homework sign sign language

How to sign homework in American Sign Language

Sign #1 (1 of 1), sign instructions:.

This sign is done by signing "home" and then "work". However, in this instance "home" is signed by only pressing your hand on your face once instead of twice. After this, sign "work" by having your non-dominant hand in front of you with your palm orientation downward and your dominant hand tapping against your non-dominant hand 2 times.

Example Video

Tutorial video, sequential image breakdown.

Beginning and End Frames

Beginning of sign.

End of Sign

Dominant Handshapes for this sign

Non-Dominant Handshapes for this sign

About the Creator

Paul Kelly, a nationally certified sign language interpreter and the founder of howdoyousign.com, has dedicated his career to bridging communication gaps through sign language. As a CODA (child of deaf adult), with deep personal and professional roots in the deaf community, Paul brings a unique blend of personal insight and professional expertise to his work.

His experiences range from legal to entertainment interpreting, including teaching sign language to celebrities like Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. His passion for innovation is evident in the AI-driven features of this dictionary, aiming to make sign language more accessible for all.

You might also be interested in the signs for...

• understanding
• construction
• encyclopedia

Save Sign to Flashcard Deck

This is how you sign Homework in American Sign Language.

Description.

To sign "Homework" in American Sign Language (ASL), you are going to make an O handshape, put it next to your mouth and then bring it up on top of your cheek and whack your non-dominant hand just once.

Ready to learn sign language?

Signing Savvy, Your Sign Language Resource

• Fingerspelling

Search Sign Language Dictionary

Browse signs by....

• Browse by Letter

• finger spell

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

What is being signed (English Meaning)

Available to full members. Login or sign up now!

Sign Description

This sign is used to say (sign synonyms), examples of usage.

English Sentence

Sign Variations for this Word

• Variation 1 - ASL
• Variation 2 - Fingerspelled

Add to Word List

The ability to create word lists is available full members. Login or sign up now! to use this feature.

Default Video Quality

Higher resolution videos are available to full members. Login or sign up now!

Default Video Speed

Default video speed adjustments available to full members. Login or sign up now!

Default Autoplay Video

Default autoplay video available to full members. Login or sign up now!

Default Loop Video

Default looping video available to full members. Login or sign up now!

User Comments

Comments are attached to the specific sign variation for a word. Please add the comment to the specific variation that the comment applies to.

You must be a member to add comments. If you already are, please login. If not, become a member now.

ADVERTISEMENTS

• Home  | 
• Signs  | 
• Fingerspelling  | 
• Numbers  | 
• Sentences  | 
• Lists  | 
• Lessons  | 
• Teaching  | 
• Articles  | 
• Features  | 
• About Us  | 
• FAQ  | 
• Teachers  | 
• System Requirements  | 
• Mobile Apps  | 
• Terms of Service  | 
• Privacy Policy  | 
• Contact Us  | 
• Link to Us  | 
• Recommend Us  | 

• Become A Member
• Members Homepage
• Our Mission
• Our History
• Terms and Conditions
• Privacy Policy

Learn How to Sign With our New ASL Dictionary

Asl animals what is your name country barbados family aunt bbq sports basketball cousin bathroom brands coca-cola.

Sign language is for everyone! Yes, even you. ASL is the 3rd most commonly used language in the United States so chances are you will actually use it! Whether you have always been interested in learning American Sign Language or just saw it for the first time, this website is for you!

We’re super excited for the future of Learn How to Sign and specifically this website and what it means for everyone wanting to learn ASL. Be sure to subscribe to our Newsletter to stay up to date with all of the latest and receive some valuable instruction on ASL. 

If you’re looking for a sample of what the Intensives are like, or just want to learn some of the basics of ASL and have fun while doing it, join our free Webinar on Saturday, May 18 . The last time we did this we had over 1000 people sign up and were blown away by the response. We had to do it again, so here we are!

If you missed out on it last time or want to do it again, register now and we’ll send you an email with all of the details. During the webinar we’ll play fun games, do several giveaways and at the end everybody receives an EXTRA special discount for the upcoming Intensive. You have to attend though! 

LHTS ASL Dictionary

The dictionary is in Beta. The library is incomplete and we plan to continue to improve the user experience.

Dictionary progress (signs sync'd), frequently asked questions.

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, natural language used by the Deaf community in the U.S. and Canada, characterized by its own syntax and grammar. It combines hand signs, facial expressions, and body postures to create a rich, expressive means of communication. At Learn How to Sign, we embrace ASL not only as a vital tool for the Deaf but as a valuable skill and tool for hearing individuals too.

Learn How to Sign is a family-run business founded in 2022 dedicated to teaching American Sign Language (ASL). We focus on delivering up-to-date, accurate, and engaging content that makes learning ASL enjoyable and accessible to everyone. Our platform not only offers insights into Deaf culture through a Deaf instructor but also fosters an active and continuously expanding community of learners. Committed to enriching our educational offerings, we are always creating new and valuable ASL content to enhance your learning experience​.

