Fingerspelling ≠ Sign Language! (Here's Why)

Vlog | Destiny Yarbro | August 12, 2025 | 7 min watch

Video Transcript

I've noticed many of you are very concerned about fingerspelling and understanding it. Now, I want you to take a second, deep breath, because guess what? Fingerspelling is not sign language. Fingerspelling is really English with your hands.

00:33 — Who really invented fingerspelling and why it was created for Deaf education 

When I travel, I never fingerspell. They don't know English and I don't know their written language. So, what's the point? We instead use gestures and fingerspelling is just tossed out. Deaf people didn't make up fingerspelling. (I think it's important to recognize that.) Hearing people made up fingerspelling for specifically Deaf education to help Deaf kids learn how to read, write, and speak English. 

00:50 — What if we didn't have fingerspelling?

So, if the entire world became Deaf overnight, I can promise you fingerspelling would be the first to go. Maybe you're thinking, "But how would we do names?" Oh, we'd be fine. We wouldn't fingerspell our English names. No! We'd use Deaf sign names. Easy peasy.

Maybe you're thinking, "But what about city names?" Oh, you don't need it. You can describe where you live. "So, you know where Phoenix? I live just north of that in a city called Flagstaff. That's where I live."

Maybe you're thinking, "But what about medical and legal terminology? That requires fingerspelling, right?" No, no, no. Like the medical word "hypertension." What does that look like in sign? "Your blood pressure is sky-high."

And maybe you're thinking, "But what about months? January, February, March. You've got to fingerspell those." No. Other countries don't, and honestly, I prefer their methods. Typically, I see two different ways. One's related to the moon. The sixth moon, that's June, or the 10th moon, that's October.

The other way I see is number-based. [Humming inane tune] So the second approach I see is number-based. Numbers six down is June. So June, July, August, September, 10+1 would be November. I see that all the time.

02:12 — Do they fingerspell in Deaf villages? 

Just so you know, Deaf villages around the world don't have fingerspelling systems. (Except if a government has established a deaf school in their area, then they'll teach fingerspelling.) Otherwise, they don't need it. And if you're interested in learning more about Deaf villages, you can watch a series I made last year. I think there's 10 videos in it. 

02:36 — Why does ASL have fingerspelling? 

So, now you might be thinking, "Wait a second. I've seen strong 'big D' culturally Deaf people, part of the community and everything, who fingerspell. What's up with that?" That's true. You're going to see that, right? Because remember, the Deaf community here in the United States is not isolated, they don't own a state. Which means fingerspelling can't be thrown out today. The Deaf community and the hearing community influence each other. For example, ASL incorporates fingerspelling and the hearing / English community incorporates the "I love you" sign or visual applause. I've seen that more and more often. It's more popular in the hearing world today. 

02:59 — Languages borrow words / signs from each other 

So they influence each other and that's not unique to sign languages. Many languages influence English. For example, mosquito that is a Spanish word that English incorporated. The word ketchup is from China. Cookie is from Holland and kindergarten is from Germany. So, English is really like a smorgasbord of all these different languages and that's normal with language. 

03:58 — "When in doubt, ACT it out”

I think it's important to remember sign language isn't lacking. It's a full language. It doesn't have to be reliant on English. I think especially you who are ASL students, you might struggle with that because you say, "When in doubt, spell it out." And I recommend replacing that and saying, "When in doubt, ACT it out." 

04:22 — How to describe an object when you forget the sign (3 approaches) 

But maybe you're thinking, "I don't know how to do it. How do I start acting it out?" I recommend three approaches.

Approach 1: "You know...?"

The first one: let's say you're having a conversation. You're going along and all of a sudden you realize, "Uh, I forgot that sign." or "Ooh I don't know that sign." You can say, "You know, it's a bottle that has a pop top? And you drink it? You know what I mean?" "Oh yeah, that's soda pop. Soda pop, that's how you sign it." "Oh! That's it, soda pop!" and then you continue on with your conversation.

Approach 2: Circumlocution

The second approach is a concept called "circumlocution," and that means if you don't know a sign, you describe everything around that sign and kind of circle in until you finally get the concept across and they can give you the sign. For example: "You know, uh, okay, it's on a computer. If I open up my laptop, you'll see the screen and I'll look for something. I find it. When I find it, I click on it and that's a WWW. What is that? What's the sign for that?" "Yeah! You mean website." "Oh, okay! Website." So the point is, instead of fingerspelling, you can use the signs that you already know to describe and explain, circle in, and then they can give you the sign.

Approach 3: Alternative Signs

The third approach is to remember that one English word does not equal one sign. One English word typically equates to a lot of different ASL signs. For example, the English word "picture" could mean "taking a picture," or "imagine" picture, or "a picture on the wall." When you think, "I don't know the sign for that word," set aside that thought. Remember, there's lots of signs to choose from. Keep learning, keep conversing, keep describing, keep gesturing, and use these three approaches.

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