Is American Sign Language a ‘foreign’ language?

American Sign Language is considered a foreign language by 40 states around the United States. American Sign Language is not considered a foreign language, because a foreign language is defined by “any language used in a country other than one’s own; a language that is studied mostly for cultural insight”. By definition American Sign Language does not fit that description because, it is only used in America. American Sign Language is also not qualified as a foreign language because people say that a language must have literature for proper study when American Sign Language does not, also people have argued that American Sign Language lacks the same element of culture as other foreign language courses. But in other cases American Sign Language can be considered a foreign language in many ways just as it cannot be considered a foreign language. Some of the reasons that American Sign Language can be considered a foreign language are, American Sign Language is no less a foreign language than Navajo, which is also indigenous to the United States. One huge step towards the thought of American Sign Language being considered a foreign language is that the whole idea of language being foreign is disappearing. I believe that American Sign Language is a foreign language and should be accepted in more states and more schools around the country.

American Sign Language is not considered a foreign language for many reasons. These reasons are, it has no culture behind it, the language itself is based off of American English, the language is not used in any other countries besides the one in which it has originated, and American Sign Language has no official written form like other languages. For these reasons American Sign Language cannot be cons...

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In conclusion American Sign Language can be debates as either a foreign language or not. I believe that American Sign Language should be officially considered a foreign language. Some people may argue otherwise but the most important part is that schools, and colleges and universities will consider American Sign Language a foreign language because the language is increasing in popularity over the common French, Spanish, and Japanese. Even though the amount of reasons why American Sign Language cannot be considered a foreign language is very close to the amount of reason why American Sign Language can be considered a foreign language the thing that matters is how many people think that American Sign Language is considered a foreign language and how many school, colleges, and universities will accept it at a foreign language and give credit and degree for that class.