The team at “Learn How to Sign” includes co-owners Brian and Meredith Rathbone, a dynamic husband-and-wife duo who manage the strategic and creative direction of the company. Meredith is the most watched ASL teacher on YouTube. She is joined by Darla, Meredith’s mother, who brings decades of ASL interpreting experience, and Sarah, a Deaf instructor with deep roots in Deaf education. Together, this family-centered group ensures that learning ASL is not only educational but deeply connected to Deaf culture and community engagement.

Learn more about “Our Team”

In this video Meredith covers 10 things a signer needs to know when starting their ASL learning journey.

Sign up for our 10 Day ASL Jumpstart

Our Core ASL Curriculum

Total: 16 courses view all.

All of our Core ASL courses are included within our Accelerated Program

See for yourself!

Sign up for our Newsletter

• 10 Day ASL Jumpstart (10 Emails)
• Intensives (Live Classes)
• Accelerated (Membership Program)

Learn How to Sign Accelerated is a paid membership program that offers all of the resources you need to learn ASL faster!

• Not just a list of vocabulary words.
• Not just a culture lesson.
• Not just a fingerspelling tutorial.
• Not just practice material.
• Not just a way to connect with others.
• Not just a face you know from YouTube!
• This is a Program made for YOU!

SO WHAT'S INCLUDED?!?

Mini courses.

Short-form courses with around 2 hours of video content. Don't take that for there's not a ton packed into this package. For those familiar with our Skillshare courses this is what these are.

Main Courses

Long-form courses with around 8 hours of video content. These courses should take you several days if not weeks to get through. The video content is just a part of the overall curriculum that includes quizzes, homework and of course tests! For those familiar with our Intensives this is the on-demand version of those.

Exclusive Discounts

Receive 30% off all of the merch from our LHTS Shop and 50% off all live courses including Intensives.

Weekly Live Chats with Meredith

Join Meredith and the occasional friend every Tuesday evening at 8:30pm CST for a live chat. Meredith will teach something new, answer member's questions and who knows what else! It's live so you never know.

Exclusive Access to LHTS Online ASL Community

Receive exclusive access to the LHTS Discord Channel. There members can find their ASL community, ask questions, even join regular silent chats to practice their signing skills.

Have exclusive access to weekly quizzes posted in tandem with that weeks YouTube video. Test what you've learned with Quizzes!

Study Activities

Fun and helpful activities to study your ASL Vocabulary.

Fingerspelling Exercises

Repetition is KEY!!! Put in the reps with these fingerspelling exercise videos.

Practice Signing Prompts

Sign with others on this video forum, Microsoft Flip. Practice your Expressive signing with weekly prompts and your receptive skills by watching and responding to other signers via video.

Our courses provide support in vocabulary, grammar and fingerspelling through our mini-courses, courses, quizzes, and study activities.

We value asl and deaf culture. our program offers resources and content focusing on the culture connected with asl so you not only understand the language but the people who use it., this platform offers a variety of ways to connect with other asl learners and professionals. , have questions.

Your message (optional)

Email: [email protected]

Explore, discover, and learn Sign Language

Jump scroll down to Sign of the Day ASL Dictionary Tutorial Search Fingerspelling Grammar Baby Talk New to ASL?

Talk with your hands -- swap sound for visue.

Get this web app for direct access with a quick tap.

Subscribe to newsletter .

New to sign language? Scroll down to the "Beginner Guide" tab in the Learn section. Or, jumpstart to learning the first 100+ basic signs .

Look for a tutorial or help with your ASL courses, Deaf studies or homework? Filter a topic in the "Learn" tutorials . Back to school? Review ASL signs for classes.

From beginners to advanced learners, discover all you need for ASL learning. For fluent and native signers, explore and master ASL and bilingualism. This website/webapp HandSpeak® is a popular, go-to online resource for sign language and Deaf culture in North America for language learning, practice, tutorials and self-study for:

• college students and learners
• language and culture enthusiasts
• interpreters, homeschoolers
• parents of deaf children and deaf/hearing babies
• professionals
• deaf bilinguals and codas

Handwave! I'm Jolanta , the creator of this web app/site since 1995. Very long time, yes! It has been made with endless personal volunteer time, effort, and heart. I hope you will find this sign language resource helpful with your language learning in American Sign Language.

Word Search

Filter : Enter a keyword in the filter field box to see a list of available words with the "All" selection. Click on the page number if needed. Click on the blue link to look up the word. For best result, enter a partial word to see variations of the word.

Alphabetical letters : It's useful for 1) a single-letter word (such as A, B, etc.) and 2) very short words (e.g. "to", "he", etc.) to narrow down the words and pages in the list.

Don't forget to click "All" back when you search another word with a different initial letter.

Or, start with the First 100+ Signs . What does the ASL sign mean? Look up a word in the ASL to English Reverse Dictionary .

Topic Search

Browse tutorials and posts on sign language and Deaf culture.

Subscribe to HandSpeak's weekly newsletter .

Sign Language App

Ad-free patron.

Sign up for Patron subscription to remove ads from this website.

Sign of the Day

Guess what the ASL word mean? See English translation . Explore this word in the dictionary.

