Addendum to Sign

In this weeks weekly six, item 2, I referred to the alphabet of sign language and I posted the symbols you form with your hands to demonstrate the alphabet.

On posting the item L^2 at Dog's Eye View informed me that the American sign alphabet was different, to both of our surprise!

I therefore thought I should look into this and post the American sign alphabet. Personally I think the English version is simpler in terms of ease of learning it however, obviously the one you know is always easier! I did note though that the American alphabet can be performed with one hand where as two are needed to spell out words using the English version.

It would be great if these things were universal! Although obviously differing alphabets world wide are another factor. Anyway, here is the American Sign Language alphabet and my thanks to L^2 for pointing out the difference. I will endeavour to learn it and am off to investigate other nations sign. I have already identified the Australian sign alphabet as being virtually identical to the English one and have found a great site which details sign language for many European countries. I will post again on this fascinating topic when I find out more.