Foreign languages have always fascinated me. When I was a teenager, I started learning how to say something, even if it was just a simple phrase, in many different languages. I love hearing the different pronunciations and am so impressed when I meet people who are talented at communicating in more than one language.
As I have lived outside of my native country, it has been a unique experience to strive to adapt to a world where I cannot easily communicate or understand what is going on around me most of the time. It has given me a greater appreciation for my Spanish speaking friends from the United States and to my surprise, I feel like I can more easily relate to my deaf friends, to know what they might be dealing with when they cannot hear what's going on when others are talking.
American Sign Language is a beautiful language, and I love watching people communicate by using their hands. In a barbaric way, that's actually how I've been getting by in Taiwan to get my point across, but not in any formal language, often simply by just using gestures, facial expressions and emotions. It would be awesome to be able to actually "speak" in ASL.
I have a friend in Texas who is an ASL teacher and he has an excellent website that teaches this language. If you're interested in learning American Sign language, you might want to take a look at what Rob has to offer. He is a pro and can teach you as much as you want to know. If anything, click on his link HERE and check out his site. You will enjoy his minute and a half intro video and his likable personality. He is hoping to get more traffic and I know he would appreciate it.
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After I added this post, I added a Google translator to my blog gadgets so my Chinese friends can figure out what I'm saying in English if they need help. Chinese characters are SO foreign to me! They seem impossible to understand, but that must be how they look at our letters.