Fingerspelling of the Week 🔒

What does it say? Hover over to see the word . Take me to the page .

Try fingerspelling practice to improve your receptive skill. New to fingerspelling? Learn the ASL alphabet .

Kid Signing of the Week

The video shows a baby signing the ASL word in the early language acquisition (handshape, location, and movement).

Sentence of the Week 🔒

To get started for a new learner, learn how to sign "How are you?" .

Browse some more phrases and sentences that may give you some insights into how grammar, structure and meaning are constructed in ASL sign language and help you learn how to express them in ASL.

Story Video

If you're looking for a story that makes you cry or feel goose-bumps, here is the story Deaf or Dead .

Signed languages are distinct from spoken languages. For example, ASL and English are entirely independent languages, each with its own structure, grammar, vocabulary and other linguistic elements, including intonation (i.e. facial expression). In addition, sign languages encompass every linguistic feature found in spoken languages.

Random grammar tip :

Learn how to use personal pronouns instead of repeating the nouns in ASL sign language. Personal Pronouns

Trivia Question

Can you lipread a word? Guess the word.

• A) for good

No matter if you get it right or not. It just illustrates that lipreading is not the best mode of communication for many deaf people.

This Day in Deaf/Sign Language History

2022 May 1-15: The 24th Summer Deaflympics was hosted in Caxias do Sul, Brazil from May 1 to 15, 2022.

International Day of Families

~~ Feeling lucky? ¯\__(°_o)__/¯ Random Word ~~

Manual alphabet

To get started, learn the ABCs in ASL alphabet . sign up to download. -->

Take a peek what the ASL number is: number .

Learn how to sign numbers 1 to 100 .

Written ASL Word

Guess what the ASL written word mean? Take a peek . Take me to this word .

Disclaimer: Written digits of the ASL words are unofficial and they may evolve over time. The purpose is for exploration and discovery only.

"To have another language is to possess a second soul." -- Charlemagne

What is Sign Language?

Sign language is a natural, full-fledged language in visual-spatial modality. It has all the features of linguistics from phonology and morphology to syntax as found in spoken language. Signed languages are not a universal language ; sign languages, such as British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (LSF), are distinct languages throughout the world.

American Sign Language (ASL) is the primary language of Deaf people in Deaf communities and Deaf families across the United States and Canada. It's also a fast-growing. popular second language or foreign language for hearing people in North America. Like other languages, ASL has its regional variations .

Language learning

Bilingualism has a number of cognitive benefits. Find out what benefits are for learning sign language. In addition to the benefits of bilingualism, bi modalism and Deafhood also have some extra benefits.

Explore some ways on how to get started with learning sign language .

Deaf community and Deaf culture

Where there is language, there is culture; sign language and Deaf culture are inseparable. Learning sign language and Deaf culture comes with the process of allyship along with awareness toward appreciation and away from cultural appropriation and audism (alliteration, yay!).

Deaf community comprises Deaf people, codas (children of Deaf parents), hard-of-hearing signers, and hearing signers and allies.

Linguistics

Sign language has every linguistic feature from phonology and morphology to syntax as found in spoken language. Numerous studies show that signed languages and spoken languages are equal languages, despite different modalities (visual-spatial and vocal-auditory). They function in the same linguistic regions of the brain. Language acquisition from birth to kindergarten are on the similar timeline.

Subscription

To remove ads and unlock premium content, Subscribe today .

Testimonials

The sign language site is one of few most reliable resources and references highly recommended by Deaf native signers, including ASL instructors.

"Even though I'm Deaf with ASL as my native language, I still use Handspeak a lot in the last few years for reference. I also frequently recommended this website to hearings/ASL students I met. It's amazing how you contributed so much, so I just want to let you know how much I appreciate that. -- Theo, 2020."

"This website is AWESOME! I always refer it to my students. -- Denise (Deaf ASL instructor), 2021"

"This website is a godsend. Your work is amazing and I just wanted to thank you. Without it, learning ASL would have been much harder. -- Le, 2021"

"I just wanted to let you know that you are the reason I've been getting A's in my ASL classes and to say thank you. I use your website multiple times a day, and it has fleshed out so much information about the language of ASL and the Deaf community. You have truly made a difference in my life!" -- Angie DiNardo, February 4, 2022.

Thank you Handspeak!! You were an invaluable resource for me during my interpreter education program. I came to the conclusion that your dictionary of signs were one of the best and I relied on it immensely.

"I have been struggling to figure out signs for my class. It was really beginning to wear down on me and I was getting nervous about how the rest of the semester will go. A problem that was haunting me was found in short order using the sign and contextual reference from the assignment. THANK YOU!!!! You have blessed me for sure! -- Nita"

"THANK YOU SO MUCH. This site is amazing. I am just learning ASL, and I keep this tab open on my computer and check in several times a day to form words and sentences. Very blessed for this incredible project of yours. -- A.S."

