How To Describe People in ASL

Learn how to describe people in ASL.
American Sign Language is a beautiful language and I want everyone to learn it. That's why we're doing this! If you want to learn sign language subscribe. We're making videos like this one every week. Also go over to our website at learnhowtosign.org. There you'll find a dictionary, a blog and a place to sign up for our monthly newsletter.
NAVIGATION
0:00 - Intro
0:45 - TEACHING - Description Order (General to Specific)
1:15 - Example: Describing my mom
Ethnicity
1:43 - Ethnicity
1:53 - Arab
2:01 - Asian
2:11 - Black
2:20 - Caucasian or White
2:32 - Hispanic
2:43 - Indian
2:51 - Mix
2:59 - Native American
3:10 - Half
Physical Characteristics
3:22 - Boy
3:29 - Girl
3:41 - Man
3:51 - Woman
4:02 - Deaf
4:11 - Hearing
4:20 - Bald
4:31 - Bangs
4:40 - Beard
4:49 - Braid
5:00 - Chubby or Fat
5:12 - Face
5:20 - Freckles
5:30 - Goatee
5:41 - Gut or Belly
5:56 - Hair
6:04 - Long Hair
6:12 - Short Hair
6:32 - Mustache
6:43 - Ponytail
6:53 - Pregnant
7:04 - Sideburns
7:15 - Thin
7:27 - Weak
7:37 - Well Built
7:47 - Look like
8:01 - Look Strong Same
8:12 - To Braid
8:21 - To Slim Down or Lose Weight
Personalities
8:36 - Personality
8:47 - Arrogant
8:57 - Nosy
9:08 - Polite
9:18 - Quite
9:30 - Talkative
9:40 - Emotional
Sentences
9:56 - My daughter and I look a lot alike
10:14 - My husband has brown hair, but my son has blonde hair
10:43 - Growing up, my dad's always had a mustache
Thanks for watching!
#LearnHowToSign #LearnASL #ASL

[@zhingaqasm7788]

i am a dental student and i am trying to learn sign language to understand my deaf patients in the future ,,,, thank you so much for all this videos i benefited so much ,,, i hope you keep going with it 🌼🌸🌹🌷👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Love that you are going above and beyond for your patients. We plan to keep this going as long as we have signers who want to learn.

[@thing2204]

From a mom with a deaf child thank you for learning for your patients!! It is very touching bc it never happens. My son hates the devices he wants to be able to communicate with the professionals

[@raymondlin8728]

I'm a dental assistant and I started learning years ago when we had a h of h patient come in an she was signing to her mom. I thought that was cool so I started learning on my own. I no longer work there but in a supermarket, Restaurant, etc, and used what a learned several times. Thank you

[@Hiccupyy]

That is so amazing wow /srs

[@danielleg.7677]

Is “mix” the same as laundry/washer ?

[@j.austell3224]

We have an 8 year old Grandson who was born deaf. The only child born deaf in the entire family. Thank God our daughter graduated college with a degree in Sign Language before her son was born🙏🏾. Your amazing channel helps us learn ASL. We've also purchased items from you as well. THANKS 😊!!!

[@danellonzo1887]

I am so glad I found you and your wonderful easy going fun method thanks to you and your husband for helping me to learn incredibly quickly ASL I am already able to have a simple conversation with a deaf regular customer I have known for years but never spoke to before now - this has changed my world for the better - thank you over and over again!!!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Oh this makes my heart so happy for you!!!! And thank you for your kind words.

[@maryellenwechter2940]

my daughter and I are learning ASL from your excellent videos. thank you!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

My pleasure!

[@christopherbatts439]

my deaf studies instructor is deaf and This channel says exactly what does! plus you know how to "dumb" it down (so to speak) for us who are a little slower. thank you so much

[@JudahMaccabee_]

2:01 What makes me remember 'Asian' ASL is Mr. Miyagi's 'Wax on wax off' from Karate Kid lol

[@aj-touturedpoet13]

You make learning sign so much easier. Thank you so much!

