ASL vs BSL | Side by Side Comparison | American Sign Language and British Sign Language

[@doubledutchclutch]

I live in the US, so from a practical standpoint it makes more sense for me to learn ASL, but I'm not gonna lie. Those BSL signs looked so much easier to do. Not only were they more intuitive to me as a non-signer, but they didn't look like they would aggravate my tendonitis as much.

[@artemislogic5252]

as someone who isnt deaf and knows no sign languages, i agree 100%, the british ones look much more intuitive, luckily im british lol

[@CJBruce]

This comment is interesting to me! I live in the UK and so would have no reason to continue learning ASL (I did learn it for a year when I was a kid and lived elsewhere). However, I find ASL more intuitive to me and would love to go back to it someday!

[@artastic_friend]

I’m a hearing person who’s been learning ASL for a little over a year (still a baby signer) I would personally say ASL is a lot easier to pick up than BSL. Also, the way this lady signs is very stiff, probably so she can show the sign as clearly as possible, but in actual practice the signs can be a lot more loose, and there are variations too. Her signing feels a little too.. “plastic” to me? I don’t know how to describe it. Though yes they are technically correct, they feel very unnatural in the way she signs them. (Again, probably so she can try to show them clearly to anyone who may not be knowledgeable. but I personally feel it would be better to show a more lose and comfortable demonstration) Of course in the end what matters most is where you live and with what communities you want to be able to communicate with as ASL and BSL are extremely different from one another as a whole, (especially those alphabets haha) And last of all, always try to learn your sign from fluent deaf signers and never hearing people unless it is the only option you have ^^ And thus take my word with a big grain of salt as I am just a hearing person and definitely not fluent! But I would still recommend learning ASL if you plan to continue living in the US, though learning both could be a bonus 😁

[@elliottenorio8772]

Love it . After learning ASL , i gonna try to learn BSL.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Awesome!!!

[@josiahreed8035]

Did u learn it

[@LeeDee5]

I am learning ASL but watching this it sometimes seems like BSL has "easier" signs , as in it seemed to me that more words were signed with one hand instead of two. Very interesting!

[@careygonzalez2829]

here's a question i've had for MANY years / decades... Why isn't / wasn't sign language worked out to be universal, where anyone from anywhere would be able to speak together? Thanks for the videos! enjoyed many of them!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Sign language is just like each countries language. It was developed within that country. There are some crossovers between sign language just like some countries languages.

[@careygonzalez2829]

@@LearnHowtoSign that was assumed, as it was created before the internet. i guess ... my question is why has it remained as such? hope this does not offend anyone, as it is not meant to do so, but i look at the deaf community as its own "Race" as they have their own language, and what could be considered a better way to initiate a 'world peace' if everyone understood each other with a universal (sign) language. is this something that has been discussed by chance? Any case, I appreciate your response. look forward to seeing more videos.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

@@careygonzalez2829 There technically is a system (not an actual language) called Gestuno for the purpose of when those who are deaf from different countries get together for various events. But my guess as to why it hasn’t changed as a full international language is because of the varying backgrounds to create it.

[@OngoingDiscovery]

@@careygonzalez2829 It’s a great question, and I think part of the reason is that a language is, in part, a product of the culture it comes from, and there are some ideas that are expressed within some cultures, but not within others. For example, in Japanese sign language (nihonshuwa) the signs for ‘sorry’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and the phrase ‘onegaishimasu’ (which is kind of like ‘thanks in advance’ but not quite) all use a similar component, because in Japanese culture being apologetic and the idea of requesting something are inextricably linked due to the common sense of etiquette that Japanese people, deaf or hearing, share. It would make sense to use the same signs in a country where those concepts weren’t linked in a similar way. (P.s I’m not an expert in Japanese sign language so apologies if I got anything wrong. I work in Japan and work in a deaf school once every two weeks so picked up a basic amount to impress the kids haha)

[@danny6140]

why isnt spoken language worked out to be universal?

[@lexysparks9531]

Deaf person here! I grew up in the US so started learning ASL first, and now live in the UK and am learning BSL. They both have aspects I prefer - fingerspelling is so much faster/nicer in ASL, but I find BSL to be more intuitive. But that's just been my own experience!

[@stephanieellis5399]

Thank you for sharing your experience with both as a deaf person.