"Your website has helped me to learn ASL and about Deaf culture, both when I studied in University and now as I continue to practice and learn. I just wanted to express that I am so grateful for you and for handspeak.com- you are wonderful, thank you for creating this project!! -- Kat"

"Your website is a blessing! I often refer my ASL students to the tutorials on this site as an extracurricular resource when they needed help. -- a certified ASL instructor and Deaf native signer."

"... thank you for making such an important and useful resource for those of us on the path to fluency in the language and art of American Sign Language. Your Handspeak website has provided me with countless hours of invaluable insight and dare I say entertainment. You're a beautiful person, and your work is thoroughly appreciated." -- Patrick Ryan (Minnesota), 2015.

"Handspeak is such a great online ASL lexicon, and it is very helpful. My TA's recommended it over other online ASL dictionaries. Thank you again! -- J.Y., 2017"

"Our daughter is so much happier that she can tell us what she wants and needs. Much less crying, much more laughing! Thank you for this site, the best of its kind on the web."

"We use the site in our homeschooling, as a second language, for our 9-year-old child who does really well with homeschooling. He's exceptionally bright, very active, inquisitive and challenging. Your site has captured his interest and he is intrigued."

"I scuba dive, and being able to use sign language while diving would expand the experience greatly. -- L. Niles"

homework in ASL - #a0A5e00000A44eq

Image & video, additional information.

Metadata and other details.

Learn American Sign Language

GET STARTED

SignSchool is a fun and free resource

for learning ASL at your own pace.

ASL Learning Redefined

Asl in motion.

See ASL come alive with video-based learning material.

Interactive Learning

Engage in active learning with interactive exercises, quick lectures, and reviews.

Time Efficient

Focus on learning the ASL most relevant to you with a modular curriculum.

Search by sign, topic, or handshape

Sign of the day, have a sign delivered to your inbox daily, learning games, review signs by topic or handshape.

On the run?

Our mobile apps have you covered., for the classroom.

Make ASL come alive with video-based and interactive learning tools, optimized for schools.

Immerse Yourself in ASL

Learn american sign language anytime, anywhere. for free., ready to get started, start learning.

Supported by

American Sign Language Dictionary

Search and compare thousands of words and phrases in American Sign Language (ASL). The largest collection of video signs online.

Recently searched words

Popular signs today.

ASL Lessons | Bookstore | Library |  ASL University Main ►

HOME: The American Sign Language (ASL) sign for "home"   The sign for "home" has a few different versions.  If you mean "home" as in "domicile" (or a fairly permanent residence) a fairly common version is made by bringing your fingers and thumb together and touching your cheek near the side of your mouth. Then move your hand an inch or two toward your ear and touch your cheek again.         HOME: "HOME" (animated gif)       Some people do the sign HOME starting near their EAR and moving near the MOUTH:   HOME-[ear-to-mouth-version] (animated gif)     There is another very common version of home that only makes "one" contact on the cheek. This version is done in the middle of the cheek (not near the mouth or ear) and typically shows up in  compound-signs such as "homework" or "homemade."  For example, see "homework" below.  Notice how it only contacts or comes near the cheek once and then moves straight into a single-contact version of work. HOMEWORK:   Animation: "homework"    HOMERUN: If you mean "home" as in "to score a homerun" un baseball, then just spell "HR" in an enthusiastic manner.     Notes:  If you do the sign HOME using a "D" handshape it means " dorm ." Also see: HOUSE Also see: HOMEWORK   Memory aid: Think of "home" as being the place where you eat and sleep . However note that the sign for home isn't done directly on the mouth.  Rather -- it is done on the cheek.   *  Want to help support ASL University?  It's easy :  DONATE   ( Thanks! ) *  Another way to help is to buy something from Dr. Bill's " Bookstore ." *  Want even more ASL resources?  Visit the " ASL Training Center ! "  (Subscription Extension of ASLU)   *  Also check out Dr. Bill's channel: www.youtube.com/billvicars   You can learn American Sign Language (ASL) online at American Sign Language University ™  ASL resources by Lifeprint.com  ©  Dr. William Vicars   

• Log in / Register
• BSLHomework
• Communication Professionals
• BSL for beginners

What is BSLHomework?

BSLHomework is an online library of video clips and support materials to help you understand the assessments, develop your vocabulary and linguistics skills, and practice your receptive BSL skills from wherever you are.

Developed by BSL teachers and experts with Signature students in mind, BSLHomework is the perfect training resource for anyone studying British Sign Language Levels 1-3

What is included?

Key features.

• Hours of BSL conversations and clips to support your learning
• Traffic light’ levels of difficulty to build confidence and knowledge as you progress
• Glossary with examples of linguistic and grammar terms
• Quizzes for testing your knowledge and progress as you study
• Practice assessments to help you prepare
• BSL dictionary of over 4000 signs to support your learning

Support and accessibility

• Access 24 hours a day via the Signature Learning Hub
• Support from Signature - should any issues occur
• Use BSLHomework as a way to set students homework and tasks outside of teaching time.
• Easy to use on a range of devices

What do students and teachers think of BSL Homework?

