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Introduction to Catalan Sign Language: Speaking with Your Hands and Hearing with Your Eyes

Learn about Catalan Sign Language in daily life, its grammar, and importance to the deaf community with this free online course.

8,570 enrolled on this course

A series of hands making a sign language gesture
  • Duration

    6 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours

Do you have an interest in learning a sign language? Do you want to know how to make your community more inclusive? Are you interested in linguistic studies? In this free online course, you will learn the basics of Catalan Sign Language (LSC), the sign language used by the deaf community in Catalonia, and a valuable research area for sign language linguists.

Learn basic Catalan Sign Language

During the course, you will practice a lot of “finger gymnastics”. By the end of the course, you will understand common signs and expressions, signed slowly and clearly, that relate to yourself, family life and work, and the immediate environment.

You will also be able to express yourself in simple terms, ask simple questions about everyday topics, and use expressions and simple phrases to describe well-known places. Finally, you will be able to sign short texts such as a story.

Explore Catalan Sign Language as a natural language of the deaf community

You will learn about the wider significance of Catalan Sign Language and about the importance of the deaf community having their own language.

Although Catalan Sign Language is recognised officially in Catalonia, often the deaf community can seem isolated. By learning about sign language, and the reality of the deaf community, both the hearing and the deaf can put an end to social exclusion.

Catalan Sign Language as an object of linguistic study

With interest consistently increasing in linguistics and sign language being a compelling area of study, Catalan Sign Language is a valuable research area for the world’s (sign language) linguists.

During the course you will examine a variety of Catalan Sign Language characteristics, including basic components of grammar such hand configuration, place of articulation, and movement; morphology, such as concordance and expression of plural; and finally basic syntax, such as word order.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds Hello! Welcome! Have a look at the trailer for this free online course.

Skip to 2 minutes and 28 seconds (Santi) I’m Santi. (Delfina) I’m Delfina. (Delfina) We’re both teachers of Catalan Sign Language. (Santi) Do you want to learn the basics of Catalan Sign Language? Come in, this is the online course for you. (Delfina) Previous knowledge of Catalan Sign Language isn’t required. (Santi) You’ll learn vocabulary, we’ll do different activities, we’ll see videos, etc. (Delfina) In just six weeks you’ll be able to produce basic sentences and understand signed conversations… (Santi) Conversations just like those with the girls in the subway and the lift. (Delfina) Join us in this free online course! (Santi and Delfina) We’re waiting for you! (Santi) That’s it! Come to the online course. We’re waiting for you!

What topics will you cover?

  • Say Hello! Communication barriers
  • Finger gymnastics and facial expression. Natural languages
  • Finger spelling. Name sign
  • Numbers and food. Deaf community and interpretation in LSC
  • Daily activities. Arbitrariness and iconicity. Legal status
  • Jobs and family. Basic components
  • Basic syntax. Interrogative clauses
  • Plural. Agreement
  • Sign space
  • Colours. Tell a story

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explore Catalan Sign Language as a natural language of the Catalonia deaf community
  • Identify Catalan Sign Language characteristics, including basic components of grammar, morphology and basic syntax
  • Produce simple sentences in Catalan Sign Language in simple terms, ask simple questions about everyday topics, and use expressions and simple phrases to describe well-known places
  • Record common signs and expressions, signed slowly and clearly, that relate to yourself, family life and work, and the immediate environment

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone, both hearing and deaf, interested in sign languages and in particular in Catalan Sign Language (LSC). Previous study of LSC isn’t required. It will be taught in Catalan Sign Language with transcription in English, Catalan and Spanish.

Who will you learn with?

I’m an ICREA Research Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and also the head of the LSC Lab (Catalan Sign Language Lab), devoted to the description and formal analysis of grammars of sign languages.

I'm a teaching assistant at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. I'm also an interpreter of Catalan Sign Language.

I teach forensic linguistics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. I do research in legal terminology for Catalan Sign Language.

I'm a teacher and a researcher in Catalan Sign Language at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. I'm a native signer of Catalan Sign Language.

I teach Catalan Sign Language (LSC) grammar and interpreting at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. My research is focused on the semantics and pragmatics of LSC.

I'm a teacher and a researcher in Catalan Sign Language at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. I'm a native signer of Catalan Sign Language.

I'm a teaching assistant at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. I’m also working on my PhD about Catalan Sign Language interrogatives.

Who developed the course?

Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona

Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) is a public, international and research-intensive university in Barcelona. In just 25 years, it has earned a place for itself among the best universities in Europe.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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