Customer Reviews

Indian Sign Language (Native American)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have had this book laying around for ages. I have taken it for granted really. But when I think about how well it is written and clearly laid out, with an additional picture writing section at the end of the book, it makes me wonder why I don't take better care of it. I'm amazed it's still in print and CHEAP! Great for kids but also a nice intro for adults as well. Boy Scouts could use this as part of their achievement training. One big plus is the photographs and anecdotes of William Tomkins and his friends, the Lakota. You can't lose with this book.

I have had this book laying around for ages. I have taken it for granted really. But when I think about how well it is written and clearly laid out, with an additional picture writing section at the end of the book, it makes me wonder why I don't take better care of it. I'm amazed it's still in print and CHEAP! Great for kids but also a nice intro for adults as well. Boy Scouts could use this as part of their achievement training. One big plus is the photographs and anecdotes of William Tomkins and his friends, the Lakota. You can't lose with this book.

This works well for sorting out the more detailed written descriptions in WP Clark's book. The drawings give a good basic visual to the signs & provide a very nice introductory vocabulary.

I have learned some sign language from a Native elder and this book is on track with most of what I learned.

I originally had this book during the late 1970's when I was living in far northwest Montana near Browning, MT in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
In my work I had to interact with tribal members quite often.
One day I met an old man of the tribe named Louie Yellow Wolf who couldn't hear much anymore. We had trouble communicating as he couldn't read lips.

I found this book at a used book store in Kalispell, Montana and within a week or two was able to use the signs found in the book fairly well. Indian sign is much more simple than modern sign language for the hearing and speech impaired in use today and can be learned quite easily.

The next time me and the old man met up I said "hello Yellow Wolf" to him in Indian sign language. His eyes lit up. And we "talked sign" for over an hour. He even taught me some slang in sign not found in this book and before long other more elder members of the tribe would come along and get a kick out of watching this novice white guy try using sign. They freely corrected me when I messed up and I can still hear those old men laughing and looking at each other with amusement but they told me in sign talk they were proud of me for learning their unspoken language. Of course most of them spoke english but loved to use the vanishing language.
Using sign can come in handy when you want to be quiet I.E.; hunting, bird watching,fishing, etc.
Not all Native Americans know sign language anymore and most of the signs in the book pertain to the northern/plains tribes but is still an interesting skill to have.
I was happy that Amazon offers this unique book and highly reccomend it.

I just wish that the photos came with more explanation of the movements that often accompany the sign to make it proper. Good little book to understand the language, though. I have found some better info on line, giving explicit movement directions, but not as many words and phases.

I want to learn many tribal languages, but this is very hard of course if you dont have the right resources. But the one language that everyone does know, is sign language and this is definitely the book to own if you want to communicate to almost anyone of other tongues. This book not only teaches you about the basic words, counting and animals, but also have to make sentences and have a conversation using the signs. Awesome resource!

This book basically has some vocabulary for indian "signs". I am not sure if the real indians even use any of these signs. The old drawings were kind of neat and reminded me of an old schoolbook.