Based on a survey of 54 Signature centres, we received the following feedback from their teachers:

• Over 83% of the surveyed Signature Centres have recommended BSLHomework to their students.
• Almost 64% of surveyed teachers use BSLHomework in their classrooms.
• 92% of teachers think that BSLHomework is easy to use.

Based on responses from 245 Signature students who use BSLHomework, we received the following feedback:

• 87% said that BSLHomework was easy to purchase
• 100% of students said BSLHomework was good value for money
• 94% would recommend BSLHomework to a friend
• 75% said it improved their BSL skills
• 65% use BSLHomework to help with the completion of a Signature qualification.
• 82% agreed that BSLHomework meets all of their expectations.

Case Study – I Can Sign

We used the resource in classes to practice for the receptive exams as it’s good preparation for the exams. Students wanted something to practice at home and I found this homework package offered this reassurance, I’m sure it could be used more in our sessions.

I believe it’s useful for students to have the homework platform to practice what’s been taught in the classroom. It’s mainly the receptive practice as this is an area where students struggle the most and it’s hard to teach receptive skills.

The benefits of our exclusive training

clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

Fake sign language is spreading on TikTok. Deaf people are worried.

Sign language has become trendy on TikTok, but many videos feature incorrect signs, sparking fears the trend will cause lasting damage to American Sign Language

Anthony Eagle Jr. is big on TikTok. He boasts over 850,000 followers, many of whom love the way he performs sign language renditions of songs. There’s just one problem — the sign language is sometimes wrong.

When Eagle, 39, of Winston-Salem, N.C., signs the song, “Love the Way You Lie,” his rendition is riddled with mistakes, like signing the word “lie” with two hands in the wrong position. To a deaf person who uses sign language, it looks like gibberish.

The Washington Post asked Sheena Lyles, 37, of Baltimore, a Deaf comedian on TikTok , to demonstrate several sign language mistakes made on social media. Here she shows the right way to sign “lie,” as well as the wrong way used by Eagle in his video.

Sign language set to music has become trendy on TikTok, particularly among hearing creators, spurred in part by the representation of sign language in popular movies like “CODA” or “A Quiet Place.” But with its growing popularity, many deaf and hard of hearing creators, who rely on sign language to communicate, worry that TikTok is allowing incorrect signs to spread like wildfire.

Eagle acknowledged that he sometimes makes mistakes with his signing, but accused some in the deaf community of “gatekeeping,” and trying to prevent hearing people from using it.

“I think it’s really crappy that they keep their language in a box,” Eagle said. “Sign language is something to love, and everyone should learn it.”

The issue has grown so large that the National Association for the Deaf posted a video last month criticizing the rapid spread of unqualified people teaching incorrect sign language on social media, saying that it’s doing “devastating harm” to the deaf community.

Signing gibberish

When using sign language, even seemingly small changes, such as using the wrong hand shape or moving hands the wrong way, can make a sign unintelligible or give it an entirely different meaning than intended.

In a sign language rendition of the song “We Are The World,” for example, Scott Berends, 47, of Holton, Mich. who has 1 million followers, tries to sign the word “children.” The sign is supposed to look like he’s gently patting children on the head — instead critics say it looks more like he is playing bongo drums. The sign Berends uses doesn’t have any meaning in American Sign Language.

The sign language mistakes on social media can be so significant that Kilee Ashton , 40, of Salt Lake City, who is Deaf, said she often can’t understand what someone is trying to say. “It’s ugly to watch,” she said.

Ashton said she and other deaf people have tried to point out mistakes to creators like Eagle and Berends, but they have been blocked or had their comments deleted.

Berends admits that he sometimes makes mistakes with his signing, but maintains that he posts his videos with positive intentions to spread sign language. He said he is open to feedback but deletes any comments he feels are negative or mean-spirited.

“Hard of hearing people or people from the deaf community have thanked me for bringing cultures together,” he said. “I’m a big supporter of everyone, and the deaf community is extremely important in my life.”

Signing the wrong word

Subtle changes in hand direction, shape or placement are common mistakes among novice signers on social media and can change the meaning of a sign.

When Eagle signs the song “Simple Man,” he tries to sign the word “young,” but moves his hands down his chest instead of up. In doing so, he accidentally signs the word “tired” instead.

Similarly, when Berends signs the Beatles song “Let it Be,” he tries to sign the word “trouble,” but his incorrect hand shape, movement and positioning means he signs the word for “awesome” instead.

Because of the explosion of bad sign language videos she has seen, Lyles has started selling merchandise with the “S.O.S.” acronym, which she said stands for “Save Our Signs.”

“We cherish ASL because this is our communication tool. We need this language for access; we need this language to communicate with others,” she said.

John Troumbley , 29, of Kokomo Ind., who is Deaf, estimates that he only understands half of what is being signed on some popular TikTok accounts.

“It’s already hard enough for us to communicate with the hearing community and then you have people learning incorrect sign language and that complicates things even more,” he said. “Some signs are really close to each other, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re going to cause problems.”