[@NativeDragon93]

This channel is fantastic! I am learning ASL for work. We recently hired a few deaf/hard of hearing people and I thought I was going to have so much trouble training them. This has helped me out SO MUCH! Thanks again, and keep it up!

[@katiecartwright6149]

You are such a wonderful teacher...much appreciated!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are so welcome!

[@DlawsAquatics]

Love your content my wife is an interpreter and I just started learning.We lead a deaf Bible study and you’re such an inspiration.❤

[@criecomigo8922]

Olá, brasileira aqui. Estou realizando capacitação em ASL, seu vídeo é excelente. Parabéns pelo trabalho.

[@judybaum1647]

We are learning sign language from you in 6th and 7th grade. We practice every week with you. Thanks for your help.

[@suzyirvin2684]

Man this is so hard and I think I’ve commented on this one I know I have a few of yours I’m losing my hearing last yr I had lost more of it I have been wearing my hearing aids off and on now for 5 yrs I’m trying to get better at wearing them I’m still trying to learn signs but again I am so thankful you get on here and teach sign language thank you so much for that 🤟🏼

[@jnewton3819]

Your videos are so helpful and fun! Thank you!

[@amarie8230]

I have a patient who is coming in who was deaf and I am watching all of your videos so I can better communicate even though there is an interpreter coming I always wanted to learn! Thank you!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

That is so special that you are think of your patient. Love that!

[@Granniepower201]

I have always been fascinated with asl. But it’s hard to remember. I’ve watched many videos and had books. But they didn’t stick to my brain. You make it so easy to remember. I work with a deaf lady and she is teaching me as well. ( i see she feels alone because no one understands her or knows how to talk to her) I do my best to make her feel comfortable … I love surprising her with what I have learned from you.. thank you so much!!!

[@jowinchester]

Aahh this was soo awesome!! I loved everything about this video and youu!! 😄😄💙

[@zayn_g]

Hi! I just wanted to say how much you have been helping improve my ASL! I have been looking for channels to learn it, but haven't found a reiable one! This one teaches everything and anything and I hope by the end of this year I will be almost fluent! Thanks again!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Practice everyday and hang out with deaf people and you'll become fluent in no time!

[@rebornbabydolls8094]

@@LearnHowtoSign I love this

[@daliUwU]

do i see some bakudeku??

[@zayn_g]

@@daliUwU lol yeeeessss ur biggest shipper right here lmao

[@brodystokes1633]

Your videos are the reason I passed my ASL class

[@asexualamanita6193]

I’m learning asl so I can communicate when I can’t speak. Thank you for your awesome videos!

[@HealthyWealthyWiseKatie]

Thanks for your channel. There are several deaf parents at my daughter's high school. One of my daughters friends mother is deaf. I want to be able to connect with them as much as possible.

[@ruthsmith5055]

I am enjoying these videos! I've always wanted to learn sign language and now I am. Thank you,

[@yvoTV6232]

im learning more..im interpreting for the deaf people for a couple of months now.. im reviewing my ASL..thank you very much.

[@kevinrashke1915]

My 6 children from age 12 to twins 3, wife and I. Your videos have been amazing watching my children learn more every time. I have been having an amazing time with learning more about ASL. With at times Ive been slowly adding British SL at times into the list but ive been told it's not good to teach them different dialog of signing as it'll confuse them to much, my hole life ive been intrigued into learning them all so I keep most with ASL but at times teach the British ABCs

[@LearnHowtoSign]

How cool. I have learned the very basics of BSL. Learning at the same time can become confusing but I can say it was fun learning the differences.

[@Mariokart23-i1u]

I love these videos! I want to become an ASL interpreter when I grow up.

[@funnyman3425]

I am learning this because it would benefit me in the Marines so thank you for everything thing you shown me and other people ❤️

[@le2458]

OKAY I thought I was going crazy seeing the two different directions for the sign for deaf thank you for explaining both are right!! 😅

[@sugmengchinalpan3712]

Awesome and efficient ASL teacher!!!