[@stephanieellis5399]

If you don't mind, will you share how you have been communicating before and as you've been learning BSL? Do you lip read (I imagine this would also be challenging with the different accent)? Do you have some level of hearing? Do you use an interpreter (human or electronic?) I hope you will pardon me for my curiosity. I think you're in such an interesting position to answer this. As a hearing person, with a few exceptions, the differences between spoken English around the world is fairly insignificant. But the sign languages in those same countries (North America with ASL, Britain with BSL, South Africa with SASL, New Zealand with NZSL, and Australia with Auslan, etc) are, or can be, so different. Words, syntax, grammar... I think many hearing people might be very surprised to learn that it's so much more than a few signs and accents that are different. I truly apologize (or apologise, now that you're in the UK 😛) if my questions are not appropriate. I hope you'll forgive my faux pas and know they came from a place of genuine curiosity and a desire to learn.

[@lexysparks9531]

@@stephanieellis5399 Good question! I am one of the many in the horrible in-between space - too deaf for the hearing and too hearing for the deaf! 😅 I grew up in a hearing family who offered me no support, even after being told my hearing loss would only progress - no one learned sign, and I wasn't connected with the Deaf community. I was put in speech therapy to lose my deaf accent and learn to read lips. With lip reading and context, I can get about 30% of what's being said. Learning BSL has been much easier as an adult. I first learned the 1,000 most commonly used signs, and started signing them as I spoke to make sure I had them down. Then, I started going to a weekly deaf group to practice receptive skills. There, I don't speak at all to really put the pressure on! Lip reading is indeed much harder for me here, especially for words that end in 'R' (wattah vs water). Always happy to answer questions! ☺️

[@stephanieellis5399]

@@lexysparks9531 thank you so much. My dad moved to Taiwan in the 60s when only the "elite" spoke any English. He had 2 years of full time language school. After the first 6months, or so, he went to live with a Taiwanese family so had ZERO ability to resort to English if he wanted to talk. It was TOTAL immersion. They do say that is the best way to learn. So it sounds like you're going to be fluent faster than most. All the best. If I have other questions may I ask you?

[@korierejoyce]

Thank you! How fun! This is great 👍 It was great to see the similarities and differences between ASL & BSL

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Korie!!!!!!! Thank you for checking out our channel!

[@g.l.3124]

Good to see that help is the same sign in both the US and the UK! 😅

[@rebeccasmith5832]

Could you possibly do a video on basic signs for young kids such as like 'bedtime' or 'time to go to bed' etc?

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Love this idea. I'll add it to the list.

[@rowynnecrowley1689]

You should address the fact that just like there are different accents/dialects in spoken language, sign language also has regional differences. I have never seen your sign for "truck". Everyone I've signed with uses the British one, as it's descriptive of driving a truck.

[@warrenstaben6166]

Thank you Meredith. Well worth the wait! Two for one special!!!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Yes, its been a little bit of break. Life has been hectic on our end but now we are back in the groove.

[@kavithashree2840]

U r teaching is so good .It's so fun to learn ASL

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thank you!

[@MariaGonzalezGifts]

Hi there I work in retail and interact with many deaf people, I was wondering if there's a video out there with the kinda questions I need to help them . Usually it's like what are you looking for? What size? What color? By when do you need it?

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Great suggestion. We will add it to the list.

[@tamaramoxham648]

Which language?

[@gracynrayne3442]

Thank you so much for your videos! Your content is amazing!!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Glad you like them!

[@riverisenby556]

Coming from the perspective of someone who studied a little bit of LIS (Italian sign language), I also saw some similarities and differences. Interesting!

[@migzbeatz]

this is awesome. i’m currently learning ASL, although I live in the UK i’m looking to move to the states in the future. however I still want to learn BSL

[@Siberius-]

From someone who knows next to nothing about the subject, BSL looks less complex from the examples here.

[@shaunadumelle1624]

Id like to think that maybe people dont understand that theres a difference right here in the us based on region, also. In WI, we were taught truck as the uk version, same with bus and tractor, one just a little more wide and one more bumpy.

[@thihal123]

I’d love to know what are the various advantages and disadvantages of ASL vs BSL. For example, does one require better dexterity etc.

[@fireofgoldengamer9399]

I don't know if being an ASL speaker makes me biased, but... I would say ASL is well known for its speed while BSL is more of slow but accurate.