Deaf people say that fake signs like those seen on TikTok can have serious consequences. There have been several cases of “fake interpreters,” which prevented deaf people from accessing critical information. For instance, in 2017, a news conference for Hurricane Irma featured an interpreter who signed gibberish like “pizza” and “bear monster” instead of information about evacuation orders. Other notable ‘fake interpreters’ include the man who interpreted Nelson Mandela’s funeral in 2013 , and a woman who delivered an incoherent sign language translation during a 2017 Florida news conference about a murder suspect.

Making translation errors

Another common sign language mistake is trying to sign the way English is spoken, rather than following the grammar rules of American Sign Language. This is sometimes referred to as Signed Exact English, or SEE — and it’s a controversial way of using sign language among the deaf community.

Some creators acknowledge that they don’t follow ASL grammar rules. They still make translation mistakes when choosing specific signs for English words.

In a free sign language class that Berends runs through his Facebook page , the teacher, Kat Jaret, 43, of Forest, Va. uses some signs incorrectly. When she tries to sign “like I said,” she uses a sign for liking something (as in “I like ice cream”) rather than the sign used to indicate something is similar. (“This ice cream tastes like my grandmother’s.)

“I know sometimes we don’t sign perfectly,” Jaret said, in reference to both herself and Berends. “Nobody speaks English perfectly sometimes.”

But deaf people point out that fans who follow these accounts don’t always realize the creators are making mistakes — especially if critical comments are deleted.

Teaching sign language sparks debate

Whether hearing people should teach sign language remains a topic of debate in the deaf community. One reason is that it takes opportunities away from deaf people, but another is that hearing people who aren’t trained properly often don’t know they are making mistakes and aren’t qualified to teach.

Ashley Noelle Russ, 38, of Shawano, Wisc., a Deaf woman who has about 40,000 followers on TikTok , said the safest way to learn sign language is directly from deaf people — many of whom teach the language for free on TikTok.

“American Sign Language is what we use everyday for our communication,” she said. “It’s so important to look for deaf creators and learn from deaf creators.”

She and many others were alarmed recently when Berends posted on social media that he would be teaching sign language to a local store, despite the fact that Berends is not a licensed interpreter or teacher.

When asked about his qualifications, Berends said he started learning sign language when he was a child because he had a deaf friend. As an adult, he said he took American Sign Language classes through cudoo.com , which offers basic sign language lessons.

Eagle, who is Native American, said his interest in sign language stems from seeing Native American sign language , also known as ‘hand talk,’ as a child. He calls himself an “innovator for sign language.”

But some Native Deaf creators on TikTok say his videos don’t show proficiency in Native American sign language or ASL.

“If you want to do sign language, fine, but don’t charge for classes, don’t ignore or block people who live in these communities every day,” said Christina Yeates , 39, a Native Deaf woman in Salt Lake City. “It’s not a trend. This is our daily accessibility.”

Jullian Mitchell, 38, of Puerto Rico is a Deaf ASL teacher and believes that many people who are now using sign language on social media don’t know the history of sign language, and why it’s important to preserve it. In the late 1800s, international educators voted to remove sign language from deaf education, and schools started punishing students who used it. Most schools for the deaf did not start using sign language again until the latter half of the 20th century.

“Sign language is at war, true biz,” Mitchell said, using a popular ASL slang phrase. “It’s hurting us. They think it’s nothing, but hearing people don’t understand what it’s like to be oppressed, to be at the bottom.”

Deaf creators struggle to be seen

Deaf creators say they often struggle to gain the same popularity as hearing creators on TikTok. They worry TikTok’s algorithm favors hearing creators, who tend to talk and use music on their videos more often.

“It becomes a slap in the face when you see new people who aren’t really part of the culture get like 500,000 views, and they’re signing awkwardly,” said Matt Maxey, a 34-year old Deaf man in Atlanta who has been trying to monetize various social media platforms under the account name “ Deafinitely Dope. ”

He and other deaf creators say that they want more hearing people to learn sign language — but they want people to support the deaf community at the same time.

Jon Urquhart, 29, of Boston, has over half a million TikTok followers . He can hear but is the child of deaf adults, otherwise known as a CODA, and is viewed among the deaf community as a “heritage” signer and ally.

He uses his platform to promote online classes with deaf teachers. He said people who learn sign language should engage with the deaf community, rather than just using the language for entertainment or performative value.

“Learn ASL to break down barriers, make deaf friends and include deaf people in your life,” he said.

An earlier version of this article said Scott Berends, a TikTok creator, planned to teach sign language to firefighters. Berends planned to teach sign language at a store called the Fire Station in Houghton, MI. This version has been corrected.

Sign up for the Well+Being newsletter, your source of expert advice and simple tips to help you live well every day

Read more from Well+Being

Well+Being shares news and advice for living well every day. Sign up for our newsletter to get tips directly in your inbox.

Diabetes, air pollution and alcohol consumption could be the biggest risk factors for dementia .

Dairy vs. plant milk : Which is better?

Why is my gas so smelly ? Gender, diet and plane rides can play a role.

Quitting can be a superpower that helps your mental health. Here’s how to quit smarter .

Our relationships with pets can be strong and uncomplicated.

How Much Research Is Being Written by Large Language Models?

