Is sign language like normal language that there are different ones depending on the country or area?
440150
Yes there a ton of different forms of sing language.  In fact just in the US there are multiple kinds (one which is more of a signed English another ASL is a completely different language and way of thinking then English.  It was developed by a French teacher of deaf students and based on his French Sing Language).  Verbal languages are not equivilant in the sense that they are not literal translations from one to another but they show different ways of thinking and different perspectives of the world.  The same is true of sign language.   Also unlike one might believe signed languages are usually not a direction equivalant of the verbal language of the area they are used in but are another language completely.
230655
There are many sign languages.\n\nIn addition, people who sign don't always "speak" another language.  Sign languages are complete languages just like spoken languages, so it is possible for a person to be a monolingual user of a sign language.  For example, many users of ASL (American Sign Language) use English as a second language, very much in the same way that a speaker of French or Chinese or German or Spanish would use English.  For this reason, some documents that are available in English are translated into ASL.\n\nAlso, I'm not sure what you mean between a sign language for things and a sign language for words.
734815
I'd have to go with everyone else and say Spanish (although, I'm hardly a business person, so I don't know how useful Mandarin would be). However, there is one language that no one else mentioned that I would really like to learn: Sign Language. Other useful languages could be French (If you live in the northeast or New Orleans area) and Italian. One of the nice things about Spanish, Italian, and French is that once you are competent with one of these languages, the other two are much easier to read because they are all Latin based.
1061694
http://www.signlanguagecenter.com/  or you can do a google search for ASL classes in NYC
663711
actually, a lot of different languages have words in them that are common, or refer to something close.  Just because we write them down in a different way, doesn't mean that they don't sound different.\n\nFor instance, take the word "again"\nThink about the use of it in opera when people want to see the performance "again", they clap and shout "encore"\nClose your eyes and say those two words out loud to yourself.\n\nAnother few words to consider:  "citron", "sugar", "marine".\nIn other languages, though spelled differently, they sound similar.\n\nA chinese word "meska", which refers to a bowl, is almost the exact word Russians use when they talk about the same utensil.  Now think of what you do with a bowl.  You "Mix" things in it.  Its a "mixer" for all intents and purposes.\n\nI think that people just don't want to understand one another.  That, and geography, and the lack of conveyances for our entire history.\n\nWhat's God's hand in this?  God is everywhere man, doing things you don't even know about, doing things your mind is too weak to comprehend.  And doing them in ways that are unappreciated.  He allows you to have a blindfold on.  He's an expert blind man's bluff player.
419878
ASL is often offered through local colleges. It is very easy to learn and easy to retain. I learned ASL from 3rd through 8th grade as my school had a large deaf population. I still remember a bulk of the signs years later without any practice.
141211
I couldn't find anything exactly on the subject in my search, but it is very easily argued that sign language, for a deaf person is the only form of communication, and thus can be the only way a deaf person could "say" anything.  Say has been extended to anything you write (or sign you name to), absent coersion or undue influence, or police misconduct.  Since writing something isn't that far off of signing (as in sign language) something, it is very likely that a court would determine that anything you sign can be used against you as well.\n\nThis might make a good bar exam question...
1101267
Yes it is and the official language is Mandarin and the written language is the same no matter what dialect they speak.  The definition of a Nation-State is not based on languages but rather on geographical boundaries.  There are numerous "nations" that have multiple official languages.  Singapore and the Netherlands are just a couple examples.
