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British Sign Language for Beginners - Course 1 (Udemy.com)

Learn how to communicate in British Sign Language!

Created by: Tom Davison

Last updated December 2021

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What you will learn

  • Understand the benefits of learning BSL.
  • Become proficient in the BSL alphabet.
  • Learn how to ask simple questions and introduce yourself in BSL.
  • Learn how to ask for clarification and end a conversation in BSL.

How it compares

Against the other 535 rated Udemy courses in Language Learning on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 64% of them
  • Reviews50#498 of 536 by number of reviews
  • Length0.5 hoursshorter than 99% of them
  • Last updatedDecember 2021earlier than 70% of them

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Course Description

British Sign Language (BSL) is the primary language used by the Deaf community in the UK, and is used by over 150,000 people. Recognised as an official language in 2003, instead of sound, it is produced via movement of the hands, face and body.

My name is Tom and I am a undergraduate studying English Language and Linguistics. I am also currently completing my level 3 qualification in British Sign Language. Though I am not fluent - meaning I am not at an interpreter's level - I am proficient enough to teach you the topics included on this course.

In this class, I will take you through some of the important fundamentals of BSL. We will cover:

  • The benefits of learning BSL - this is intended to help you stay motivated when learning this challenging, yet fascinating language.

  • The alphabet - we start with the vowels, before going through each letter individually at a reasonable pace. There are opportunities for you to practice both your productive and receptive skills.

  • Asking simple questions - we go over question words, such as who and where, as well as other examples of questions such as asking what the time is.

  • How to introduce yourself - this includes phrases you might need when meeting somebody for the first time, such as saying hello, asking how somebody is and giving your name.

  • Asking for clarification - in other words, what to do when you don't understand something!

  • How to end a conversation - this includes simple phrases that you might need when you are saying goodbye to somebody.

This course is aimed at complete beginners. However, please note that this course is only suitable for those interested in learning the sign language that is used in the UK. It is not suitable for those interested in learning other sign languages, such as American Sign Language (ASL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL), as these are vastly different.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the class!

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Instructor Details

Tom Davison

Tom Davison is an English Language and Linguistics undergraduate student based in the UK. He is working on a series of Udemy classes that teach some of the basics of British Sign Language (BSL), the primary language used by the Deaf community in the UK.

Starting his BSL journey in 2018 while attending night classes, he is Level 3 qualified in the language and he is very passionate about inspiring others to consider learning.

If you enjoy his content and would like to be notified of new classes, watch this space!

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Reviews

4.7

50 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Alison Mastin Moore on 3/21/2026

This is broken down into easy sections. After the first video I could nearly remember all the letters. I have now done the second video and by going through it a few times I am feeling fairly confident about going on again.

By Bethany Powell on 3/16/2026

I’m taking this course to help communicate with my son, he’s 3 and has mild but permanent damage in one of his ears, causing severe difficulty with speech development. Very easy and well explained. Thank you!

By Kelly-Anne Frendo on 6/26/2025

I like the visual display from the signer's perspective as that really helps you see if you are doing it correctly.

By Udemy User on 4/29/2025

wanted to start learning bsl , for my daughter who has a type of progressive hearing loss, this is a great start and hoping to get her engaged too , I thought it would be hard but this doesn't seem to be at all, and I am hopeful at putting what I learnt into practice , thankyou

By Mateja Vujadinović on 2/7/2025

It was soo nice. I learnt a lot. I will just add that I think it is a little bit short, I would prefer if it had some more videos.

By Anna Inns on 8/19/2024

My husband and I started this course to help us with dealing with his hearing loss and stop shouting at each other! We have really enjoyed the process and learnt very much from every lesson, which we recapped before the start of each new lesson. Tom is extremely clear in context without giving excessive explanation and getting straight into the signing, which made it easier for me to take notes and my husband and I to follow. Thank you very much.

By Ian Charles Oldham on 10/26/2023

This course, as well as being hard in places, especially having to make some difficult letters and sentences at times, was also fairly easy and fair to understand once having a practice session at making the signs and sentences. My notebook came in very useful too. I wrote down how to make the letters and the sentences. Also took my time, using a one hour slot to keep focus, and then take a break to allow my brain to relax, normally I did one section a week if possible. Really learned a lot of the basic introduction to British Sign Language. Would like to continue. Ian Oldham.

By Robert Poyser on 8/23/2023

goes through fast and we need to keep stoping video but other than that quite clear

By Rachel Boyce on 10/3/2022

An excellent starter course, well presented and just enough to give you a boost of motivation that you can do it!

By E H on 2/26/2022

Really enjoyed it. It was a good refresher for my alphabet basics and the helpful basic phrases were really useful too. Looking forward to more courses which lead on from this.

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Overall Score : 94 / 100