Signing Savvy, Your Sign Language Resource

This article is part of our “Signs That Are Close... But Not the Same” series, which highlights signs that look similar, but have different meanings. The signs discussed in this article are all from the alphabet: (1) A vs. S vs. T, (2) A vs. E, (3) E vs. O vs. C, (4) P vs. K, (5) 1 vs. D vs. K, (6) G vs. H vs. Q vs. U vs. N, (7) N vs. M, (8) R vs. U, and (9) J vs. Z

One of the first concepts covered in beginning or basic sign language classes is fingerspelling. There are a few common mistakes that are made by many beginner signers related to fingerspelling. Hopefully you can recognize them in your own practice and avoid making bad habits that are difficult to break.

Signs for common names? My name is John, which, as you may guess, is a pretty common name. The benefit of having a common name growing up is that whenever I went into a gift shop that had items with names on them, such as cups, buttons, belts, or what-have-you, I could always find one with my name on it. In sign langage, unlike the items in the gift shop, there is no sign for John. That is, there is no ...