Key facts
- Native to
- United Kingdom
- Native speakers
- 77,000 (2014) , 250,000 L2 speakers (2013)
- Language family
- BANZSL British Sign Language (BSL)
- Writing system
- none widely accepted , SignWriting
- Recognised minority language in
- England , Scotland , Wales
- Iso 639 3
- bfi
- Glottolog
- brit1235
via Wikipedia infobox
Described at
British Sign Language - Online resources, games, & course.
British Sign Language online course, free resources, games, information, and greeting cards. Learn British Sign Language today.
british-sign.co.uk →Sign Language is a visual means of communicating using gestures, facial expression, and body language. Sign Language is used mainly by people who are Deaf or have hearing impairments. Online Signing Course – Learn BSL in your own time from the comfort of your home. What is British Sign Language? – Find out more about BSL. Online BSL Dictionary – Browse our ever expanding dictionary of BSL signs. f Fingerspelling I've always wanted to learn sign language and a lady at work with her daughters did a presentation on Sign Language and I was hooked. I signed up and did this course. Its amazing to learn the basics and the course was perfect to go at your own pace and fit round family life. Content was brilliant and covered all the basics. I will definitely be looking to further my knowledge in an evening course. Thanks BSL great course!! The course is divided into lessons, which made it manageable and interesting. I decided to do this for my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh's Award, and from knowing next to nothing, I have learnt how to converse and covered all the basics. It was great fun and very clear, with a wealth of video clips to demonstrate every sign. I would recommend this to anyone of any age, whether they want to start from scratch or revise what they already know. Really easy, and enjoyable. I have learnt a lot and highly recommend it!
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Encyclopedic overview
The BSL manual alphabet (right-hand-dominant form shown)
British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on the 2011 Scottish Census, the British Deaf Association estimates there are 151,000 BSL users in the UK, of whom 87,000 are Deaf. People who are not deaf may also use BSL, as hearing relatives of deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British Deaf community. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands, body, face and head.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “British Sign Language” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.