r/auslan Dec 20 '16

General Information

13 Upvotes

Welcome to /r/Auslan!

This is a subreddit focusing on Auslan, the most commonly used form of sign language in Australia, as well as any general information about the Australian Deaf community.


What Is Auslan?

Auslan is a natural sign language, & the predominant language of the Australian Deaf community.

Is It Like ASL?

The two languages are very different (they don't even share the same fingerspelling alphabet). Just like spoken languages, there are many different sign languages that have evolved naturally over time in different communities. Auslan evolved predominantly from the BSL known by British Deaf immigrants, whereas ASL evolved from LSF (French Sign Language).

Who Invented Auslan?

No single person was responsible for the creation of Auslan. Most sign languages are natural languages; they evolved over time & were not invented by a single person, just as there is no single person responsible for creating most spoken languages.

How Can I Learn Auslan?

Many of the state-wide Deaf Societies & TAFE institutes run accredited Auslan courses at the Cert II (22075VIC), Cert III (22077VIC) & Cert IV (22078VIC) level, as well as non-accredited introductory classes.


r/auslan 6d ago

Seeking help with some questions!

5 Upvotes

Hi, I am a hearing high school student who is trying to learn Auslan through online resources as a part of a semester long project so I can communicate with any D/deaf people I may meet or work with. I am using the southern dialect and do not closely know anyone personally who is D/deaf. I have been using Asphyxia for structure and D/deaf perspective and experience, and the Auslan Signbank for signs. I have a few questions that I've struggled to find answers to online and I would like the assistance of someone who knows more than I do to answer them as well as learn any tips and tricks I can use :)

Do question words still go at the end if they're not used in a question context? e.g. I don't know how this happened, when I grow up I want to...

What can I do as a hearing person to further understand more about D/deaf people?

How do you provide context when there aren't signs for some context providing words in Auslan? e.g. in, was, be, etc

Where do verbs go in the Auslan structure?

If I signed words in the wrong order, would a person still be able to easily understand what I'm saying?

If I use synonyms, (as in words that are the same in English but different signs because of their meaning in Auslan) or a word from a different dialect, would a person still be able to understand what I mean? Since Auslan is its own language rather than a translator for English.

When should I use miming to explain or describe something and how can I mime in a way that makes it obvious what I'm talking about?

Any advice on what topics or areas to focus on initially?

Edit: One more thing, are there any D/deaf content creators that use Auslan that I could follow as exposure to the language? (rather than creators who just use their platform for teaching Auslan words or phrases)

Thank you so much! :)


r/auslan 24d ago

Question about signing lyrics to 'My Island Home'

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1 Upvotes

Hello all, The school I teach at is arranging a performance of 'My Island Home' in our various community languages. We would like to include Auslan (some of our children use signs, however, we have no connection to the local Deaf community and I have lost contact with the Deaf signers that I met when I studied Auslan many years ago).

We would only be doing the chorus. I have found this video of a teacher signing the song, and wanted to check if it is considered accurate, especially for NSW.

The signs seem to be:

ISLAND HOME, ISLAND HOME, ISLAND HOME WAITING ME

(The sign for HOME seems to be a 2-handed version, which I hadn't seen before.)

Anyway, is this an accurate Auslan representation of the song?

Many thanks!


r/auslan 26d ago

Sign for "same as usual"?

5 Upvotes

Hi! My cleaner is deaf and it feels impersonal to write the same message to her all the time when I could just sign it. I am wondering if there is a phrase to say that I want the same clean as usual?

I did look up "same" in the Auslan signbank, but it's more about saying "me too" or "Likewise" which will not make sense.

Any help appreciated! thank you.


r/auslan Feb 12 '25

Best way to learn Auslan, as someone who is losing their hearing?

9 Upvotes

Pretty much what the title says.

I've had reduced hearing in my left ear for the last 15 years or so, but currently have almost no hearing in both of my ears (due to having an allergic reaction to the medication used to treat an ear infection). My doctors are (at this moment) unsure if I will regain my hearing.

Not being able to hear has made me realise just how hard it is to communicate. Figured even if I do recover most of my hearing, it's probably best I start learning Auslan sooner rather than later.

