How I Would Learn ASL (if I had to start again in 2026)

Vlog | Destiny Yarbro | October 29, 2025 | 19 min watch

Video Transcript

I wasn't born into a Deaf family. I lived in the middle of nowhere. There weren't any ASL classes at school. There was no YouTube. So how did I learn ASL? I started teaching myself at age 9 with nothing but a dictionary. This. Exact. Dictionary.

Since then I've met Deaf in 25 countries, I started a nonprofit organization, I founded InterSign University, I've learned multiple sign languages, and I'm certified as an interpreter. But it has taken me a lifetime, 28 years of struggle and "ain't nobody got time for that!" especially if you want to work as an interpreter. So what should you do? I'll break this video up into 4 key steps that if you follow, will make you a great signer.

Step 1: Identify Your Purpose (Your "Why")

So the first step is fingerspelling. [wrong answer buzzer sound] Not even close. I'll explain why later... So the real first step is to identify your purpose, i.e. what is the meaningful reason behind you learning ASL. When I ask ASL students "Why are you learning sign?" "I dunno, it's fun." "It's cool, I guess." Let me tell you the brutally honest truth, learning a language is hard. So you're never going to stick with learning ASL if you don't have a strong underlying reason to keep going and a clear end goal. You can always change your end goal later but for now, you need to always retain the reason why you're learning.

When I was 9, I wanted to "read" the entire New Testament in ASL. (Meaning, I wanted to sign each word.) So I started by opening up to Matthew chapter 1 and fingerspelling all of the names (and if you know Matthew, then you know there's a ton of names). And then I looked up every single word in the dictionary and taught myself how to sign them. So word by word, I built a vocabulary. And it worked because I didn't want to have to look up every word every time, so it incentivized me to memorize the signs (out of sheer laziness) which now I think was a pretty good idea for a 9 year old. :)

When I was 12, my purpose was that I prayed every night that a Deaf person would move into my area. "Please let someone Deaf move here." Keep in mind my town was TINY. But when I was 16, a Deaf girl moved into my area. Yep, it actually happened! All those prayers worked! She moved in and I wanted her to feel comfortable and welcome at our church, so the two of us were attached at the hip from then on. We went to every church activity together, to girls camp together, etc.

When I was 24, it came full circle when I was given a scholarship to circumnavigate the world by ship through the Semester at Sea program. And every time I would arrive in a country by boat or plane or train, I would "randomly" meet a Deaf person. I met Deaf in 12 countries and then set up a nonprofit organization called "The Deaf Dream" where we award scholarships to Deaf students in developing nations (I think in 7 countries so far) so they can go to university and become the first Deaf students to attend university in their countries.

So, when I look back on age 9, 12, 16, 24, they all had one thing in common, I always had a clear purpose to learn. It wasn't just a "cool" or "fun" language to me. So take a second and imagine your why. For example, who are you learning ASL for? Maybe your parents-in-law are Deaf. That's a good reason to learn! Maybe you want to become a teacher, you feel that call. That's a good reason! Maybe you want to be able to converse with your Deaf client at work. Good reason! There are many different "whys" to learn.

What does success look like to you? Instead of a broad general reason, try focusing onto a specific goal. For example, "I want to have a 2 minute conversation with my Deaf neighbor." For just 2 minutes. So be specific, describe what your why looks like and write it down. I have found that if a student forgets or doesn't have a "why" their energy and motivation to learn plummet, so keep your why in the forefront of your mind.

Step 2: How to Learn ASL

So that's the first step, find your why, your purpose. Step #2 is "how" to learn ASL. I get it, starting to learn a new language is a challenge! And there are a TON of ASL platforms to learn with. So how do you know which one? Well, the most important thing is to just pick one and start because honestly will you be able to truly learn how to sign via an app? No, it's just not possible. There are a ton of YouTube tutorials that you can watch, (and kudos for doing that!) but I'm going to be blunt, ultimately you're going to have to chat with Deaf to learn. Real, live Deaf. Gasp! :)

So how do you do that? Going to Deaf events or Deaf church is overwhelming [start hyperventilating] you probably don't know where to begin. Remember 28 years ago when I struggled & struggled with my paperback dictionary? When I look back now, if InterSign University had been a thing I would have learned so much faster! Why? Because you can chat with Deaf from day one! My years of trial and error would have been reduced from years to months.

