• Red • Blue (sorry, I hesitated after this sign, I was going to sign ‘green’ – my hand movements there are not a proper sign!) • Yellow • Green • Orange (this is also the sign for the fruit, ‘orange’) • Purple • Pink • Black • White • Grey • Gold • Silver
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
• Sandwich • Pasta • Apple • Banana • Onion • Garlic • Tomato • Potato • Carrot
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
Auslan is a language that needs to make sense, visually. In the last lesson, ‘egg’ is an example of a sign that is altered depending on context, in order to make sense, visually.
Auslan signs tend to be based on what things look like, rather than how they sound. In English, some words have multiple meanings, such as the word “cross”. It can refer to the shape of a cross, to feeling cross, to crossing the road. Each of these contexts is signed differently in Auslan.
Consider the following words in different contexts:
Train (can mean to practise, or to catch a train)
Seesaw (you need to show this visually – don’t sign the word for ‘see’ followed by ‘saw’/’see in-the-past’)
Park (this can be a playground or a place to park your car)
Can of drink (don’t sign the word ‘can’ (the opposite of ‘can’t’) – instead use the specific sign for soft drink)
Wake up (with this, you show your eyes opening – there is no need to add the sign for ‘up’)
When you are signing, stop regularly and ask yourself if your signs make sense, visually. A lot of English words and phrases don’t make sense visually, and they need to be altered when you are signing.
Jokes in English that are funny because of a play on words often don’t make sense in Auslan. Jokes in Auslan often rely on visual ideas and facial expression to convey humour.
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
Breakfast (this is like eating a bowl of cereal with a spoon – I should have just fed myself two spoonful in the video, not three)
Lunch (this is like eating a sandwich)
Dinner
Dessert (this sign is also used for ‘pudding’ and ‘porridge’ and sometimes for ‘breakfast’ too)
Hungry (note: in some states this sign means ‘sexy’! this is the Melbourne version)
Thirsty
Tea
Coffee (I should have done just two shakes of the ‘c’ in the video)
Sugar
Honey
Note: you already learnt the words for food and drink in the lesson for baby signs. The sign for ‘eat’ is the same as the sign for food.
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
• Feel / feelings • Like • Don’t like (this is the sign for like but with your facial expression you show the opposite) • Happy • Sad • Cranky/bad mood • Cry • Confused • Angry • Enjoy • Smile • Love • Hate • Fun/funny • Laugh • Bored (for the handshape, touch forefinger and thumb together to make a ring) • Pissed off (same handshape as ‘bored’)
In Auslan, facial expression is very important. A conversation cannot be understood by watching the hands alone. You will see in the video my face changes with every sign. When you are using these signs in conversation, your face needs to show the emotion for the signs to make sense.
In fact, the facial expression can inform the meaning of the sign. The sign LIKE is used for both LIKE and DON’T-LIKE, depending on your facial expression.
It can be difficult for English-speakers to loosen up and learn to use appropriate facial expressions in Auslan – it can feel very over-the-top. However, for Auslan signers, it can seem bizarre that an English-speaking newsreader on television will describe terrible events using a perfectly bland face.
Practise signing the above vocab, using appropriate facial expressions.
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
Learn Auslan pronouns. In Auslan, pronouns are not gender-specific. Mostly, they involve pointing at a person or object.
Vocab:
Me (use this for ‘I’ as well)
My
Mine
You
Your
Yours
You’re
Here
There
That/he/she/it (I show three examples of pointing.)
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
Here are some signs about being deaf and using Auslan (Australian sign language):
Vocab:
Deaf
Hearing
Sign
Language
Auslan (Australian sign language)
Fingerspell/spell
Alphabet (A-Z)
Voice
Lock your voice/voice off
Oral (this is also the sign for lipread)
There are some words and phrases here that aren’t commonly used in mainstream English.
People who aren’t deaf are referred to as ‘hearing’. Deaf people who don’t use sign language, communicating with speech and lipreading, are described as ‘oral’. I grew up oral and learnt to sign when I was eighteen – this is a common situation for Deaf people in Australia.
Fingerspelling refers to manually spelling out the letters of words. If you don’t know the sign for a word, fingerspell it. In Auslan, fingerspelling is commonly used for names and places. Some words, such as ‘cream’ are always fingerspelled, and the fingerspelled version becomes a sort of ‘sign’ for that word. There are some English words for which there is no equivalent Auslan sign. In this case, you could fingerspell the word, though more fluent signers will usually find a way to visually convey the meaning of the word using Auslan signs.
Lock your voice: since Auslan has its own grammar, trying to speak English while signing can be challenging, and also make your signs difficult to understand. It’s common in Auslan to refer to ‘turning off your voice’ or ‘locking your voice’ which means that you don’t speak – just sign. However, if you are speaking English with a group of hearing people, and there is a Deaf person present, it is polite to sign whatever words you can, even if it’s not using correct Auslan grammar, so that the Deaf person can get an idea of what you are talking about.
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
Airport (sorry, the subtitle says ‘landing’. This sign is used for both ‘landing’ and ‘airport’)
Station
Other signs that kids often embrace are colours and foods – they are covered in other lessons. For our next lesson, though, we’ll get back to signs commonly used by adults.
I was a bit over-enthusiastic when signing some of these. While signing like this is not really ‘wrong’ and Deaf people will still understand you, it would be correct to sign ‘run’ with just two rotations of my arm, and ‘ride a bike’ should also be two cycles of pedaling with my fingers, and ‘car’ should be two rotations of my fists. ‘Bus’ should be two twists of the steering wheel. My apologies that these videos aren’t perfect – I hope they’ll still help you learn.
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
A great way to get children interested in signing is to teach them the signs for animals.
Vocab:
Cat
Dog (pat your thigh twice)
Rabbit
Bird/chicken
Horse
Sheep
Cow
Giraffe
Elephant
Lion
Monkey
Gorilla
Dinosaur
This post is part of my free online Auslan course. See the rest of the course here.
To learn more about what it is really like to be Deaf, details about the Deaf community and how Auslan is used by Deaf people, read my book, Future Girl.
Asphyxia 