How to Learn ASL for Free Online

Individuals with a speech impairment can learn sign language to communicate.

Individuals with a hearing or speech impairment can study sign language with friends and family to increase their communicative abilities. American sign language (ASL) is a common sign language. Students of ASL can use many resources to learn the language, and many online sites provide ASL lessons at no cost. Students can choose from a variety of sites to learn ASL for free online.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Internet access

Instructions

American Sign Language University

1. Open the American Sign Language University (ASLU) home page. Click on the "First 100 Signs" link to learn the most basic ASL beginner words. Click on the links for each item to learn your first 100 signs.

2. Click on the "Free Lessons" link on the ASLU home page. Find the link for the "Fingerspelling and Numbers" lesson to learn ASL numbers and the alphabet. Use the links for each lesson on the "Free Lessons" page to learn more advanced ASL.

3. Click on the letters at the top of the home page to use the ASL dictionary. The individual ASL vocabulary words appear on the left side of the page. You may also use the "ASL Dictionary" page to search for and learn sign language for specific vocabulary words.

Start American Sign Language

1. Open the "Learn Sign Language" page on the Start American Sign Language web site. This site offers free ASL lessons on fingerspelling (using the ASL alphabet) and more advanced lessons on vocabulary, ASL conversation, numbers and grammar in ASL.

2. Download the "ASL 1 Workbook" to use with the lessons. The workbook contains answer sheets for practice exercises found in the individual ASL lessons. Keep the workbook open while going through the lessons.

3. Use the individual links on the "Learn Sign Language" page to go through the ASL lessons. You may start with the "Fingerspelling" links, which teach the alphabet used in American Sign Language. Use the "Unit" links for the ASL 1 lessons to access more advanced ASL study materials.

Signing Savvy

1. Access the Signing Savvy home page. This free ASL learning site contains categorized lessons with videos to enhance the learning process.

2. Use the "Browse Signs" section to start learning the alphabet and access lesson categories. You can study the alphabet letters by using the "Browse by Letter" link. Click on one of the letter options to see the full list of words starting with that letter. You can also click the "Fingerspelling/Alphabet" link to get the ASL alphabet lesson.

3. Click on the other ASL categories on the home page to take the category-based lessons. The categories you can study include animals, colors, geography, numbers and baby signs. Use the search engine to find videos for learning specific sign-language vocabulary words.

Tips & Warnings

• Click on the "Sign language wallpaper and graphics" link on the ASLU home page to get free wallpaper containing the ASL alphabet. You may save the graphics to your computer for easy access. Looking at your wallpaper every time you use your computer will help reinforce the letters when you first start to learn ASL.

References

• ASLU: American Sign Language University---Lifeprint.com
• ASLU: ASL Dictionary
• Start American Sign Language: Learn Sign Language
• Start American Sign Language: ASL 1 Workbook
• Signing Savvy: Your Sign Language Resource