New studies show a marked spike in LLM usage in academia, especially in computer science. What does this mean for researchers and reviewers?

In March of this year, a  tweet about an academic paper went viral for all the wrong reasons. The introduction section of the paper, published in  Elsevier’s  Surfaces and Interfaces , began with this line:  Certainly, here is a possible introduction for your topic. 

Look familiar? 

It should, if you are a user of ChatGPT and have applied its talents for the purpose of content generation. LLMs are being increasingly used to assist with writing tasks, but examples like this in academia are largely anecdotal and had not been quantified before now. 

“While this is an egregious example,” says  James Zou , associate professor of biomedical data science and, by courtesy, of computer science and of electrical engineering at Stanford, “in many cases, it’s less obvious, and that’s why we need to develop more granular and robust statistical methods to estimate the frequency and magnitude of LLM usage. At this particular moment, people want to know what content around us is written by AI. This is especially important in the context of research, for the papers we author and read and the reviews we get on our papers. That’s why we wanted to study how much of those have been written with the help of AI.”

In two papers looking at LLM use in scientific publishings, Zou and his team* found that 17.5% of computer science papers and 16.9% of peer review text had at least some content drafted by AI. The paper on LLM usage in peer reviews will be presented at the International Conference on Machine Learning.

Read  Mapping the Increasing Use of LLMs in Scientific Papers and  Monitoring AI-Modified Content at Scale: A Case Study on the Impact of ChatGPT on AI Conference Peer Reviews  

Here Zou discusses the findings and implications of this work, which was supported through a Stanford HAI Hoffman Yee Research Grant . 

How did you determine whether AI wrote sections of a paper or a review?

We first saw that there are these specific worlds – like commendable, innovative, meticulous, pivotal, intricate, realm, and showcasing – whose frequency in reviews sharply spiked, coinciding with the release of ChatGPT. Additionally, we know that these words are much more likely to be used by LLMs than by humans. The reason we know this is that we actually did an experiment where we took many papers, used LLMs to write reviews of them, and compared those reviews to reviews written by human reviewers on the same papers. Then we quantified which words are more likely to be used by LLMs vs. humans, and those are exactly the words listed. The fact that they are more likely to be used by an LLM and that they have also seen a sharp spike coinciding with the release of LLMs is strong evidence.

Some journals permit the use of LLMs in academic writing, as long as it’s noted, while others, including  Science and the ICML conference, prohibit it. How are the ethics perceived in academia?

This is an important and timely topic because the policies of various journals are changing very quickly. For example,  Science said in the beginning that they would not allow authors to use language models in their submissions, but they later changed their policy and said that people could use language models, but authors have to explicitly note where the language model is being used. All the journals are struggling with how to define this and what’s the right way going forward.

You observed an increase in usage of LLMs in academic writing, particularly in computer science papers (up to 17.5%). Math and  Nature family papers, meanwhile, used AI text about 6.3% of the time. What do you think accounts for the discrepancy between these disciplines? 

Artificial intelligence and computer science disciplines have seen an explosion in the number of papers submitted to conferences like ICLR and NeurIPS. And I think that’s really caused a strong burden, in many ways, to reviewers and to authors. So now it’s increasingly difficult to find qualified reviewers who have time to review all these papers. And some authors may feel more competition that they need to keep up and keep writing more and faster. 

You analyzed close to a million papers on arXiv, bioRxiv, and  Nature from January 2020 to February 2024. Do any of these journals include humanities papers or anything in the social sciences?  

We mostly wanted to focus more on CS and engineering and biomedical areas and interdisciplinary areas, like  Nature family journals, which also publish some social science papers. Availability mattered in this case. So, it’s relatively easy for us to get data from arXiv, bioRxiv, and  Nature . A lot of AI conferences also make reviews publicly available. That’s not the case for humanities journals.

Did any results surprise you?

A few months after ChatGPT’s launch, we started to see a rapid, linear increase in the usage pattern in academic writing. This tells us how quickly these LLM technologies diffuse into the community and become adopted by researchers. The most surprising finding is the magnitude and speed of the increase in language model usage. Nearly a fifth of papers and peer review text use LLM modification. We also found that peer reviews submitted closer to the deadline and those less likely to engage with author rebuttal were more likely to use LLMs. 

This suggests a couple of things. Perhaps some of these reviewers are not as engaged with reviewing these papers, and that’s why they are offloading some of the work to AI to help. This could be problematic if reviewers are not fully involved. As one of the pillars of the scientific process, it is still necessary to have human experts providing objective and rigorous evaluations. If this is being diluted, that’s not great for the scientific community.

What do your findings mean for the broader research community?

LLMs are transforming how we do research. It’s clear from our work that many papers we read are written with the help of LLMs. There needs to be more transparency, and people should state explicitly how LLMs are used and if they are used substantially. I don’t think it’s always a bad thing for people to use LLMs. In many areas, this can be very useful. For someone who is not a native English speaker, having the model polish their writing can be helpful. There are constructive ways for people to use LLMs in the research process; for example, in earlier stages of their draft. You could get useful feedback from a LLM in real time instead of waiting weeks or months to get external feedback. 

