British Sign Language

Also called BSL

A complete language with its own grammar and history, used by the Deaf community and recognised in law since 2022.

What it is

British Sign Language is a language. Not a version of English on the hands, not a code, not a support system: a language, with its own grammar, word order, regional dialects and a body of poetry and humour that does not translate cleanly into anything spoken. It is the first language of most of the Deaf community in the UK, and the British Deaf Association puts the number of users in the tens of thousands.

BSL grammar is built around space and the face. Where English puts time in the verb ending, BSL sets a timeline in the air. Where English asks a question with word order, BSL asks it with the eyebrows. A sentence is typically topic first, then comment, so an English speaker signing English word order is producing something a fluent signer finds odd, in the way a word-for-word translation of French sounds odd.

The BSL Act 2022 recognised BSL as a language of England, Wales and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament had already done so for Scotland in 2015. Recognition is not the same as a right to an interpreter, and the entry on the Act explains what it does and does not give you.

Who it can help

Deaf people, first and above all. A Deaf child who is given BSL from birth gets a full first language at the age every child gets one, and everything else, including written English, builds on that. The research on language deprivation is stark: what a Deaf child lacks is not hearing but access to any language at all in the early years, and BSL fills that gap in a way that speech and hearing aids alone often cannot.

It also helps hearing families of Deaf children, hearing children of Deaf adults, and anyone who works alongside Deaf people. It is not the right tool for a hearing person with a learning disability who needs help understanding spoken English; that person needs a sign-supported system such as Makaton or Signalong, which take signs from BSL but keep English order. Offering someone full BSL when their need is support for English, or vice versa, is the commonest mistake in this whole area.

How it works

A sign has five parts that carry meaning: handshape, location, movement, palm orientation and the face and body that go with it. Change one and you change the word, exactly as changing one sound changes a spoken word. Two-handed fingerspelling fills the gaps for names and new terms.

BSL has regional variation to a degree that surprises hearing people: the signs for numbers and colours differ between Manchester and London, and Deaf people place each other by their signing much as hearing people do by accent. There is no single standard, and any course that claims to teach the one correct sign is overselling.

Qualifications run from Level 1 (basic conversation, around 60 to 90 hours of study) through Level 6, the standard for interpreters. Signature is the main awarding body, and the Royal Association for Deaf people and local Deaf centres run classes.

Getting started

If your child has just been identified as deaf, ask your Teacher of the Deaf about BSL and family sign courses this week, not after the hearing aid fitting. The National Deaf Children's Society runs family sign language courses that are free to families of deaf children, and it is the best first call.

For an adult learner, a Level 1 course at a local college or Deaf centre is the honest starting point. Apps and online videos teach vocabulary, and vocabulary is not language; you learn BSL by using it with Deaf people, who are on the whole generous with a beginner who is trying.

At work or in a service, book a qualified interpreter (see BSL interpreters) rather than a colleague who did Level 1. And learn the basics of Deaf awareness, which cost nothing and change a Deaf person's experience of you completely.

Where to get help

The British Deaf Association is the Deaf community's own organisation and the authority on the language. The National Deaf Children's Society for anything involving a deaf child, including family sign courses. RNID for hearing loss more broadly and for the practical side of interpreters and technology. SignHealth for health services delivered in BSL, including BSL mental health support.

For the condition itself, see deafness and hearing loss in the Health A-Z.