Where to find a Sign

Sometimes you aren't at class and you want to know a sign.　What to do? What to do...

たまに、クラス以外の時にサインを知りたい。どうしたらいい？

ハイディーにメールしてもいいし、この下のリンクで探してもいいよ！

Well, you can e-mail Heidi... or you can use one of the following!

The Signing Time Dictionary is a great starting point. Rachel's explanations make it easy to remember the signs and the tape on her fingers help to see how the fingers are positioned.

Signing Savvy is a great site with an easy to understand dictionary as well as various learning tools. It is worth becoming a registered guest even if you are just starting out. 

Life Print is another favorite resource. The variety of resources and detailed explanations are really great.

ASL Pro

NHK手話 NHK Japanese Sign Language Dictionary

ASL apps

ASL in Movies and on TV

ASL (American Sign Language) is an actual language so like many other languages it sometimes get used in movies and on TV shows.  For someone who is learning/using a language it is interesting to see how it is used in these kinds of situations.  

I posted on twitter earlier that Mr. Holland's Opus is one such movie. It that includes a music teacher who learns to sign to communicate with his deaf son and creates a concert that would be enjoyable for people who are deaf/hard-of-hearing.  The sign language used in the movie is ASL, the same as the ASL vocabulary taught in Signing Time.  You may recognize some of the signs the next time you watch the movie!

ハリウッド映画にもサイン(ASL)が出てきます。たとえば、陽のあたる教室 (Mr. Holland's Opus)では、耳が聞こえない息子のために音楽の先生である父親はサインを学び、耳が聞こえない人たちも一緒に楽しめるコンサートをつくりあげました。この映画に使われてるサインはサイニングタイムと同じASLなので、あなたもサインが読み取れますよ！

I've set up a section in the Kotoba & Sign Amazon.co.jp store where I'll add movies and TV shows which use ASL as they become available in the Japanese market.

言葉＆サインストーア　http://www.kotobaandsign.info/store.html

I'll also post information about them on Twitter with the hashtag＃映画でサイン

Happy Signing!