Product Description

In this standard work on sign language for the deaf, over 1500 signs have been clearly illustrated and are grouped by chapter into their natural categories. Line drawings and step-by-step descriptions of hand positions aid rapid learning.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23048 in Books
• Published on: 1987-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

A very useful tool
I am a beginner to sign language, but I have found the Joy of Signing to be the most useful book of all the ones I've seen. The pictures are very well drawn (much better than my dictionary or the other teaching books I own). I like the division by catetory rather than the dictionary format, because it is often easier to learn related words together. The index in the back makes finding the word you want very simple. Remembering new signs is easier because the origin of almost every sign is listed, and these work as memory aids. I have been learning sign language for a year, and although I have never taken a class and am therefore not very good, nearly every word I do know has come from this book. I highly recommend it.

OUTDATED AND WRONG APPROACH
Sorry folks...but save your money and buy a different book. The Joy of Signing was first written waaaaay back in the late seventies (around 25 years ago), and there's been better books that have come along since then, along with a far better approach to learning how to sign. (Signing Naturally, Learning American Sign Language, etc.) The people who continue to use this book are likely those who have never taken a recent training course on teaching ASL, but who are using the fact they know sign language as their qualifying criteria. There's more to teaching sign language or ASL than just being Deaf or knowing the language. This book might teach you SIGNS, but it won't teach you HOW to sign, and it definitely won't help you when it comes time to actually try and communicate with a culturally Deaf person. Instructors of sign language today are taking a more linguistical approach, that teaches ASL as a language in its own right - not just a manual-visual form of English. This book doesn't teach you the language, it merely teaches you the vocabulary. If you just want to learn a couple of signs to communicate with your Deaf neighbor or co-worker, then fine...get this book. But if you are truly desiring to learn to communicate effectively with the Deaf Community, work with Deaf people, become an interpreter, or the like...there are better books out there that may cost more money, but in the long run, be more effective for your purpose. I'm Deaf, a graduate of Gallaudet, and nationally Certifed Deaf Interpreter (CDI) and certified Sign Language Instructor who works in an Interpreter Training Program. I haven't used this book in years, and I have yet to find an Interpreter Training Program that does!

A Fabulous textbook for classroom teaching and for reference
This was the text I used in my first sign language class. When I first took sign language, it was beeing taught as Siglish (Signed English) and this was the perfect text for beginners. Lottie Riekehof has done an excellent job of assembling the best signs for beginners and each lesson contains enough variety to keep students engaged.

This text should not be used to teach yourself sign language, however. While I consult this book for a refresher and a reference, I can't imagine how I'd be signing if I hadn't had a real human instructor explain the idiosynchrocies of signing. Signing is much more than the hands, the entire face and body are needed in expressing not only emotion, but meaning... the signs for "shy" and "prostitute," for example, are very similar looking and could not be properly distinguished by a text alone.

If you're starting a study group or a class, or even if you're taking a class and using a different text, this is a great book to have on your reference shelf.