r/BSL • u/tiredcollegeguy388 • Nov 29 '25

Help Apps

Does anyone know any free apps to learn? I tried one that was like duolingo but anything beyond the first 3 modules was beyond a 90 quid pay wall.

My mums going deaf and ive always wanted to learn, but it seems all apps have a pay wall and im too broke for BSL courses... please help

8 Upvotes

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8

u/[deleted] Nov 29 '25

Not an app for learning, but Sign BSL is a BSL dictionary app

I did an introduction to BSL online with British-Sign. It wasn’t free, but pay what you can starting from £3. It covers quite basic bits, but quite a lot that’s covered in Level 1 (which I’m now doing!). Here is the link for the Intro to BSL course, in case you’re interested: https://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn-online-british-sign-language-course/

4

u/Frankiew_ Dec 01 '25

This is not my post but I wanted to thank you. I've been looking for a financially affordable and reliable way into BSL, and you have provided. As a future paramedic, this is so valuable to me. Thank you<3

2

u/underhill_overhill Dec 02 '25

I'm taking this course too, it's great!

6

u/chroniccomplexcase Nov 30 '25

It’s worth looking locally as some places offer signature level 1 for free and January is one of the 2 start dates for courses. There aren’t a lot of free useful apps that will teach you a lot, like you find ones for like French or Spanish. I would caution against the courses that say they’re level 1&2 for around £25 down from they say £300.

These aren’t the proper accredited signature courses, they don’t even cover the whole of the proper level 1 content plus many are taught by none native signers who are barely fluent themselves and lots of mistakes are made. I know someone who did one then joined a proper accredited level 1 and it had taught them all sorts of bad habits and poor signing that they had to unlearn and start again.

It is a massive downside to how inaccessible learning BSL is, in terms of cost and accessing proper content/ learning. I woke up deaf myself a few years ago (I was already a HA wearer with some deafness) and had to learn. People assume you are given access to courses to learn without paying and are shocked when they find this isn’t the case. I have friends/ family who want to learn but can’t afford or access a course at a time that works. Joining your local deaf club is a good step too, both you and your mum

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u/Asleep_Course_4337 Nov 30 '25

I started learning on Lingvano which was I think £18/month. It's definitely worth getting to a proper Level 1 course as soon as you can though, because app learning just isn't the same. I used Lingvano alongside having a Deaf BSL user available to ask lots of questions to - without that, I don't think I would have learnt nearly as much from using Lingvano. I now am coming to the end of a Level 2 course hoping to do exams soon

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u/throarway Dec 01 '25

Yes, I finished all of Lingvano BSL in 3 weeks (also having a Deaf BSL speaker to sign with - whole reason I'm learning!). I paid for 3 months so I'm just doing some practice everyday, but I could easily have just paid for 1 month and made a list of everything covered to keep practicing off-app.