[@shairamichaelaumali719]

I am tasked to teach mute students and your videos are really helpful.. I appreciate it so much .. you are a big help :)

[@LearnHowtoSign]

It's my pleasure.

[@ash.sd.505]

Thanks for your videos

[@brooklynclaire5876]

Hello I get so excited to watch ur videos tht I forget to comment 🤗but I have learned so much since joining your channel. Thank u for your time and your willingness to share your family.... watching the kids learn sign keeps me focused ❤

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are too kind. Thank you.

[@kathrynkultgen9487]

This was so helpful!

[@lel101460]

Love learning!

[@elizabethherman6744]

I love how you do the sign slowly and faster, then repeat it.😁😁👍😀😃😃

[@tomking2613]

just getting into it thank u so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@gabrielsolitudeness4991]

I am encouraging you to keep doing a great job 😊

[@monicaguiza3499]

Thank you it is so easy to follow you and understand your signs. Love it!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are too kind! Thank you!

[@johnpaulbeauhaire947]

Thank you Meredith

[@robertasnyder4547]

Thank you so much, you are very helpful.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Happy to help!

[@marydolch2564]

thank you for share this videos very helpful me preciate all 😊

[@tjtampa214]

Great, thx!

[@rachelflores2605]

Awesome to learn how to sign ASL 😊

[@christidague1976]

super helpful

[@danielaaraya5700]

Love it ✔️✔️✔️

[@JanGroh]

Thank you for adding some slow mo bits. I truly can't learn from the full speed videos.

[@dinagloriosa4287]

Thanks so much

[@kristinemathers2387]

Thank you so much for teaching me how to say

[@NiebieskaPaprotka]

Absolutely love this! You are, by far, the best ASL channel I've been able to find on KZbin. Every clip has a different coloured background and you change your clothes, which actually really helps me remember the signs. I have a few questions though. 1. How did you get into ASL? And how long did it take you to be able to hold a basic conversation? 2. This one's a little weird but won't leave me alone. In English, we often say 'piece of cake' as a sort of synonym that indicates that something was easy or simple. In ASL, do you sign it like 'piece cake' or 'piece of cake', do you just sign cake because the sign is like picking up a slice of cake, or does this expression not exist in ASL? And 3rd. Do you have any tips for writing a deaf character? I want to be an author when I grow up (am practicing all the time though) and if I ever write a character who is hard of hearing or deaf, I want to do it properly and respectfully. Thank you a lot! Your videos are great.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thank you so much! You are too kind. 1) My mom is an interpreter for the deaf so I grew up around the Deaf community. I went to college for interpreting. I have a BA in Interpreting and a M.Ed. in Deaf Education. Within my 1st semester of college I was able to have a basic conversation in sign language. 2) English idioms do not translate into ASL. So the meaning behind "piece of cake" would be easy or that's nothing. So I would sign easy or nothing. Basically look at the meaning of the word or phrase to know the correct vocabulary to use 3) First, good for you! When referring to the those who are deaf and hard of hearing, that is the correct term to use. Hearing impaired, handicap, deaf mute is offense. Deaf people are proud of their deafness and consider themselves apart of a community. They do not view themselves at having a loss.Hope this helps.

[@NiebieskaPaprotka]

@@LearnHowtoSign It really does and thank you so much!

[@lachelleruiz7922]

@@LearnHowtoSign That’s so interesting about idioms. People that are deaf read books and watch movies, etc so they would be familiar with idioms. In context of the situation would idioms make sense? I understand filler words like “of” don’t translate but would signing something like “don’t worry it will piece cake” make sense? Or even “don’t worry piece cake”?

[@Kennikus]

I don't know if you have read True Biz by Sara Novic but it would be extremely useful if you really do plan on writing a d/Deaf character.