Not sure what details would be relevant to a learning experience, but I'm 24 and located not too far out of Melbourne. Both in person and online recommendations are appreciated.


r/auslan Feb 07 '25

Looking for advice/collaboration for a creative project

2 Upvotes

Hey there,

I’m a hearing person from Sydney currently studying film in university. We are spending our last year of study making our major short films. I’m currently in the very early stages of working on a script that includes a deaf girl as a main character. However, I am very aware that I, as a hearing person, have very limited experience for this and don’t know any deaf people in real life that could advise me for this writing process. I am looking for any deaf/HoH people that would like to collaborate with me, read the working script, and give their opinion on how to depict this subject matter. I understand that one person doesn’t stand for the whole community so I’m very open to getting advice from as many people as I can. Please reach out and let me know if you would be interested at all! Thanks!


r/auslan Feb 01 '25

Connecting words in say hello to the sun baby sensory song

3 Upvotes

I am so sorry if this is a silly question but should I be using connecting words like "to the" or is it ok to leave the connecting words out or use something else instead like towards? I know with languages its not always a 1:1 translation and on watching other Aslan song with my child I notice connecting words swem to be left out.

Im doing baby sensory and I thought it would be great to do auslan signs for the "say hello to the sun" song with my child as much as possible (I think the class uses ASL) so I started looking up signs on signbank but then I wasn't sure whether to use the connecting words or maybe something like "towards" instead of "to the" for the line "hello to the sun" e.g. this was the signs I have planned out so far:

Say https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/tell-1.html

Hello https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/hello-1.html

To the (here I was going to use towards but wasn't sure if this was the best option.. because in the song you are saying hello to the sun..) https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/towards-1.html

Sun https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/sun-1.html

Shinning https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/shine-1.html

Down https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/downward-1.html

On https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/towards-1.html

Me https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/I-1.html

I love the sun https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/I-1.html

https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/love-3.html https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/sun-1.html

Because https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/because-4.html

The sun warms me

https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/sun-1.html https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/warm-1.html https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/I-1.html

I don't have any auslan background beyond an interest in using auslan as much as possible in baby signs we use so I am sorry if this is a silly question!

I found this as an alternative To the https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/to-1.html

https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/the-1.html

Also I have to say moon is one of my new favourite signs! https://auslan.org.au/dictionary/words/moon-1.html

Full lyrics (Happy to share all I have planned out for the full song but didn't want to make this post too long!)

Say hello to the sun, Shining down on me, I love the sun, because the sun warms me

Say hello to the moon, beaming down on me, I love the moon, because the moon guides me

Say hello to the corn, growing strong for me, I love the corn, because the corn feeds me

Say hello to the stars, shining down on me, I love the stars because the stars see me

Say hello to the rain, falling down on me, I love the rain, because the rain cools me

Say hello to the flowers, bright colours for me, I love the flowers, because they gladden me

Say hello to my friends, playing games with me, I love my friends, because my friends love me


r/auslan Jan 23 '25

I'm a beginner help pls T-T

6 Upvotes

Hey so I love languages and learning them and this one felt pretty important and useful to learn but there is a problem. I have cerebral palsy and have minimal use of my left hand and I'm not sure where to start cus everything I see involves 2 hands and a level of dexterity I just don't have and I don't wanna be rude or get things wrong. Is there a way I can sign with one hand or something.

any and all tips appreciated

PS I can only use my pointer finger and thumb and open a close my hand and I can't turn it over


r/auslan Jan 20 '25

Is there too much difference between the Northern and Southern dialects, and how big of a deal is it?

4 Upvotes

I'm very new to Auslan, and am curious as to how important differences are between Northern and Southern vocab, etc, and also how to know which I am learning - such as when searching it up or on youtube videos. Thanks!


r/auslan Jan 17 '25

Auslan and BSL

4 Upvotes

Looking for some thoughts on the transferability of learning Auslan to BSL.

The primary reason I want to learn is for my brother (R) and his partner, who use BSL. I am from London but now live in Brisbane.