[@kcforests]

I mean they are individual languages, so it all depends on which you were raised on. Personally i find bsl easier, aside from fingerspelling in which asl is much more fun

[@RavenStorm332]

I'm talking an ASL course and the way I was taught elevator was to hold the non-dominate hand palm up and the dominant hand with two fingers on it the non-dom hand and move it up

[@rogueuniversities6866]

There are probably regional differences just like BSL has regional differences, with some signs

[@halfblood_girl]

Wow, thank you so much Meridith

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are so welcome!

[@ZargonUSA]

I was taught BSL back in the early 80s when I got married to my first wife, and her family was all deaf, Mother, Brother, Father, and Sister, but now I'm living in the US, I went to a McD a few months ago, and met this deaf guy and it was like a native German trying to talk to a native Chinaman, luckily his name was the same in ASL as it is in BSL 'Wolf', but other than that, because we couldn't communicate, that was it, so when I saw a video on learning ASL, I thought "yeah right", BSL is far more easier to learn and use than ASL, having to spell with one hand, what if one has arthritis, as I do, luckily, BSL is easy on my arthritis.

[@martielupin1981]

Terry please, no one says 'chinaman' just say a chinese person that's like saying germanyman and frankly it's kinda rude

[@Siberius-]

"Chinaman", wowsers, haven't heard anyone say that shit in a while lol. Just to help out a bit, it's hard to go wrong if you add the word "person". So instead of saying "a white", you would say, "a white person". Avoids looking like you're reducing a person to that one element. Less dehumanising.

[@rogueuniversities6866]

@@Siberius- Calm your tits, both of you. Terry was clearly not being intentionally insulting but using a word he grew up with. Personally I don't see how it's really offensive - seems no different than saying Englishman

[@dpayO2]

@@martielupin1981 Frenchman, Englishman, Irishman. Those are all standard.

[@minnied84]

​@dpayO2 Not equivalents. China is the country Chinese are the people. France is the county French are the people. You Frenchmen nobody says Francemen. If he said Chinese man nobody would be correcting him. Plus Chinaman is considered a slur in places.

[@OneBoy4]

I WATCH ALL YOUR VIDEOS OF LEARN HOW TO SIGN

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Yay!!!

[@Redu3]

For a "learn how to sign" channel - y'all are slacking not having captions available tbh.

[@katsups]

Why are there no subtitles on this video outside the closed captions which have a slight delay and words that are wrong (eat instead of meet)?

[@antonymilne1346]

A question to ASL users from a BSl learner: Does ASL have many variations on how to sign things? BSL, like the English language is often subject to regional dialects and can result in multiple signs for the same words.

[@tomhchappell]

Is there a difference in either SL for “live” as in “live and breathe” versus “live” as in “dwell or reside”? And if so what is it?

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Live/dwell/reside would be the same sign but breathe is a different sign.

[@ramonpagan8108]

I know you most likely get requests a lot but, I am a paramedic and my wife is a nurse. Are you looking into making a video with basic medical questions I know many people will greatly appreciate it.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

We have it on the list.

[@nannerz1994]

I should really try ASL because I think since I'm very visual and spatial I would take to it much easier than another spoken / written language. Thank you for this video

[@claire.823]

this is so interesting!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Right!!!!!!!

[@udaansignlanguage8678]

Hey, I'm from India. I completed my course in Indian sign language, but I want to learn ASL, would you please suggest some college and courses for an international student and what the job scopes in America etc for sign language interpreters??

[@saturn1128]

This is great! I am Learning bsl because I want to be able to talk to my friend she suffered through some head injury and is loosing her Hearing.

[@susanjeffay3851]

I think some of the signs shown here make more visual sense in ASL than BSL like times of day in ASL indicate the sun rising, ASL's "mail" shows licking a stamp. But its interesting how many are the same.

[@roberta001000]

Is it possible to sign to each other in just one language? Like, supposing I sign only in BSL may I sign normally with an American? Besides the little differences of?

[@kcforests]

not at all, if i signed BSL to someone who used ASL there would be a big communication barrier, since they are seperate languages 😊

[@clairee4939]

I’m British and understand a lot of Indian sign language but ASL is too different to really understand like that. American signers understand French Sign Language better. The language family doesn’t follow the spoken languages.

