Note: I'm writing every day in November, see my blog for disclaimers.

Sign languages^[1] are interesting to me because they use a fundamentally different medium of communication: sight instead of sound. Generally, sign languages are ignored by those who can speak and who don’t have to communicate with deaf people. But I believe they have utility beyond communicating with deaf people because it’s common to be in a place where you want to communicate but it’s either too loud or too far to do so via speech. Some examples:

• In a coworking space or library where the room is silent, you could use sign language to ask a question to someone nearby, or to ask a question across the room without disturbing anyone
• In a meeting or during a talk you could similarly ask & answer questions without interrupting the meeting. This might be particularly useful to check in with peers in real time, as the meeting is happening
• high-end service workers or organisers could use a sign language to convey logistical information (“we’re running out of X”, “is the next speaker ready?”, etc) without disrupting the event that they’re facilitating
• Across a large distances such as a football field or from atop tall buildings, you could use a sign language to communicate without having to walk within earshot (although admittedly the clarity of the signs will degrade with distance)
• In a bar, you could use sign language to tell your order to the bartender without having to shout above the music

Beyond sign languages utility in isolation, sign language also has utility in that it can provide redundancy to the spoken word. This is useful when communicating important information in noisy environments, such as the size of a bill at a loud restaurant, or possibly just for emphasis of an important point.

As far as I see, the main downside to learning a sign language is the lack of people to speak with! This seems like a fun hobby for a couple or friend group to pick up, since I imagine there’d be benefit if the people you see most often all speak a sign language together. I also imagine that I’m missing some benefits that only become apparent after actually using sign language as an auxiliary means of communication for some time.

1. ^{^}

   there are multiple different sign languages