#learn asl online
Start ASL 1, 2, 3, & 4
Complete Online Course
The Start ASL team has created a full online course that includes everything you need to learn ASL online completely and with total flexibility.
Everything you need is right here, and even better – a complete course will quickly give you the results you’ve been waiting to see.
Our Online Course Includes:
- Complete Access to ASL 1, 2, 3, & 4 at your own pace
- All New Super High Quality videos with slow motion and multiple angles
- Our mobile-friendly Advanced Online Classroom with Interactive Activities, Grading, and Progress Tracking
- Don't Just "Sign"... Communicate! E-Textbooks
- Certification of Completion for each course level
- Our Exclusive LIVE Virtual Practice Events
- A learning community with thousands of students
- Instructor Support With Curriculum and ASL questions
- Instructor Feedback on your signing assignments
- Multiple signers for unmatched receptive skill building
- Alignment with the California World Language Standards and the ACTFL
- And our 30 day money back guarantee!
BEST FOR THE HOBBYIST
Best if you really want to learn ASL and want to learn along with a community of other students.
$47/month
$247/semester
(one-time payment per student)
$447/year
(one-time payment per student)
Have 3+ Students?
We have Group Purchase options and discounts!
BEST FOR FLUENCY
Best if you want to master your signing skills and if you are earning foreign language or course credit.*
$97/month
$497/semester
(one-time payment per student)
$997/year
(one-time payment per student)
Have 3+ Students?
We have Group Purchase options and discounts!
Gold Level also includes:
- Instructor Video Feedback on your signing assignments
- Virtual Office Hours with Instructor
- Priority Email Support
- Verified Completion Certificates and Grade Reports*
You Will See Progress – We Guarantee It!
Does your college tuition guarantee that you will learn? Well, we do. We have been trusted in ASL education for over 15 years. Give us 30 days and we guarantee that you will see progress with your ASL skills. When you enroll in Start ASL Online today, you have a FULL 30 days to go through the course 100% risk free. If you find that the course isn’t for you or that you just don’t have the time or motivation you thought you had to learn ASL – just contact us at https://support.startasl.com, let us know, and we’ll issue you a prompt and courteous refund.
Why Choose Us
Learn How to Sign Comfortably and Correctly in True ASL
What most online ASL resources teach is often incorrect. Sadly, a simple search on Youtube will bring up a number of ASL videos with over one million views and hundreds of comments about how incorrect the signs are.
With us, you can rest assured that you are learning accurate signs and grammar by professional signers who are active members of the Deaf community. Our curriculum is aligned with the California World Language Standards and the ACTFL.
Imagine having the confidence to join a conversation in ASL knowing that your signing is completely accurate!
Most online ASL resources end up being very expensive with both time and money. If you have been using free resources, you may have found that searching through all the information out there and wondering whether or not it is even accurate takes an astronomical amount of time.
With us, our complete course includes everything you need. You will learn the language completely and with total flexibility. And better yet, our course will quickly give you the results you’ve been waiting to see.
Imagine the time you’d save and the uncertainty you’d avoid if you knew exactly what ASL to learn and when to learn it!
Most online ASL resources teach a very limited amount of ASL. Maybe you’re learning some signs like “dog” and “cat,” but are wondering when you’ll actually be able to have a real conversation.
With us, you will learn full ASL. We teach an extensive amount of ASL vocabulary plus ASL grammar, ASL syntax, Deaf culture, and Deaf history.
Imagine having the necessary signing practice and instructor feedback you need to reach true fluency!
Have you already taken an ASL class, but don't feel like you really got a good grip on the language? Maybe you've learned some signs to replace English words, but are wondering when you'll actually be able to have a real conversation using ASL grammar.
With us, we know what you need. We not only offer courses by native Deaf signers but also by hearing ASL professionals who know what it is like to learn ASL as a hearing person.
Imagine learning ASL from teachers who know exactly what hearing students need in order to become comfortably fluent!
Jared
Megan
Tobi
Katelyn
Bellamie
Crystal
What's Included?
- Our mobile-friendly Advanced Online Classroom with Interactive Activities, Grading, and Progress Tracking,
- All New Super High Quality videos with slow motion and multiple angles,
- Don’t Just “Sign”… Communicate! E-Textbooks,
- Certification of Completion for each course level,
- Learn at your own pace,
- Our exclusive LIVE Virtual Practice Events,
- Exclusive Community Group Membership,
- Start ASL Instructor Support,
- Instructor Feedback on your signing assignments,
- Multiple signers for unmatched receptive learning,
- Over 2,300 Vocabulary and Phrases,
- Over 250 Lesson, Quiz, and Exam Videos,
- 30 Conversation Examples,
- 20 Expressive Signing Assignments,
- Midterms and Final Exams,
- Deaf Culture and History Reading Assignments,
- Research Papers,
- Deaf Event Assignments,
- Practice Activities,
- And more!
