Signing in Fourteen Languages: A Multilingual Dictionary of 2,500 American Sign Language Words

I am sorry to see that this volume has gotten such poor reviews. Yes, the title may be misleading and that should be corrected. However if you read the product description you realize that it is not a book of fourteen sign languages (reason dictates that such a volume would be impossibly unwieldy). It is a book of fourteen spoken languages, all keyed to the American Sign Language sign for that word. I am a language student and find it MUCH easier to learn vocabulary in different languages if I have a common sign to identify the spoken words with -- a metasymbol, so to speak. It is quite liberating to see all of the mutually incomprehensible spoken words listed underneath what could be a common sign for them. Yes, the sign language chosen is American Sign Language. I fail to see how that is somehow dismissive of other sign languages. What was the author supposed to do ? I share the author's vision of an International Sign Language which would allow people to communicate clearly without a common spoken language. To do so, you have to start somewhere and American Sign Language seems like a logical place. The naysayers should maybe start thinking about developing an intuitive International Sign Language (the hardest part would be making sure signs which are offensive in this or that culture were properly identified), rather than simply slam this encyclopedia for not being what they thought it was. The book is well crafted and thoughtfully laid out and I was very happy to find it available here so that I can buy another copy !

This book has helped my Mexican hard of hearing student. She can look up the spanish word in the back of the book, and get the English word and sign at the same time. It is a wonderful reference to have.