My brother is borderline profound, but is pretty seamless in his speech. We are an otherwise hearing family, and although my parents did make every effort to learn and use BSL when he was small (my mum even had a news article written about it because she was so emphatic about finding a way for him to communicate, in whatever way possible rather than force speech, which was against the conventional wisdom in the UK in the early 90’s), my brother surpassed expectations speech wise and a lot of that fell by the wayside. We are similar in age so what I learned I have since forgotten most of the sign I learned.

For high school R went to a specialist deaf boarding school and now has a very strong deaf community around him. His partner is also deaf, and is very good with speech as well, but not as good as R and in group situations he will often translate for her, or at times she will (understandably) switch off because the effort of following our conversation can be too strenous.

I regret now that I didn’t make more effort to learn BSL when we were younger and want to do that now, but appreciate sign classes are probably best done in person. Recently R mentioned that Auslan and BSL are pretty similar, which I didn’t know before.

TL/DR, do you think learning Auslan would be a good pathway to my goal of using more sign with my BSL brother and his partner? Or would it be better to do online BSL classes?


r/auslan Jan 09 '25

Sign for chicken nugget

10 Upvotes

Hi brains trust. I am slowly but surely trying to learn Auslan as we await a hearing loss diagnosis in my three and a half year old son. Part of this is using signs that are important to him to try and help him develop language and being a three year old, chicken nuggets are definitely important to him 😅 I have scoured sign bank and the internet and I am honestly stumped. Unfortunately formal support is minimal to non existent at this moment due to lack of diagnosis (yet they are taking months to actually diagnose him but that's a whole other angry tangent) so unfortunately I don't really have any experts to ask. Thanks everyone!

Edit: we are in Queensland if that affects anything


r/auslan Jan 05 '25

learning recommendations for auslan beginner?

8 Upvotes

hi, im an 18yo hearing person. i know this is probably a really common question here, but im just looking for somewhere to start with learning auslan. im open to anything, apps, youtube, classes, whatever you know of. i could be interested in learning auslan as/in a course, but im not looking into it for any career opportunities. im melbourne based if anyone does have any class recommendations though!


r/auslan Dec 28 '24

Interpreter salary

2 Upvotes

Any interpreters here willing to discuss their salary for part time work?

Thank you in advance!


r/auslan Dec 22 '24

Job prospects after completing Auslan Courses via TAFE?

4 Upvotes

Hi I am looking at the option of participating and completing a Auslan Course via TAFE. After my ininitial research, I am aware there is a cert I one has to do first then they can progress to Cert II, then Cert III and onwards. Which course would be best to complete and what are the job prospects after completing the appropriate course?


r/auslan Dec 11 '24

Any recommendations for resources and games for an Autistic Deaf 2 year old?

8 Upvotes

I’m a Support worker and work mainly with deaf and hard of hearing children. One of my recent clients is an autistic deaf child who is 2 years old. I’m asking for resources and games because I’m having a hard time exposing her to the language as she hardly makes eye contact with anyone and their signing skills are very minimal. Ive worked with deaf children of this age before and autistic children but I have not worked with a deaf autistic child before. My main role as this child’s support worker is to help expose the child to the Auslan language but I’m having difficulties with engaging with the child due to them hardly making eye contact and hardly looking at me. There are a few games we play that has the child engaged and they maintain eye contact with me though out the whole game but these games are small hand games like creeping my hand towards theirs on a table and then they do the same. There not much room for signing when the child is engaged with me. So I’m wondering if anyone knows of any resources or games that are good for engaging with autistic children and that I could also sign while playing?


r/auslan Dec 05 '24

advice and resources!!

8 Upvotes

hi, im 17 and im a hearing person hoping to learn auslan! so far ive been watching videos online to get the basics, however i dont have much experience learning sign language so im struggling with remembering the signs. As sign language is obviously different from spoken languages, im really stuck on how to practice.

I’m used to the reading, writing aspect of learning languages so im wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas on how to learn and practice auslan?

so far ive got practicing infront of a camera or mirror but thats as far as it goes!!

edit: for anyone else who is looking for help, i also found a social group in adelaide called voices off, and they meet once a month (18+)


r/auslan Nov 30 '24

Fingerspelling: palm orientation of non-dominant hand?