But I think it’s still very important for the human researchers to be accountable for everything that is submitted and presented. They should be able to say, “Yes, I will stand behind the statements that are written in this paper.”

*Collaborators include:  Weixin Liang ,  Yaohui Zhang ,  Zhengxuan Wu ,  Haley Lepp ,  Wenlong Ji ,  Xuandong Zhao ,  Hancheng Cao ,  Sheng Liu ,  Siyu He ,  Zhi Huang ,  Diyi Yang ,  Christopher Potts ,  Christopher D. Manning ,  Zachary Izzo ,  Yaohui Zhang ,  Lingjiao Chen ,  Haotian Ye , and Daniel A. McFarland .

Stanford HAI’s mission is to advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition.  Learn more . 

More News Topics

Khloe Kardashian in 'odd' move as Tristan's body language portrays telling sign

Khloe Kardashian shocked fans at the weekend as she took her kids to watch their dad, Tristan Thompson, play basketball.

It was the first time the reality TV star, 39, took youngsters True and Tatum to watch Tristan's Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Boston Celtics in the NBA semi-finals. Khloe looked glam in a black coat and black leather trousers. She was spotted embracing with her ex-partner during the sighting. In addition to Khloe, six-year-old True and almost two-year-old Tatum were spotted sitting in the athlete's lap while he was on the sidelines. Saint West, the eight-year-old son of Khloe’s sister Kim Kardashian , was also seen joining the group for the family outing.

It comes as fans are convinced the pair could get back together, with another baby even touted .

For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US .

READ MORE: Kanye West's ex Julia Fox opens up about sex life after saying 'there wasn't any' bedroom action with rapper

However, a body language expert who analysed the sighting, called it an "odd" move and claimed Khloe may look to be still into Tristan - but the feeling doesn't appear to be mutual.

Judi James told Mirror : "Sporting stars are undeniably charismatic in situ. Their popularity with the fans can be seductive and when you take your children to watch them play as Khloe has done here, you make a strong memory for them in terms of ‘My daddy the hero’.

"It seems odd for Khloe to want to sit watching him excel [after the cheating scandal] and to even throw in some gestures of support and encouragement, like this tightly-clasped hug complete with a loving, over-the-shoulder facial expression."

She continued: "Khloe seems to be one of life’s compartmentalisers, setting a gap between ‘Good father’ and ‘Not so good partner’ and there have always been hints that she is drawn back to him despite their history. These poses will obviously get the fans buzzing about another re-match but in the hug they perform there are clues that Tristan might be less keen than Khloe.

"He leans into this hug from a distance and appears to have his left arm occupied with a child. Meanwhile, Khloe’s splayed fingers on his back do seem to suggest a stronger connection here."

* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Android Police

Gemini 1.5 pro in notebooklm can turn your homework into an interactive podcast.

The tool can now generate spoken dialogue discussions from the information you feed it

• Discover how Google's Gemini Pro model in NotebookLM can create study guides, FAQs, quizzes, and even spoken dialogue discussions.
• Experience the interactive and personalized learning experience by connecting physics and basketball through AI-generated examples.
• Despite some potential limitations, the new features in NotebookLM show that Google is committed to making AI beneficial for all students.

Recent developments in the AI space are really beneficial for students. No, really, I wish tools like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini were around when I was a student. They would have made passing call classes with top grades a breeze. The best AI tools , like Google's NotebookLM , which allows you to upload documents and text to Google's servers and use language models to summarize the materials, can save students hours of time.

In an attempt to upgrade NotebookLM, Google, at its annual Google I/O developer conference, announced that its Gemini 1.5 Pro model is coming to NotebookLM, unlocking new functionalities for the tool.

I tested NotebookLM and saw the promise of something great

The tool now allows you to create a "Notebook guide" from the documents and text you feed it, which is essentially a summary that can generate study guides, FAQs, and even quizzes. However, the main update here is "Audio overview," which can take all the information you feed it as input and create a spoken dialogue discussion from it, benefiting those that learn the best when they listen to information, rather than reading it.

In an example shown on-stage, the tool was able to generate a spoken discussion between two people about physics, specifically force and motion. The presentation also included a demonstration on how the user can join in on the discussion.

You can join the discussion and ask questions!

Josh Woodward, VP at Google Labs, joined the discussion, and asked the tool to give his son Jimmy a "basketball example." The tool quickly jumped in and said, "Hey Jimmy, that's a fantastic idea. Basketball is actually a great way to visualize force and motion," before continuing to break down how physics and basketball are connected.

By connecting the dots between basketball and physics, the tool was able to generate a spoken-word and age-appropriate example, making the learning experience a lot more interactive and personalized.

As always, it is not certain that the tool will always work as presented by Google on-stage. It's worth noting that small text on the bottom right of the presentation indicates that the audio was pre-generated. We'd have to try out the feature for ourselves to see if it works as intended. Regardless, bringing Gemini 1.5 Pro to NotebookLM is a welcome addition, and proves that Google is making AI helpful for everyone .