Step 3: What Should You Actually Learn?

So we've talked about your "why" and now we've talked about "how" and "where" you should start learning. So step #4 is "what" as in "what exactly should I learn," what should you focus your studies on?

Focus #1: Basic Conversation

Your first focus should be having a basic conversation. Here in the USA, typically the first thing you learn in a language class is grammar. The teacher emphasizes grammar. Why? Well, it's easy to test. Your teacher can easily say "right" or "wrong." But this is the WORST possible approach to language learning! Because now your brain is in perfectionistic mode. You think "I have to know grammar perfectly before I can chat with someone!" Ahhh! That's wrong! No wonder not many people learn new languages here in the USA! It's overwhelming, it seems too challenging.

In Europe, it's completely different. They expect you to converse in a new language from day one because Europe is made up of many countries and their languages interact everyday. So from the very beginning, you expect to talk with someone in that new language. Conversation is not postponed until later. So Europe's approach, method, I want you to apply to learning ASL. Don't worry about grammar, if you watch Deaf content, if you get involved in Deaf community, you'll pick it up with time. Set it aside for now. For now, I want you to focus on what you need to know to have a simple, basic conversation.

And honestly, grammar in the Deaf world is quite flexible. They won't tell you this in ASL class probably but grammar is inconsistent and depends on who you're chatting with. This is because every Deaf person's language background is different. If you're chatting with a Deaf person who grew up in a Deaf family, they might have "pure" ASL grammar. But if you meet someone Deaf who grew up with hearing family signing SEE (signed exact English), then their sign will follow English grammar rules to a degree. It's rarely purely one or the other.

For example, this sentence is in SEE: "I was scared." Pure ASL: "I scared I." Signed English: "I entered a store." Classroom ASL: "Store, I entered." Another ASL way, "I entered where? A store." Lots of different ways to sign. Just so you know: it's easy to become conversational in ASL but hard to become fluent. I recommend imagining what a simple conversation would look like. What questions will you get asked? How will you respond? This is called "question-based" language learning. If someone asks you a question, practice how would respond. Not in a grammar perfect way, not at all! Just how you would start your reply with yes, no, maybe, true-biz, can, can't, etc.

Focus #2: Your Passion Topic

Honestly traditional vocabulary lists don't work. When you go into a language class, to learn Spanish or ASL or something, you sit down and your teacher passes out a vocabulary list. And you notice that one of the words is "library." And it's a fine word to learn "library" or "bibloteca" in Spanish but how often do you discuss libraries in any given day? Almost never, right? I even enjoy books but I rarely find myself conversing about libraries. So why is that one of the first words you often learn on day 1 of Spanish class? I honestly have no idea. I think it's not right.

Start your own vocabulary list with words related to your passion topic. Something you really enjoy talking about. For example, say you like talking about pirates or Harry Potter or books or engineering or languages or old movies. Start there. In my case, when I travel, and I'm learning a new sign language by first learning words to discuss Deaf education or to chat about my religious beliefs, my faith. So I practice how to talk about that topic. Learn vocab related to your experiences, to a topic you are passionate about. This approach will help you feel more comfortable chatting with someone. It will help you gain momentum not just memorize random vocab words. Remember your first priority is conversation not recitation.

Focus #3: Your First Deaf Conversation

I cannot recommend enough: have your first Deaf conversation now. Don't delay. Too often I see ASL students after learning for two years, try to meet a Deaf person but are terrified. Because for 2 years now you've been building a massive wall that's now entrenched and it feels completely overwhelming to try and climb over. Have your first conversation now because trying to learn ASL without Deaf is like trying to run when you don't even know how to walk.

