This week I found an app called ASL Bloom. This app is designed similar to DuoLingo with some very large differences which is to be expected. Something I learned, which I had not even considered previous to this adventure, is that the grammar in ASL is different to that of spoken English. in English we say, “Hello, how are you doing?” in ASL they directly say, “Hello, how you?” Similar to English ASL uses accented speech to signify questions or statements, however this is done with facial expression and emphasis of your hand signs.

When asking a yes/no question your eyebrows furrow and when asking a question asking for more information your raise your eyebrows. Looking back, this should have been something that was obvious as these are forms of body language, but until I had read it, I had not assumed an ASL speaker would use more than just their hands to speak. The position of your hand in relation to your body as well as the earth matters significantly to the meaning of what you are trying to say is.

This will be an app that I continue to use while learning to be fluent in ASL. It repeatedly practices new words, adds them to new phrases and has you choose from a few words which is the target word. I find this to be a very valuable resource so far.