[@anagodinez7824]

Thanks Meredith.

[@lilpoohbear653]

learning alot from you.. thank you

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are welcome.

[@amandasdelights8185]

⚘⚘⚘This is Such a ministry From The Father!! I thank you 🙌🏽for this. Such a teaching spirit. Thank you again. This is helping to learn this, I'm using it in my own ministry!. May Lord Bless you and the Father continue to bless you and keep you and your Family!!💖💖⚘🤗🙌🏽🙌🏽. Let it be for HIS GLORY. Amen💖💖💝💝

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Amen!

[@sandrasantana5949]

I love your videos

[@JulieDennehy]

thank you for this fabulous content... I'm learning so much from you!

[@LearnHowtoSign]

So glad!!!

[@Lilymailloux]

I have a family friend whos deaf and in a wheelchair and she lets me use her wheelchair van so I can take my Grandma for car rides. I've been learning ASL for a while now and I cant wait to see her again and properly thank her for the van!

[@warrenstaben6166]

Thank you Meredith.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are welcome.

[@waqarahmed9021]

Mama your teaching meathod is very nice .I watch your sign from pakistan. I like ASL sign

[@newyorknewyork9790]

Thnx so very much

[@LearnHowtoSign]

You are welcome.

[@bekelegebre3706]

I have a deaf friend and before I didn’t know how to talk to him but now since I watch a Videos I know how to talk to him in sign language

[@JRanaya2613]

WOW!

[@tineyfox32]

I love your video's

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thank you!

[@burniegipson8342]

Check your beginning parameter for the sign for son. It should be consistent with the ending palm shape.

[@rvank8037]

Hi! Do you know if Black ever includes pointing to the face like the sign for Caucasian? Just curious because they are both colors but one indicates it refers to skin color and the other doesn't.

[@lynnpep6962]

More please

[@balance4141]

“Chubby or fat” caught me off guard 💀

[@katherinesulman2303]

so glad have mixed race beacuse lots of people dont consider it as a race! (I love all your vids!)

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thanks!

[@coughlinmckayla]

Learn to sign is Amazing thanks to (Meredith) Interpreter

[@jamiesesti1983]

Did you use the sign Mustache for goatee!?

[@loriritter1554]

What's the difference between the sign boy and the sign outside? And I thought for the sign hungry, the hand went down to the stomach?

[@sadibahd4797]

i was waiting for black, i didnt know it would be the color black!!!

[@jlbourland7811]

I am starting to help with a Memory Care community. Could you help me with common communication words for late stage Alzheimer's

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thank you for what you do. Love this idea. I will add it to our list.

[@melissagennette4931]

🤟I LOVE ASL

[@believerR1994]

I struggle the most trying to figure out how to reword the sentences properly in ASL

[@duckymr1]

Look up asl sentence structure: topic + comment. Or if there's location or time, you do those first. Location + time + topic + comment. If it's a wh-question, the wh word goes last and you hold it with your eyebrows down. The comment can be an action or a description, or a direct object. Basically the main gist of the sentence.

[@lilyraimey3499]

“Hair curly” LOL

[@gettronomychadguillermo3622]

can you have a video of sign used in church

[@LearnHowtoSign]

It's on our list!

[@rebornbabydolls8094]

Okay

[@katieparker2502]

What is the sign for Nonverbal? I see you show signs for Hearing and deaf

[@juliakwiatkowski1612]

This was life changing👌🏻

[@upsidedown3656]

Hey Meredith for the ethnicity signs. I think you forgot to put 2. Jewish, and pacific islander or islander. Can you please maybe make video responses for those signs please? Please respond.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

I need to figure out how to do a video response as a reply. Hopefully my tech savvy husband can help me out with this one.

[@upsidedown3656]

@@LearnHowtoSign Yeah that sounds good!

[@MammaDukes62]

Love this One

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thanks!

