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BSL

I Love You in Sign Language

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Lead Academy
3 Mins Read

Maybe it’s valentine’s day just up ahead, or perhaps your mom cooked you your favourite dish with your favourite toppings. So you want to express your love and gratitude to them. But if they are deaf, sign language is probably the only way you can communicate with them. But there could be a ton of other reasons to learn “I love you in sign language”, and every single one of them, no matter how small, is good enough.

Therefore, today we’re going to learn how to say “I love you” in sign language.

Although there are many sign languages (like American Sign Language ASL), we’re only going to address one here- British sign language or BSL.

I Love You in Sign Language

Take a look at the video above. The woman in the video is showing us how to say “I love you” in BSL. BSL, unlike ASL, uses both hands for signing purposes in most cases. There’s no single or unified sign for the sentence “I love you” in BSL.

Instead, just like any natural language, you’re going to sign every single word, as you would in a natural conversation with someone.

So, to that end, let’s break down the video for your convenience. We’re going to show you how to sign the individual words to make the whole sentence meaningful.

Just follow the steps given below.

BSL tutor pointing finger towards herself

1. Mimic the picture above. With the index finger of your right hand, point towards yourself. This is the ‘I’ part of the expression.

BSL tutor with both hands on her chest

2. Lift both your hands up like in the picture above.

3. Bring them up towards your chest.

4. Spread all your fingers- from your thumb to your ring finger and pinky/pinkie finger- outwards. Don’t curl them like a fist.

5. Face your palms towards your chest. The people you’re signing to will see the back of your hand. This is sometimes called the ‘dorsal surface’.

6. This completes the ‘love’ part of the expression.

BSL Tutor pointing finger towards other

7. Now let go of your left hand and let it relax.

8. With your right hand, point towards the person you’re signing to with your index finger.

9. This completes the ‘you’ part of the expression.

Easy, right? Sometimes people who have no idea how sign language works are afraid to learn it as they think it’s too complex. In fact, it’s just like any other language. Signing isn’t adding any extra layer of complexity here.

The only thing you have to keep in mind is the person you’re signing to is seeing your gestures clearly. Say, instead of pointing towards your mom, you pointed towards your dog. She will probably tell you to ask your dog to make those lovely pancakes next time! Or maybe she’ll think the dog is taking sign language classes from you!

Who knows!

Conclusion

So, that’s I love you in sign language. We learned to say the sentence in BSL. Again, a crucial piece of advice, make sure your loved one is clearly seeing you signing the words to them. One mistake and they could be thinking that you’re suggesting to go to a rock concert, especially in ASL, since the sign for “I love you” in ASL kind of looks like we’re rocking with our hands!

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