About a third of the Oscar winning movie CODA is in American Sign Language. While the subtitles helped, it got me thinking about Sign Language.
CODA stands for Children Of Deaf Adults. The plot revolves around a CODA – Ruby- who is the only hearing person in her deaf family.
Except for the character of Ruby, deaf actors were cast in all of the deaf roles. The lead actor who played Ruby, learned Sign Language for nine months. So did the director.
Here’s what I know thus far-
-There are about 6,000 different sign languages around the world.
-Different countries have different Sign Languages
-Behind English, Spanish and Chinese, ASL is the fourth most widely used language in the US with around 2 million users.
– Sign language doesn’t only use signs to communicate. It uses facial expression, hand movement and position, gestures and body language to communicate.
-Sign language doesn’t mirror spoken language. Sign languages’ grammar differs from spoken languages.
Have you learnt or consider learning Sign Language?
What resources would you recommend?
Liji Thomas 
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