For this week's guest video, you're probably going to need subtitles.
So if they're not on automatically, you can turn them on in your device settings.
And you'll need them because this week's guest is Rikki Poynter,
a deaf vlogger who makes videos in both English and American Sign Language.
She has asked me to apologise for accidentally fingerspelling in front of her face a couple of times here,
apparently that can be rude.
So, Rikki: [signs in BSL:] Over to you!
Hello!
As you’ve read from the title, sign language is not universal.
For many years now,
I’ve seen many comments from people on the Internet
thinking that there’s only one sign language in the whole world.
But… they’re wrong.
There are actually about more than 300 sign languages in the entire world.
Even all English speaking countries don’t share the same sign language.
For example, the United States speaks English and uses American Sign Language.
England also speaks English, but do they use ASL?
No, they use BSL.
Why is ASL different from BSL?
ASL is more like or based off LSF (French Sign Language)
as the first sign language teacher in the U.S.,
L... er --
Laurent Clerc, was from France.
He came to the U.S. to teach and thus ASL was born.
Here are some more examples: Australia uses Auslan.
Canada does use ASL; however, Quebec actually uses LSQ.
Now, here’s an exception.
While sign language isn’t exactly universal,
there is this thing called International Sign or IS.
This is typically used in big events where deaf people from all over gather.
For example, Deaflympics.
Oh, hey, I spelled it right.
But it’s important to know that IS also differs.
It's also not the same everywhere.
Of course, just like you may see similarities in spoken languages,
you will see them in various sign languages.
For example, the ASL sign for “I’m sorry” is this.
You’ll see the same one used in BSL.
Sometimes, you’ll see a sign used in multiple sign languages.
“Where?” in ASL is “What?” in BSL.
Naturally, people wonder,
“Why can’t we have just one sign language? Wouldn’t it be easier that way?”
If that happened, that would make things boring.
Yes, it would probably make things easier, but
we already have different spoken languages, so why not have different sign languages?
Different cultures and languages make life interesting.
It makes us all unique.
When it comes to deaf history,
there’s a lot of detail.
But if you want to learn more, I definitely encourage you to do so.
It can be difficult to keep it condensed for a video.
I hope you all learned something new today.
Thank you all for watching and
thank you, Tom, for allowing me to be here to make this video for you.
Maybe I’ll see you all later? Bye!
Go subscribe to Rikki's channel! And remember, she's a vlogger:
that is a channel about her life, not just "all your sign language questions answered"!
I figure I should set expectations there.
Next week, a video that's a little bit related but also a little bit musical.