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Is American Sign Language a ‘foreign’ language?

• jeffcoat 17y ago
  It has its own grammar, distinct from English, its own vocabulary, and native speakers -- what more do you want from a language?
  • cperciva 17y ago
    I think everybody agrees that ASL is a language. The question is whether it qualifies as a foreign language.
    • Semiapies 17y ago
      As "foreign language" in this context means "not English", the answer is yes.
• DanielStraight 17y ago
  Spanish is not "foreign" in much of the U.S. either. I would consider the use of the word "foreign" in "foreign language" to be a meaningless coincidence. The point is not whether people can speak an exotic language. The point is whether people can speak a second (or third, or fourth, etc.) language which is distinct from their native language, whether they have applied themselves to learning a means of communication different from the one they were raised with. It seems from reading the article that a lot of people still don't get that ASL is distinct from English. That a foreign language chair would say ASL is not sufficient to sustain a culture is absurd. One of the first things my German professor told me when I was in school was that German is not English in code. The same goes for all languages, including ASL.