[@brooke1639]

Wow I just realised if you learn sign language its literally like learning to read and write. When you are doing the signing you are seeing it from your perspective but then you have to mirror it when you translate it from another peraon. So basically when I am learning a word I would have to stand in front of a mirror to see how it looks in order to be able to read it? So each word has 2 different perspectives. When I deliver it, and how it looks front on 👀👀 I cant even follow dance routines or a gym teacher if they arent facing the same way as me!

[@Tsugimoto1]

I notice how on some of them, the BSL guy does the word in two different ways. Is this for contextual reasons?

[@kcforests]

Sometimes there are 2 signs for one word, they can be chosen due to context like you said

[@emmasmith_1975]

@LearnHowtoSign your videos are brilliant and I find it so easy to learn but I am British and every video I find for BSL is useless do you have any recommendations or would you consider producing a separate channel for BSL?

[@rafaelsmith5411]

Very interesting video!!!✨✨✨

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Its so fascinating right?

[@rafaelsmith5411]

@@LearnHowtoSign yes it is

[@deannamoreno6569]

I'm trying to learn sign language and there's a British sign language is there a black sign language is it basl sign language can you tell me Sorry if it's long and if it's rude

[@Garfield_Minecraft]

5:20 but fish and chips taste good ngl

[@ssbmad2743]

Can American deaf people understand BSL like of it was a different accent or they don't understand it?

[@ahab9712]

They are completely different languages so no. But there are a few similarities here and there

[@tomhchappell]

Do Canadians use ASL or BSL? North American English is pretty much shared between Canada and the USA; but USA elevators are Canadian lifts. So what about sign language?

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Sign Language in Canada is ASL. I never knew elevators were called lifts in Canada.

[@janetlee191]

I also thought that when you say I love you. The I is with the pinky up and drawn to the chest

[@aut.mar.lar2]

Are you saying for any "I" word? That is signed exact english. A lot of EE is initialized by the first letter of the word. like the sign for red in ASl is one finger down from the lip and in EE it is the letter 'r' down from the lip.

[@SofiaBerruxSubs]

I love people are saying BSL seems easier but their alphabet looks harder. Tho im sure both have difficulty and easy signs

[@kendralynch1891]

No captions?

[@aleksandarzivkovic1792]

Why o why do do you have muzak. For some hearing people it's like 2 inputs hapening at once. Sign and voice is ample.

[@dbonk6264]

Interesting. We have French fries in ðe UK as well. Ðey’re like chips but þinner. We tend to get French fries in fast food places but it’s signed differently. “French” depicting a French moustache and ðen fries which is like “chips”.

[@Janalejigre34]

Where I can get the content of Meredith

[@jessicaplummer7037]

I feel like american sign language is bouncy and has more movement with the signs. I also think British sign language doesn't use as much facial expression

[@HonestOK2930]

Fun fact...help in ASL is homosexual in Greek sign. It's a little different movement, but can cause confusion...speaking from experience.

[@keirahoopes5801]

Do you miror or not or does it not matter?

[@donramon830]

asl , bsl , starcraf? :V

[@AfterDarkWithHadassah]

As a person who is not 🧏‍♀️ DEAF I’ve always wanted to learn sign language in so many different spoken languages in the world I understand everyone doesn’t speak the same language as me…. But tell me why I thought people who were Deaf spoke one language🤷🏽‍♀️…. Why do they have to complicate sign language with having ALS and having BLS🤷🏽‍♀️ I want to be anywhere in the world and be able to communicate with someone who cannot hear why do they have to complicate side language with the human language? Why couldn’t this be all on one accord when it came to signing?

[@Charlotte-eo73i]

It's because sign languages are natural langauges, just like spoken languages! Essentially that means no-one sat down and 'designed' them, they just developed naturally over time. It would have been difficult for the whole world to co-ordinate that lol

[@kcforests]

Because all Deaf ppl in the world didnt suddenly decide to invent sign. It deveĺped over time like spoken languages, think about all the culture engrained into spoken languages, sign languages are the same

[@kcforests]

You mean ASL and BSL

[@cyfoo72]

How to sign "British"?

[@Shooyaaa2]

please do more international

[@loneunc]

Thank You!