1100963
Under certain circumstances, yes.  \n\nWith a few basic words of any foreign language one can communicate within the parameters which are covered by those words.\n\nShould I be in a Spanish speaking area, I can use my basic Spanish (maybe not even 200 words!) to find a restaurant, order  a meal, ask for and pay the bill, locate the Ladies' room, hail a taxi, go back to my hotel, pick up messages at the front desk, get some coffee and desert in the hotel coffee shop and to know which side to put facing outward on the door hanger so I am not disturbed in the morning.......\n\nIn the context of those defined and very limited circumstances my Spanish would probably serve me just fine.\n\nHowever I probably would NOT pick up on it if the taxi driver tried to hit on me, unless he used recognizable gestures....nor could I discuss the intricacies of Physics with the students in the coffee shop --- though I probably could figure out that they WERE students and studying Physics!\n\nLimited parameters aside, think I read somewhere that in order to have full communication in a language you would need to understand and speak somewhere around 2000 words in that language.  Good luck!\n\nI hope this answer helps!\n\nAlley
547755
i know sign language but there no way i can show by the net lol
435029
Please don't believe the answers that say sign language is universal - this is a common mistake!  Every country has its own sign language (or more than one!) that have developed, sometimes over centuries, within the deaf communities.  These are all true languages - it's not just mime.  If you doubt this, try watching someone signing and guessing what they're saying - it's near impossible!\n\nLike spoken languages, there are sometimes similarities between sign languages because of their history.  For instance, there are a number of similarities between the French and American slgn languages because one of the early schools for the deaf in the US was run by a French teacher.\n\nTo get round to actually answering the question.  Yes, ASL is used in other countries, either through cultural contact or quite often missionaries spreading it.  It may have diverged from American ASL, but could still be recognisable.  Those countries I know of that use ASL to some extent (not necessarily universally) are: Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada (except Quebec), Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.  There are also a number of countries that have sign languages that started from ASL taught by missionaries, but which have now diverged.
780680
maybe you need to look at different places like Rochester or Galludet or any college or high school that teach sign language to find the sign language midterm. I'm in ASL III Class, so mid term should not be easy to do and find.
417881
This is a very cultural thing with Mexicans. Talking with their hands a lot. A lot of sign language to make jesters about many things. They us sign language to communicate with or without speaking and I think whistling is also part of the same communication. It isn't usually meant to be offensive. But there are exceptions to every rule. Its kind of like most cities in the south of the US don't blow their horns very often but go to Manhattan and its rare to take a ride without someone laying down on the horn.
662792
I'm Italian, I traveled in Spain and Portugal and had no serious problems in communicating with people using our own languages. It's kind of funny, but it's not that straightforward as it seems. On the opposite, it can be very misleading sometimes. When details are important, such as in job meetings, I always switch to English.\nI have worked also with Danish people, they told me that  Swedish, Danish and Norwegian can understand each other even more easily, as they were the same nation until a few centuries ago.\nThese Danish guys were also able to read Dutch newspapers (but not to understand the Dutch pronounce).
1008611
there is at least one major language per county. in some places like affrica tribes of people can have their own language all together. in that case however in order to comunicate with other tribes those people know more than one language at all times.\n\ni speak 4 languages. english, french, german, and spanish.\n\nenglish comes in handy all over the world. french, german are only used in smaller area. \nspanish has different dialects and is a more widly used one.\n\ni sujest that you learn one language of each type first. the others come more esily that way.\n\nthe catagories are:\ngermanic: this includes english\nlatin baiced: this french, spanish, italien\nrussian: and those like are semi germanic\nasian: korean, chinese, japanes to name only a few\nmiddle eastern: hindi, jewish, greek, there are more\naustralien: and its dialects amung tribes\nafrican: and it's tribes. although french and english are commun\nsouth american: spanish is commun there
813368
At least 4.  The RID (Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf) now requires that interpreters have a Bachelor's Degree, though it doesn't have to be in interpreting.  The idea behind this is that interpreters need to be fluent and knowledgable in English, so they are using a Bachelors Degree as the benchmark.  Beyond that, you need to be fluent in ASL.  The RID and NAD (National Association of the Deaf) are combining forces to come up with a test for interpreters.  Just being able to sign won't cut it.  You have to have enough expressive and receptive skills to accurately convey a message, and you must also have good judgment skills and the proper ethics.\n\nIt could be a long process, but a very rewarding one.
64467
Yes, there are many different sign languages. Signs that may make perfect sense in English can be bizarre in another. In particular, the different fingerspelling must be different for languages that do not use the Latin alphabet (Russian, Chinese, etc.) or that incorporate diacritics (French, German, etc). There are, in fact, many different sign languages used in the United States. There is for instance, Manually Coded English, a system of representing spoken English exactly in sign. One of the source below has a list of different sign languages, and information on many of them. There is also International Sign, also called Gestuno, International Sign Language and International Gesture. It is not a fully developed language like other nationality-specific sign languages (in fact it has no grammar), but was developed to enable deaf people from other countries to communicate with each other.