The National Institute for the Deaf offers an online South African Sign Language (SASL) course for anyone interested in learning.
The course (once you've registered for it) allows you to complete it in your own time and at your own pace, making it possible to complete the course within a month. It all depends on how much time you spend within the course.
The Institute's SASL video dictionary consists of more than 5000 sign language videos and is always growing.
The Online SASL Learner's License course is available in English, Afrikaans and South African Sign Language (SASL). It can be accessed for only R100 per person.
Feel free to contact the National Institute for the Deaf if you have any further enquiries. You can also follow the Institute's various social media pages where a few SASL videos are shared and uploaded there as well.
Although South Africa has made advancements when it comes to Sign Language and the Deaf Community, there is still a long way to go, seeing that sign language has officially been recognized and will soon be the country's twelfth official language.
Learning sign language is a valuable skill to possess.
As the most commonly used language in South Africa, complete with its own grammar, vocabulary and syntax, just like any other language, it can communicate a potentially limitless number of ideas.
Lynette Victor, Andries van Niekerk and Dirkie Ebersohn (working at South Africa’s National Institute for the Deaf as the Sign Language Centre Manager, SASL Linguist and SASL Content Development Manager, respectively), say the recognition and introduction of SASL into our school’s curriculum will raise the language’s status, and can encourage the understanding that Sign Language is “of comparable status to spoken languages.”