Learn ASL Online with Our Complete 4-Level Course:
Our ASL 1 course is the best class for beginners and will get you conversing right away, learning:
- Fingerspelling and numbers,
- The five sign parameters,
- Word order,
- Sentence types,
- Pronouns and indexing,
- Classifiers,
- Verbs,
- Identifying people,
- Deaf culture, and Deaf history!
Our ASL 2 course is full of advanced lessons that will target your grammar skills and help you to be a more confident signer, learning:
- Sentence types,
- Time, Duration, and Regularity,
- Temporal aspect,
- Classifiers,
- Pluralization,
- Distance,
- Inflection,
- And describing rooms, objects, and locations!
Our ASL 3 course is an advanced course and will teach you how to sign more abstract ideas including:
- Role shifting,
- Narratives,
- Vehicles and accidents,
- Giving information,
- Sign language games,
- Literature,
- Storytelling,
- And interpreting music!
Our ASL 4 course is our most advanced course and will teach you how to communicate in detailed, more native signing including presentations on:
- Facts and myths,
- Health and hearing science,
- History, government, and world events,
- Science, religion, and business,
- Opinions and debate,
- Storytelling with classifiers,
- Regional sign variations and idioms,
- Interpreting and sign systems,
- and Reading Assignments from Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture*!
Community and Instructor Support and Feedback:
Start ASL Online Student Community Group Membership
Join our ASL learning community! The goal of this group is for students who are taking the Start ASL Online Course to come together, ask questions, discuss topics related to ASL/Deaf Culture, share resources, and connect with each other. If you are struggling with something about learning ASL or want to share something fun you learned about ASL, this is the place for you!
Start ASL Virtual Practice Events
Get the extra practice and support you need with our LIVE Virtual Practice Events as you learn ASL online. Gold level students also get access to their own private meetings with a Start ASL Instructor.
Valuable Feedback on Your ASL Signing Assignments
Start ASL is the only online ASL course that provides detailed feedback on your signing assignments. You can easily upload your assignment or record directly in the program and receive text or video feedback on your assignments from our instructors depending on your membership level.
Support from Our Professional ASL Instructors
We really care about your success and we don’t want to leave you hanging. We’re just a click away with our “Instructor Chat” feature found in each course. You’re paying a premium for our time and we will make it worth it – we are here to give you the support you need if you need help with our curriculum, the language, the community or anything else! We really do care, and you’ll see it with your first message – we promise!
The Don't Just "Sign"... Communicate! Student Guides
Now also included with the Start ASL Online Course are the Don’t Just “Sign”… Communicate! Student Guide e-textbooks that are used for the course Reading Assignments. These essential guides are your key to success!
A Student’s Guide to ASL and the Deaf Community
This Guide Gives You EVERYTHING You Need…and More.
One of the biggest benefits of Don’t Just “Sign”…Communicate!: A Student’s Guide to ASL and the Deaf Community is that we provide you with information you need but didn’t know to ask for. The package is absolutely jam-packed with benefits:
- You’ll quickly learn the best ways to learn ASL so that you can begin communicating quickly.
- You’ll receive the most essential Deaf culture and Deaf history information available.
- Information about careers in ASL from the professionals.
- Common terminology used in the Deaf community.
- The number one ASL resources available today.
- And so much more!
This guide was created specifically to help you understand ASL more effectively. The perfect companion for our ASL course, this guide supplements the course and offers up the best possible information to help you better understand everything involved while learning ASL.
Without a doubt, it is the best student’s guide to ASL and the Deaf community in existence, and provides numerous benefits for individuals who are taking ASL classes.
This book is a real gem! Informative, intriguing, and an easy read — it is your ticket to a new world of friendships and cultural understanding! When it’s time to step out of the classroom and into the Deaf Community–Michelle Jay’s advice and insights are just what you need! Remember what you learned from this book and you’ll do great!
A Student’s Guide to ASL and the Deaf Community is an essential guide for those thinking of learning ASL, considering a career working within the Deaf community or looking to understand Deaf culture. It truly is the bible for “everything you need to know but didn’t know to ask.” This book is filled with all the important information you need in one place and is truly an amazing read.
As a Deaf person who hails from Gallaudet University with Masters Studies in ASL Linguistics, taught ASL at various state universities for over 25 years, trained sign language interpreters, and served on the board for interpreter quality assurance qualification programs, I definitely suggest this book for the beginning ASL signer. Communication involves so much more than just learning, using, and understanding the language. This book smoothly pulls it all together while inspiring the novice learner. I whole-heartedly and with honor recommend this book.
