[.ca] Random House Webster's American Sign Language Dictionary (ISBN 0679780114)

mistakes:
I found a many old signs are wrong and incorrect. Deaf signs are not acceptable and hurt other people feelings. This problem is that this book copied from older unreliable sources without checking with reliable source and culture uses. I thinks it is not helpful book I come across for my learning in sign langauge.

THE BEST SIGNS DESCRIPTIONS YOU CAN FIND:
THIS IS A GOOD DICTIONARY, IT GIVES FINE DEFINITIONS OF EVERY CONCEPT REPRESENTED BY EACH SIGN... AND HELP YOU TO LEARN HOW TO SIGN PROVIDING THE BEST DESCRIPTIONS OF EVERY SIGN YOU MAY FIND IN A DICTIONARY OF THIS KIND. MOST DRAWINGS ARE EXCELLENT, EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND EASY TO FOLLOW AS MODEL TO COMMUNICATE THE IDEAS AND THOUGHTS YOU MAY HAVE TO SHARE WITH A DEAF PERSON.

Excellent ASL Resource:
Random House Webster's American Sign Language Dictionary by Elaine Costello and Lois Lenderman is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning and using American Sign Language (ASL). Not only do I use it, but recommend it to students at the local college where I serve as an ASL lab instructor. The step-by-step descriptions and memory aids (hints) help the reader understand the nature of the sign and better remember how it is made. The book is published in two sizes, the print type being the only difference. I highly recommend the larger print, but the smaller book is lighter weight and more convenient when transporting between home and school. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in ASL.

An Odd Little Book...:
I totally agree with every positive thing I've read about this book in other reviews. The sign descriptions are really impressive, especially when they include the inspiration for how the sign came about. And I can appreciate how some of the more uncommon entries can be a godsend for those who use ASL every day. HOWEVER, I find the selection of entries a bit puzzling and disappointing. They have listings for "cannibis", "sordid", and "lesbianism", but nothing for "tiger", "purple", or "television". Obviously this book is geared toward the college level; but it's missing a lot of the basics that would be most useful to me.

A Deaf person's opinion:
As a Deaf person, I frequently evaluate various ASL resources. I have found this particular book to have book positive and negative traits, but weighs more heavily on the positive side. The pictures are good (not the best), the memory aids are a wonderful asset, but my favorite part is the fact that this dictionary shows many idiomatic ASL expressions in addition to simple vocabulary. Many dictionaries focus only on building sign vocabulary, but it is important to recognize various expressions in order to readily engage in an ASL conversation with a deaf individual. I think this book will serve you well until you have grasped enough knowledge to move on to more in-depth study. :o)