British Sign Language, or BSL, is the language of the Deaf community in the United Kingdom. It is a visual-gestural language, produced with the hands, face and body, and it has its own grammar and word order quite unlike English; it is emphatically not English conveyed in signs. Around 150,000 people in the UK use BSL, including hearing family members, interpreters and professionals as well as Deaf signers. The UK government formally recognised BSL as a language in 2003, and the British Sign Language Act 2022 gave it legal status in England, Wales and Scotland. BSL uses a two-handed fingerspelling alphabet and shows marked regional variation, with signs differing between cities much as accents do. It is closely related to Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language, but not to American Sign Language.
Prism Linguistics provides British Sign Language translation, interpreting and transcription across the UK in 300+ languages. Whether you need a certified document for the Home Office, a court interpreter, an NHS appointment or a business meeting, our vetted native-speaker linguists are ready to help.
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