[@paolafontana2147]

🎉

[@gracedeline7389]

You should really tell more about those descriptions, like how signing fat or skinny or short are not meant to be hurtful or insulting to people, but only used as descriptions

[@rigobertosanchez3765]

she looks good though 😊

[@YT-User1013]

0:57 I could not catch "woman" until I looked it up elsewhere because I could not see that you first touched your chin THEN your chest. It initially looked like you were signing "I'm Fine"

[@mr.williamwduffy6378]

I am 25 years old. I am an individual with a learning disability. Down Syndrome I was born hearing my entire family is not Deaf but does not know anything about ASL so i step in and help my entire family to learn ASL by me so my parents had raised a hearing bilingual son, and have been involved in early intervention of ages between 2 through 5 and know about using ASL, in fact, I lost my Baby Signs I really do not know them that well so I need some help moving forward in my adulthood that I need more help on Advanced ASL

[@tomking2613]

THANKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[@tomking2613]

ur in %50- speed all the time

[@MrsTeenagewiccan]

Classifiers for people ? Not just objects ?

[@RabiesTheBeagle]

'Hearing people talk a lot'

[@kimdavis3269]

Hi I'm kim my son is deaf and I'm trying to greeter signing

[@dkgirlarmy]

What is a goatee

[@zacharywood9416]

It would be great if you showed us how to sign things like gay, transgender, straight, cis, etc. too and not just ethnicities and body type 🙂

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[@karencampbell8285]

A

[@matthewandrew]

Really Indian

[@grayfox6930]

I uh... I think I'll just spell Indian, thank you.

[@zotmlr]

how to describe trans, non-binary poeple? are there any signs for "gender" so we can finger spell them afterwards?

[@LearnHowtoSign]

ASL uses what's called deixis. It is just an index finger pointing to the person you are talking to or about. The can represent many pronoun such as he, she or it.

[@zotmlr]

@@LearnHowtoSign so the sentence will be pointing to myself and then finger spelling non-binary? what if the other person does not understand what i'm speaking about.

[@LearnHowtoSign]

@@zotmlr the indexing (deixis) itself is nonbinary. To clarify who, you would just fingerspell their name.

[@zotmlr]

@@LearnHowtoSign thank you :)

[@tiktokqueen5596]

hi am nicoya and i do sign language my youtube name is queen coy

[@katieakin1091]

It only took me a couple days of watching your church signs video to be able to sign the Lord’s Prayer 😊

[@theonetate8130]

Creep show 2 tells me ur one y'all u and Donna all -l tells me y'all the totume or the photo shoot guy 😂😆😂😆 u

[@rowynnecrowley1689]

That sign for "Indian" isn't at all racist...

[@jowinchester]

Yeah cause signing 'black' and 'white' for people aren't.... They're not by the way.... I'm just saying that you don't have to take it as a racist thing...

[@geraltrivia6148]

@@jowinchester American Sign Language is 200 years old. Of course it's racist. Whether it was intended to be racist or not, ASL was developed by basically organizing mimery and it reflects it's creators' perceptions of the world around them. 'Caucasian' has a designated sign similar to, but separate from, the color 'white' and is similar to the sign for 'beautiful.' 'Black' as a sign for race is the same as the sign for the color, as if the race were an object. The sign is also eerily similar to the signs for 'summer' (indicated as miming the wiping of sweat from the forehead) as well as the sign for 'ugly' (The same sign as for 'black' but under the nose). As for the thumb to the forehead as the sign for generalizing 'Indian' and the hair feather representing Natives, how is that NOT racist?

[@geraltrivia6148]

The signs for 'Native American' and 'black' are pretty bad too, and the original sign for 'Asian' was even worse.

[@hapygcium6837]

It's not about being racist. Deaf people are visual they are picking out things that are visually apparent associated with X. Many country sign names represent beards and hats 😂

[@Shadow_Veil]

This isn’t k and l

[@LearnHowtoSign]

Yeah, we shifted a few months back. Same family, different name and focus.