Hearing folks are often clueless as to what the Deaf-World is really like, really about, and they are often not sure what the best approach is to finding out, particularly if they have a goal to learning proper American Sign Language. Michelle Jay’s Don’t Just Sign…Communicate: A Student’s Guide to ASL and the Deaf Community offers a fantastic way to self learn. I love this concise, friendly reference book! It describes the history of the Deaf-World; beliefs, values, behaviors, traditions, and practices within that world; Deaf Education; ASL Careers; Deaf-World terminology, Deaf-World technology, and much more. In short, the book is an engaging summary of the whole Deaf culture in the US. It includes information on how to become meaningfully and respectfully involved with ASL and Deaf communities. Readers even have a chance to test themselves in the final chapter to gauge what they’ve learned from the book.
Michelle Jay has given students of American Sign Language (ASL) a true treasure in her new book; Don’t Just “Sign”… Communicate: A Student’s Guide to ASL and the Deaf Community. Without this book it is similar to learning to swim without ever taking off one’s floaters; you may be able to stay afloat but will never learn to swim. Jay explains many crucial elements of the proper way to sign and how to integrate into the deaf community. In addition she provides many dos and don’ts, so you will not embarrass yourself when signing. She explains the history of the deaf culture which is something that many deaf people are quite proud of and cherish. There is a section of deaf terminology which is important information. The other section I appreciate is a comprehensive list of other quality resources. I highly recommend the entire series of three books.
A Student’s Guide to Mastering ASL Grammar
The Student’s Guide to Mastering ASL Grammar provides the fundamentals of perfect ASL grammar so you can sign confidently.
Students taking ASL classes are often expected to pick up on the grammar rules themselves, by being a part of the deaf community, or by immersing themselves in sign language from the beginning. If you’re learning on your own or you’re unable to sign with others often, it can be extremely difficult to pick up these rules. This guide will help you:
- Make sure you’re learning American Sign Language.
- Learn ASL signs and vocabulary concepts you won’t find in most ASL dictionaries.
- Learn ASL phonology and how signs are formed.
- Learn ASL morphology and how to inflect signs to create meaning.
- Learn ASL syntax and how to form correct sentences.
- And so much more!
This incredible guide provides you with the confidence you need to communicate fluently and correctly. Unfortunately, many signers go years without picking up the proper grammar, even when they’re conversing with other signers regularly. You don’t have to let this happen to you!
Think you can’t learn American Sign Language? Well, think again. Start ASL’s book, A Student’s Guide to Mastering ASL Grammar makes learning ASL grammar and syntax not only fun but easy to understand. This guide gives you the tools you need to feel comfortable communicating in the Deaf community.
Studying ASL Linguistics at Gallaudet University was truly an eye opening experience, even for me, a Deaf person, who has already mastered American Sign Language since childhood. Combining all of the grammatical aspects of ASL to form a complete idea is not easy for the beginning signer. Luckily, A Student’s Guide to Mastering ASL Grammar explains all of this, how to execute, and then some! Great job to Michelle Jay for making this available and so clearly for the new and not-so-new signer.
At first when I downloaded this book, I was surprised to see it was so short–but after reading a bit I quickly realized it is packed *full* of good information. The author doesn’t waste space explaining vocabulary words or such, she expects you’ll have an ASL dictionary and probably had at least some ASL instruction before, too. To that end, I wouldn’t recommend this book for ASL beginners–you’ll want to have had some time learning the basics before drinking from this particular fire hose. Nevertheless, even as many of these grammar points were not a surprise to me after the ASL classes I’ve had, it’s really helpful for me to see them all laid out clearly like this, so I suspect I will keep referring to the book for reference and/or practice.
Learned so much from this book! This is a must have in the library of any person interested in or learning ASL (American Sign Language). This book includes more than just how to form the signs correctly it gives background information on how to use the signs in ASL and in which instances there are other acceptable interpretations. Anyone from a very new beginner to a more advanced learner can find very useful information. The illustrations are very easy to under and the explanations are covered with very clear examples. I am using this book side-by-side with my course material. You will be happy you made this purchase.
A Student’s Guide to the Deaf Experience
This eye-opening e-book will ignite your senses and eliminate any misconceptions you may have about the deaf community.
Delve into this informative and entertaining collection of personal stories culled from the writings of talented Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing, and late-deafened people.
Experience the world from their perspectives and learn what questions and comments are best avoided and what common courtesies are most appreciated. By reading this book, you can immerse yourself in the textured world of the deaf community.
This book is meant as a guide to equip ASL students, but it is so much more… It is a book for the masses – to be read and reread, to be savored – for it will resonate with you long after the last page is turned.
