BSL – British Sign Language
- There are over 327,000 British Sign Language users scattered around the UK, although not all consider BSL to be their first language. Although, this number is gradually increasing with the local Deaf community and general public’s desire for more deaf children to be educated in Sign Language.
- Awarded language status in 2003 by the British Government.
- Unlike ASL and LSF, BSL uses a two-handed fingerspelling system.
- Certain regions can have slightly different variations of signs, some of which may even having multiple meanings. However, this does not seem to affect communication between BSL users, who seem fully able to understand and communicate with each other.
BSL – signed using two-handed alphabet (Typography)
One important thing to note:
BSL has a different grammar structure than English.
English: Subject, Verb, then Object
BSL: Time-frame, Topics, then Action (or Comment)