avoid, as well
as variations that you should be familiar with for certain letters.
With all that said, let's learn the basics!
So, I'm not going to waste any time,
we're just going to go ahead and jump right into it and I'm going to go letter by
letter and show you how to sign it properly and some common mistakes and
some variations as we go along through the video. And be sure to check out the
description area down below, I'm going to be including some links and resources
that could be very valuable for you if you are just beginning to learn sign language,
but let's go ahead and jump right into it and so we're going to
start off with a letter A so this is how you sign the letter A,
now one mistake many people make is that their thumb comes out too much so you
want to make sure that the thumb is pressed up against your index finger
like this and that your four fingers are laying flat across your fist like this, A.
Next is B, you just make sure that your thumb crosses your palm like this, B.
The next letter is C, so this is really easy to remember, it looks like the letter C, C.
D can be a little tricky and it's commonly mistakenly signed like this
this with a closed fist is the number one or the number one, but remember that
D is going to have an opening like this. So if you look at this it looks like a
letter D, the lowercase d. So make sure that your fingers are open like this, D.
The next letter is E. Now this one actually has a lot of variations to it
and it's not necessarily wrong if you see it differently, so one common
variation to E is that there will be a gap between the fingers on top and the
thumb on the bottom, and this is commonly referenced to as a "screaming e" kind of
picture this as a mouth and he's screaming but both are correct, so you'll
have either your thumb against your fingers or you'll have a little bit of a
gap, and for you Canadians out there have seen
many Canadians sign their E like this, to wear their thumb and their the
fingernail of their index finger are touching like this, but in proper ASL you
want to make sure your thumb is across the fingers like this or there could be
a gap that is also acceptable. The next letter is F, and you just touch your
thumb and your index finger together, F. The next letter is G, so this is a little
bit of a difficult handshape to make but you can kind of picture this as a tuning
fork and you want to make sure that it lays flat like this so if you were to
balance something it wouldn't fall out, so, G. The next letter is H, make sure
that that thumb is tucked in like this for H. I, One common mistake for the
letter I is that the thumb is to the side you want to make sure that this
thumb is crossing the other three fingers like this for the letter I.
Next is J, you just draw a J in the air like this, J. The next letter is K, so you
can think of the number two and you want to get your thumb in between your index
finger and your middle finger, just like that, K. L is really simple you just
make the L handshape with your fingers like this and M you will make sure that
you have three fingers overlapping your thumb just like this. Now, one common
variation to this is to where the fingers are extended forward like this
this is sometimes referred to as a "straight M" or an "interpreters M" and
both are acceptable, one reason for the straight fingers is for clarity and
speed but for now we can just go ahead and learn M like this. The next letter
is N and instead of three fingers we only have two fingers overlapping the
thumb like this and again you might see this as a straight and or an interpreter N,
but again we can keep learning it like this, N. The next letter is O, you just
make the letter O with your hands like this. P is actually the same handshape as
K but we're going to make sure that our middle finger is pointing straight down
at the ground like this, P.
Now Q is actually the same handshape
as G as we had mentioned earlier, so remember that tuning fork that we had
laaying flat for Q is just going to point straight down Q, just like this. The next
letter is R, you just cross your fingers. And the next letter is S and again you
want to make sure that that thumb is crossing your other four fingers like this,
you're just basically making a fist, S. The next letter is T, you just have
your index finger overlapping your thumb like this, T. Now we're in the homestretch,
we have just a few letters to go. So, the next is the letter U, make sure that
these two fingers are touching each other like this, U. And the next letter is
V, and this is really easy to remember because it looks like the letter V.
The next one is W, which is also looks like the letter W. X can be a little tricky,
but you just basically take your index finger and you bend it just a little bit
like this for X. The next letter is Y, make sure that your thumb is out like this
and that your pinky is out pointing the other way, Y. And the last letter is
simple but can be confusing because if you look on different websites and
videos and posters, you'll actually see two different ways of drawing the Z.
So, typically you'll see Z as like this too where the pointer is going away from the
body and then it zigs in and then back out, but you'll also see it the other way
around to where the finger comes towards the body,
ziggs out, and then comes back in. You might be wondering, which one is correct?
So, I'm going to show a few clips from some deaf teachers and also a clip from
Gallaudet, they're free course of ASL connect.
And as you can see, all of those videos are showing Z like this. So, basically you
will be drawing the Z from your perspective like you're drawing it in
the sand, Z. Your finger goes out zigs in and then goes back out again, Z. So, there
you have the most important 26 signs in ASL, let's go ahead and review the entire
alphabet from beginning to end, and if you can, go ahead and sign the letters
with me as we go through the entire alphabet, ready?
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
Now, we just learned 26 new signs and that can be a
lot to remember! So, what I would encourage you to do is go ahead and go
back to the review section where we go through the entire alphabet at a slower
pace and for you to copy the signs more than just once, and so I'm going to leave
a timestamp in the description area down below so you can just skip straight to
the review at the end and be sure to avoid the mistakes and be on the lookout
for those variations that I discussed earlier, like E versus E, N and N, M and M,
and just know that there many times it's not a right or a wrong thing it's just a
variety and just know that sign language is a language and you will find those
variations and sometimes regionalizations, and if you're ready to continue to
learn the basics of ASL, I have an entire playlist for you up here that you can go
ahead and learn the animals and colors and numbers, as well as, I'll include some
links down in the description area down below to where you can look up ASL sign
language dictionaries for free, as well as some good recommendations for
YouTube channels and movies and tvs and documentaries. So, I'll be sure to include
all that stuff down in the description area below, if you've found this video valuable...
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And as always, until next time, I'll see you later! Bye.