This book is an amazing read and takes you inside the lives and experiences of many Deaf people who have certainly made their mark in the world, whether in the past or in present day, explaining in full the difference between the two. Some of their experiences in growing up were harsh due to discrimination and bullying at being Deaf, but it never let the light from within them stop shining. I wish I could give it SIX stars out of five… such a treasured compendium!
I’m really interested in ASL, so I assumed the book was going to be mostly about ASL and capital-D Deafhood. So I was really pleasantly surprised that the scope of the book is much larger than that, with essays from Deaf, deaf, HH, lipreading, signing, non-signing, hearing aid users, CI users, 100% hearing loss, late-deafened adults, and just about every other type of hearing loss/deaf gain perspective you can think of, both from the U.S. and England.
A Student’s Guide to Deaf Community Terminology
This pocket-size e-book is a fantastic collection of terms commonly used in the Deaf Community and allows you to:
- Quickly and easily find the meaning of a community term.
- Study terminology whenever you have a spare moment.
- Ensure that you’re participating correctly in conversations.
- Build confidence for signing and communicating.
- Study with a quick and convenient method no matter where you are.
- And more!
This little book is a brief, pocket dictionary of terms one can encounter in ASL / Deaf-World studies and interactions. This guide contains words and acronyms used in association with Deaf culture, services, education, technology, and discussion…This quick reference pocket guide might be useful for some people who are participating in Deaf-World events, ASL Workshops, Deaf Education seminars, research, classes, presentations, and activities like these.
After you learn ASL online, you can:
- Be more desirable for employment,
- Communicate with your Deaf friend or family member,
- Communicate as you or a loved one lose your hearing,
- Worship in church,
- Teach sign language to your child,
- Move on to eventually become an ASL interpreter,
- Ask the Deaf woman in line next to you how her day is going,
- Show off to your friends or family,
- Volunteer in Deaf ministry,
- Sign songs at the next concert you attend (or to yourself while singing in the shower),
- Practice what you will say if you ever meet Marlee Matlin,
- Or whatever your heart desires!
The opportunities are truly endless and, as you will find, so very fulfilling. All of these things are totally achievable sooner than you think. And you can most definitely achieve them with our course!
You will need a webcam or other video recording device if you want to record yourself signing for the Expressive Signing Assignments.
For ASL 4, you will need to purchase (or borrow from your local library) the book Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture by Carol Padden and Tom Humphries to complete some Reading Assignments in the course. This is one of the best books about Deaf Culture and you will not regret adding this book to your collection.
Many schools have offered foreign language credit for completing our courses. More information, as well as our course syllabuses, can be found on this page. And please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.
With the Gold level of the Online Course, we can provide you with printed, signed, and mailed certificates of completion if required by your school or employer. We can also provide digital grade reports that have been verified by our instructors.
Note: You must be a Gold level member for the duration of each course level in order to receive a verified completion certificate for that course level. Printed verified completion certificates can be mailed once per student to one address within the US as part of the program. Additional printed certificates, or certificates shipped internationally will incur additional fees.
How long it takes to complete each level depends on the student since the courses are completely self-paced. On average, driven self-study students are able to complete one level in three to four months and students who are taking the course for credit are usually able to complete one level in nine to twelve months.
You can find updated information about all of our events on our ASL Events page.
There are nine total signing assignments in the Online Course – one in ASL 1, three in ASL 2, and five in ASL 3. If you sign up for the Silver level, you will receive general written feedback on your signing assignments from our instructors. If you sign up for the Gold level, you will receive detailed, timestamped video feedback on your signing assignments from our instructors. All students receive a completed grade rubric on all signing assignments.
Just click My Account to view your Subscriptions and change your payment method or cancel your subscription at any time. Even when you cancel you will get access to the courses for as long as you have already paid. If you’ve never taken an online class, it can be a little intimidating to get started. But rest assured that we completely understand and have made it easy for you to control your own subscription and we’re always here to help if you need it!
Yes! You can cancel your subscription and resubscribe to the level of your choice at any time. Your coursework is saved to your account, so just be sure to use the same account to sign up again and you can start right where you left off!
Yes! Our options for teachers, schools, and organizations can be found on this page: https://teachers.startasl.com
Our monthly course subscriptions are charged automatically every month for your convenience until you cancel. One-year access purchases are a one-time payment and your access expires after one year.
With the monthly subscription option, you will have access to the Online Course and materials until your monthly subscription is cancelled and your paid duration has expired. With the year-access option, you will have access for one year after your date of purchase. If you have not completed everything within one year, you can purchase another year-access option or continue with a monthly subscription at that time.
While you won’t be able to interpret professionally after taking our course, our course will more than prepare you to move on to a professional interpreting program.
Our Online Course works on any device, but for the best experience we recommend using either the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browser.