[@englishwithjrrtolkienurduw4879]

More than sign language, i just amazed that we use British English in our country still them American country. Like chips , flat, football etc

[@sevi9]

asl seems easier cause you can correlate with the notion of the word

[@czarnapapuga]

Ok so i want to start learning sign language but I don't know which one ASL or BSL bc I already know polish sign language (I'm from poland) but I want to learn ASL or BSL to communicate with people from other countries

[@LearnHowtoSign]

I would try learning ASL since it seems to be a sign language that is learned in addition to other sign languages.

[@kcforests]

Depends where you want to go 😂

[@shivanikatla12]

Please make a video of isl Vs Asl...☺️..

[@jasongervase5493]

You tap 2x for NAME in ASL, not 3x or 4x as shown in the video.

[@kcforests]

Probably would have been better if they used Deaf ppl for the video

[@piroskaracz3621]

I'm HoH and use ASL. Love the male signer. Didn't like the woman representing ASL

[@kcforests]

Should have gotten a Deaf signer tbg

[@fireofgoldengamer9399]

As an ASL speaker, now I can make a fun of BSL speaker like these America people did to Britian people.

[@kumarpandy9130]

I m deaf .i m from india .help teach u instersting.please love usa

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Welcome all the way from America!

[@kumarpandy9130]

@@LearnHowtoSign oky sir teacher .its like american a follow.video chat

[@_blank-_]

I thought they were way more different

[@davidrubino8316]

Why aren’t you signing?

[@roslynclark6690]

Meet was spelt Meat, I got confused,😁😁

[@janetlee191]

It seem I was taught a combination

[@mmmrose421]

Awesome

[@HarperChan-y8p]

It seems that ASL is more easily understood.

[@Firefighter2220]

💙

[@gg_nugu]

Lmao BSL is like 🔫🔫REPEAT. AGAIN.

[@lwood432]

ASL has too much bouncing in the hand movements BSL has some better (easierr) signs than ASL

[@raymondrodgers9242]

I’m Deaf and she made many incorrect signs for ASL. Please use an actual Deaf person to sign and teach ASL. Thank you.

[@Mia-sp5wh]

Which ones did she do wrong

[@AbelHawumba]

This is really cnfusing😮😮😮😢

[@evagalvez1047]

bien

[@alexblue6991]

BSL finger spelling you need two hands not very practical if you have shopping I'm British I have been watching KZbin videos about sign language I was thinking about learning but the British signs language has put me off trying

[@BryanTyrone-l5c]

Davis Steven Anderson Sandra Lee Shirley

[@jacobdonnarhiantalleyanput8186]

Communication.

[@edenromanov]

Time definitely won't make sense in another hundred years considering how watches are already considered outdated and only used by those who own fancy 1000$+ watches

[@robokill387]

Tons of people still use watches. Never heard of smart watches?

[@rowynnecrowley1689]

Oh dear! That BSL sign for Subway (underground)... YIIKES!

[@KyleKoala3]

Most are the same

[@car24dude]

I only know ONE INTERNATIONAL sign language. It’s the middle finger.

[@kcforests]

👏👏👏 so creative, mocking Deaf culture and sign, youre so funny

[@Wingsnthings23]

Their like. Hi I have bad teeth 🦷

[@mahirakalucasahammed2443]

ma’am he’s indian not british

[@mariahransom8349]

Why are you teaching ASL? you're hearing.. you're not supposed to be teaching ASL when it is not your language.

[@damarisdriver7757]

She is trying to teach us something as a good deed and also idk about you but I very much enjoy learning ASL it’s not like u should only have non hearing or hard hearing ppl teach asl. Without Meredith wouldn’t have gone this far in my sign journey! I will let u have your own opinion but plz don’t make her feel bad about what she’s doing cuz it’s really helping other ppl. Have a GOOD DAY. ✌🏼

[@reaglecart3827]

What? So my English teacher is not allowed to teach English just because it's not her language? Why can't she?

[@bloodmaged]

this is such a weird comment lol

[@Mura_128]

Not all deaf people are fully deaf. deafness is a scale that ranges profound hearing loss all the way to mild. You don't know how well her hearing is, and unlike what the other comment said, I think you have an ignorant and uneducated opinion, that should should examine.

[@ineedausername9617]

She's teaching ASL so other people, hearing or part of the deaf community, can work together to make communication for the deaf community and non-verbal people a more comfortable experience.