Question: A student writes:
"I've seen people sign beautiful with a 'B' and handsome with an 'H' in the same
movement as pretty, is that still okay?"
Response:
My recommendation is to have two different skill sets:
1. Your expressive signing skill set.
2. Your receptive signing skill set.
For your expressive signing skill set I recommend you avoid excessive
initialization of ASL signs with English letters. Sure, some signs commonly do
use initialization. However many signs are "over initialized" and simply work
better using the non-initialized version.
For your receptive skill set it is good to be able to recognize a wide variety
of signs -- including Signed English and initialized signs.
To be clear, I do not recommend you sign "beautiful" with a "B." It is
considered "Signed English" -- not ASL.
"Handsome" with an "H" is seen somewhat in the Deaf Community -- but these days
I do not recommend it.
My recommendation is: https://youtu.be/fRwF6AVi17I
Or: https://youtu.be/tbv74WEkI5c
Also -- stay flexible. If you are an ASL teacher and a student signs
"beautiful" with a "B" you should recommend they sign it using the version
commonly used by adult native Deaf signers. However, if you are a Hearing
person and a Deaf person (who is not your student) calls you "beautiful" with a
"B" don't correct them -- just sign "thank you."
Notes: