Signing for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: Signing for dummies
Review: Angela Taylor is my american sign language teacher. If she can teach me... she can teach anyone. She is a remarkable woman and an outstanding teacher. Her zest and enthusiasm is surpassed only by her love for "communication". I will enjoy and benefit from this publication for years to come. Thanx,Robin

Rating:
Summary: Ok... but not great.
Review: I have been teaching myself sign over the last couple of years. I found certain area's of this book helpful. Such as the "Cheat Sheet" that comes with it that has the alphabet and numbers on it. On the back are some begginer sayings such as "please" and "thank you".

I have found many other books much more useful (as I already well know the alphabet ;) ).

I does have some interesting/helpful hints and games to play that do allow you to practice. And also a quiz at the end of each chapter.

Pick up the "ASL Dictionary" before you open this book and you'll be better off. In my opinion.

I give this book a 3 but I was close to giving it a 2. :D

Rating:
Summary: Ok... but not great.
Review: I have been teaching myself sign over the last couple of years. I found certain area's of this book helpful. Such as the "Cheat Sheet" that comes with it that has the alphabet and numbers on it. On the back are some begginer sayings such as "please" and "thank you".

I have found many other books much more useful (as I already well know the alphabet ;) ).

I does have some interesting/helpful hints and games to play that do allow you to practice. And also a quiz at the end of each chapter.

Pick up the "ASL Dictionary" before you open this book and you'll be better off. In my opinion.

I give this book a 3 but I was close to giving it a 2. :D

Rating:
Summary: Would recommend learning from a video first
Review: I nearly didn't buy the book, based on the poor reviews it got. Luckily, I spotted it in the bookstore and flipped through. It's actually quite good. I wouldn't pick it as your first book on sign language though, as some things tend to get a bit confusing if you don't already know some sign.

For example, I noticed one of the illustrations was of one version of a sign, and the description was another. Both were valid signs that meant the same thing, but it would have been better to have just one.

I also loved the CD in the back of the book. It is a wonderful idea for a book to show the language in motion.

Rating:
Summary: Would recommend learning from a video first
Review: I nearly didn't buy the book, based on the poor reviews it got. Luckily, I spotted it in the bookstore and flipped through. It's actually quite good. I wouldn't pick it as your first book on sign language though, as some things tend to get a bit confusing if you don't already know some sign.

For example, I noticed one of the illustrations was of one version of a sign, and the description was another. Both were valid signs that meant the same thing, but it would have been better to have just one.

I also loved the CD in the back of the book. It is a wonderful idea for a book to show the language in motion.

Rating:
Summary: Signing for dummies
Review: I submitted a review a couple weeks ago. Worked on it hard. Gave many examples. It conforms to your "review guidelines" Where is it?

Rating:
Summary: A good idea ruined by bad editing
Review: This book is so riddled with errors and inconsistencies that I frequently find myself putting it down in disgust. Here are a few golden examples from the quiz on page 49:

- The man in Figure "a" is making the sign for the question word "what". Alas, this word is not introduced until page 77. The sign is supposed to be the exclamation word "what!" introduced on page 36.

- Figure "b" is the sign for "big", but this sign has not been taught. In fact, if the index is to be trusted, the word "big" is NEVER mentioned again in the book.

- Figure "f" is the sign for "food" (noun), but the answer is supposed to be "eat" (verb). The difference between the two signs is clearly illustrated on pages 30, 31, and 109.

Another frustrating inconsistency occurs on page 78. The sign for "why?" is described as "touch the side of your forehead with the fingers of your dominant hand; extend your thumb and pinky (in the Y sign) as you bring your hand down, middle three fingers in, to chest level." However the accompanying figure in the book shows the sign as a flexing of the middle finger toward the speaker. The description matches the sign we use in my area for "why?", and the illustration matches what is used in the CD-ROM. Both are probably correct (although I am only familiar with the "Y sign" that we use here in Rochester), but it only confuses the issue to describe the sign one way and show it another.

I very much wanted to like this book. I think the authors approach the material in a fresh and interesting way. Unfortunately whoever was responsible for compiling the illustrations really screwed up. In a visual-based language, that is unforgivable.

My hope is that this book will be rereleased in a corrected second edition. Until then, I advise people to steer clear. What saves the book from a one-star rating is that the text itself is written well, particularly when explaining grammar and Deaf culture.