Read fingerspelling
Reading fingerspelling is harder than doing it, and it's what you need in a conversation. Here a word is spelled one handshape at a time: type what you read. Get it right and the next one comes faster.
Tips for reading fingerspelling
- Read the shape of the word, not each letter. Fluent readers catch the first letter, the last letter and the length, and fill in the rest.
- Don't stop to name every letter. If you miss one, keep watching; the word often becomes clear by the end.
- Learn the common patterns. -ING, -TION and double letters (a bounce or slide) come up again and again.
These are drawings shown one at a time, so they train letter recognition at speed. Real fingerspelling is faster and the letters blend into each other; for that, watch Deaf signers.