The American Sign Language Handshape Starter: A Beginner's Guide

by Richard A. Tennant, Marianne Gluszak Brown, Valerie Nelson-Metlay (Illustrator)

Beginning signers now can improve their recognition of the most commonly used signs with this easy-to-follow handbook. The American Sign Language Handshape Starter illustrates 800 of the most frequently used signs, arranging them by the 40 standard handshapes used in American Sign Language (ASL). Carefully chosen for their common use, the signs also have been organized by day-to-day topics, including food, travel, family, sports, clothing, school terms, time, nature and animals, and many others from everyday conversation. The American Sign Language Handshape Starter begins with a confidence-building introduction to ASL use and structure, and tips on basic signing. It also provides a simple guide to finding signs that are either new or familiar to learn their meanings. With the Handshape Starter , new signers, their teachers, and their parents will find improvement in ASL to be faster and even more enjoyable.

Genres: Language, Reference, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2002

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of SEE signs. Illustrations are helpful, but sometimes confusing. Descriptions are hard to follow occasionally. Good for review, probably not recommended for new learners. I like the way it’s organized.

[Jeff S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great job on the descriptions of the signs.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the detail of each entry, but the organization/grouping of the entries aren't very intuitive, and the vocabulary list is rather short.

All in all a solid book for beginners :)

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is awesome!! though not as comprehensive as a full dictionary. It's a perfect introduction and really does have a lot of the more common signs. Not much on grammar, but you wouldn't expect that from a dictionary.

Some ways you can use this book:
* re-organize by index
* test yourself by index
* just sit down with the book and read through it for a refresher (takes about an hour or two)
* turn to a random page and learn

If you like this book, I recommend the Gallaudet dictionary by handshape as it's sort of the same concept but with a lot more words.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will render you speechless.

[Yana "Always Forgets to Log Out" Gaskell]

good