If you want to avoid future embarrassment, just start now and embrace your beginner status. :) Don't think, "Oh...I'll just wait until later." "Later I'll know enough." "Later" means you'll be even more scared, you'll be even more awkward. You'll think you need to be fluent before you can have a conversation. If you start now, it's easier to get the mistakes done early. They're not expecting you to be fluent. Cherish. This. Time. You're lucky!

Focus #4: Set Up a Structured Plan to Learn ASL

Start with the easiest concepts to learn and continue until the hardest concepts. I've made a free list of all of the elements of ASL. It's a free checklist and I dropped the link below. So let's start with the easiest of the 8 elements. 

1) Pronouns and Indexing. Ex: You, me, we, they, your, my, etc.

2) Directional Verbs. Ex: You give to me, I give to you, I give to her, she gives to you. We give to each other.

3) Time Markers. Ex: yesterday, today, tomorrow, finished (past), a long time ago, in the future. As an example: "Yesterday I went into the store, looked around, bought way too much, brought it home, too expensive, don't tell my husband!" So you set up a time marker at the beginning.

4) Role Shifts. So let's say I'm telling you a story about a conversation with my friend. "Hey, what's up?" "Oh, I'm ready to blow. My teacher gave us a boatload of homework." "Ohhhh, I'm so sorry!" See the role shifts?

5) Number Systems. English has two systems, cardinal and ordinal. ASL on the other hand has many number systems.

6) Grammar. Yes, yes, it's important to learn grammar. But later.

7) Classifiers. They are used to describe, show movement, show relationships via a sophisticated system of gestures. For example, describing someone walking you could use this handshape or this handshape to show their head looking around, these handshapes to show their feet, this handshape to show their legs, etc.

8) Fingerspelling. Okay so maybe you don't have to learn it last but hold it for later. If you live here in the USA, you will have to learn fingerspelling. Yes, it's important...but later. 

Why I Strongly Recommend Delaying Fingerspelling

It's funny, I've noticed that new ASL students think if someone fingerspells fast they are a pro signer. With time, they realize that fingerspelling is actually English with hands, not really pure sign language. And then they eventually realize, that the best signers don't rely on fingerspelling. They sign visually with intricate gestures like Deaf poetry. Have you seen it before? Using expressions, classifiers, shape, movement, to show beauty. Now THAT is a great signer! (But I get it, it's fun to watch fast fingerspellers!)

So how do you communicate without fingerspelling? I highly recommend acting out a concept, describing a concept, gesturing. If you don't know the sign for "tea," act out holding a cup, lifting the tea packet and dipping it into the hot water, stirring in some cream, some milk, and drinking it. Then sign "what's that?" And they'll reply, "That's tea." "Tea! Duh! That makes sense!" So act it out and you'll find that often the sign looks similar to your gesture. 

I feel very strongly that the worst thing ASL students can learn at the beginning is fingerspelling. Why? Because then they overly rely on fingerspelling. "I don't know this sign, I'll just fingerspell." "I don't know that sign, I'll just fingerspell." And that becomes an entrenched habit, your brain's default. It's hard enough to break free from English, so this means your brain remains stuck in English. You'll constantly think, "How do I translate that to ASL" rather than thinking visually and gesturally. Your brain is struggling to transition to thinking in ASL especially if it has to keep coming back to English fingerspelling. It's hard for it to switch into full visual gestural language.

So yes, it's important to learn fingerspelling here in the USA, I get it, but first let's boost your visual, gestural skills, get it ingrained in your mind, THEN you can practice fingerspelling. Does that make sense? I promise that if you hold fingerspelling until later, you will become a far better signer or interpreter.

Conclusion

If you feel like this video has helped you, I recommend this video where I teach why fingerspelling is actually English, how to gesture instead of fingerspell. Also, remember to like, comment, and subscribe! Thank you! If now you're feeling motivated to meet your first Deaf person, you can with InterSign University. 

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