Monday, April 27, 2009

Getting to Know... Auslan

Auslan is the short-hand term for Australian Sign Language. It differs from American Sign Language in several ways. Auslan uses two hands for each letter of the alphabet while the ASL uses one hand. ASL words sometimes incorporate the letter shapes, but the Australian words are more likely to rely on gestures. And there are some gestures that mean completely different things in each language. For instance, the sign for "where” means "what" in Auslan.