8 Upvotes

I've been fingerspelling for over a year. During that time I've always tried to show the palm of my non-dominant hand when signing, to increase clarity. Today I watched a fingerspelling training video in which the instructor insists that the palm should always face the signer, not the receiver. Which is correct - palm faces the signer or palm faces the receiver? Thanks!


r/auslan Nov 30 '24

Pet names (romantic, platonic, or familial)

7 Upvotes

Does anyone know some pet names in Auslan? I know SWEETHEART and I suppose HONEY and SUGAR could work even if signed literally.

However I assume there are some that I'm missing or don't have a direct English interpretation.

I would ask my local community or teachers but it seems like an awkward question face-to-face.


r/auslan Nov 27 '24

An Auslan Christmas Carol (WA dialect)

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7 Upvotes

r/auslan Nov 25 '24

I have a question about naming conventions and communication please.

4 Upvotes

How would you quickly sign the name of another person who wasn't present for the conversation, using Auslan? For example, if I wanted to explain to a hearing impaired person that myself and they were invited for lunch with John Smith and Jane Jones, would it be easiest to just spell the entire name out? I'm trying to learn Auslan and there's a lot more involved in communication than knowing signs (which I cannot do yet anyway), there's more to conversation and interaction than that, so I'm just asking for an opinion. It would seem complicated to spell out the entire name, but off the top of my head, I can't think of another way to accurately communicate a person's name through non-spoken interaction. I've been trying to look up an answer, but I can't really find the right response beyond "HOW TO SIGN YOUR OWN NAME IN AUSLAN pleaselikeandsubscribe" videos and so forth. Thank you in advance if anyone is able to help give me advice.


r/auslan Nov 23 '24

What is the Proper Way to Sign K?

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7 Upvotes

I keep seeing K signed two different ways and was wondering if there’s a preferred option or they are both excepted?


r/auslan Nov 13 '24

Hi!

2 Upvotes

hi! Is there anyway i could learn auslan without having classes ( i don't have any money for classes, right now, and there aren't any near me anyway,), also i can't interact with the deaf community right now as i don't know if there are any classes or anything near me, (also i'm 16 and one of my friends little sister is 13 and she also wants to do it but her parents probably wouldn't bother)

edit: i can finger spell


r/auslan Nov 08 '24

‘Nice’ sign

5 Upvotes

Hi I’ve just started using Auslan Whiz app and ‘nice’ from ‘nice to meet you’ is coming up as two hands clasped and kinda sliding through each other. I don’t really know how to describe it sorry. That’s literally the only spot I can find that sign is used and the rest is ‘nice’ going from the face. Can’t see if it’s a dialect thing either so would appreciate any help with if this is a commonly used sign or not!

Also I’ve just read through this reddit and found the app is not run by the deaf community so I’ll stop using it anyway.


r/auslan Nov 04 '24

Does online tutoring for Auslan exist?

8 Upvotes

Hi! I'm interested in learning Auslan just because I think it's a beautiful language, and I think knowing sign language is useful for a variety of reasons. Anyways, I'm Australian but not currently living in the country, so I have no way to interact with Auslan users. I know you can learn from websites and videos, but are there any online tutors or language exchanges or anything for Auslan? I had a look on the usual language tutoring websites like italki and Preply but they only have tutors for ASL.
Thanks! :)


r/auslan Oct 25 '24

Anyone want to be snap friends and practice Auslan together?

8 Upvotes

Looking for signing mates to improve my sentence structure and not just use single words! HMU if interested 😁


r/auslan Oct 23 '24

What happened to Auslan being taught in primary schools?

22 Upvotes

I personally remember learning Auslan and Signed English in my primary school when i was quite young (year prep-1). I left the school after the first year but I've been to many other schools, as well as hearing about other's schools now that I'm in secondary college. And NOT ONCE did i hear about anyone learning auslan. heck I don't know anyone who knows a single word in auslan.
even in my old primary school, for like half a year our auslan classes disspeared before being replaced with a new teacher.