#signblr

[snail-creates]

Ominous signtober days 1-4

@ominous-signs

(Ignore the crunchiness of the image I will try to fix that in future)

[iwanttolearnallthethings]

I found an app/website for British Sign Language that's basically like DuoLingo but for BSL! There's far less resources that I've been able to find for British Sign Language than there is for American Sign Language, which makes sense with the prevalence of anything American. But trying to find resources for my own country's sign language is difficult due to this because a lot of ASL stuff is just labelled as sign language, not ASL which causes confusion when you're learning.

But this resource is called BrightBSL, it has a similar layout and lesson structure as DuoLingo does (just without audio obviously), the first few levels are free but then it's a subscription model. I played around with it and decided to pay for an annual membership as I had found a discount code for 50% off and I figure I'll be finished with it by the end of the year. But so far I like it!

[iwanttolearnallthethings]

How I make flash'cards' for British Sign Language.

First up I use Anki and make basic flashcards, however the difference is on one side I have gifs of the signs being done. Of course for grammar cards I make regular cards with a question on one side and the explanation on the other, but for the rest it's gifs.

But how do I get my gifs? Simple, I make them! I use a free app called ScreenToGif, it comes with a built in screen recorder and editor for making gifs. I simply record videos of the signs being done, trim, save them and then put them into the flashcards as I make them.

But here's where you have to be careful, the videos you use, you need to make sure they're reliable as not all signing videos you'll come across are from teachers or people who actually use BSL and aren't just learning or worse, making it up (yes sadly those exist). You want to make sure they're good sources of information and of course, double check it's the sign language you're actually learning as there are hundreds of different Sign languages.

Here's some of the resources I use: (no links because tumblr will throttle the post and I want people to be able to find this post)

BrightBSL (app and website, paid for but often has discounts around the new year)

British-Sign (official website, I'm recording the gifs in the course I'm doing which is cheap too!)

Commanding Hands (youtube)

hipsterspirit (tiktok)

hands2hear (tiktok)

matiisigns (tiktok)

trafficlighttutoring (tiktok)

deafchefofficial (tiktok)

[iwanttolearnallthethings]

Studyblr (re)introduction

I've had this blog for a very long time now and I was away for about a year or so, so why not reintroduce myself? (and then pin it to the top of the blog like a smart person would)

Name: JZ but my friends call me Cupid

Gender: Nonbinary trans masc

Pronouns: He/they

Age: 32

Location: North East of England in the UK

Important notes: I'm autistic and didn't learn that until my mid-20s, so I'm still learning to understand myself and attempting to relearn how to socialise. So if I say something strange or my attempts at socialising are a bit off, please be patient with me and if you can explain what I'm doing wrong so I can learn I would really appreciate it.

Schooling: I'm actually out of education, I studied art in college from the age of 17-19 and have been out of the education system since. My studying is entirely based on my interested and self motivated as my special interest is knowledge and skill acquisition.

Hobbies and interests: My main hobby is art, which I make a small amount of money from (and am otherwise unemployed due to disability). My other hobbies and interests are environmentalism, studying anything that interests me, knitting, crochet, tablet weaving, sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, writing, reading, plants, feeding the local birds and gaming.

Current focuses: Japanese, French, British Sign Language, knitting, , coding, streaming.