A deaf woman has taken to the internet to show the hearing community how the British Sign Language (BSL) translates slang phrases like "LOL" or "slay." "

Tianah Hodding, 30, wants to help inspire the hearing community to learn BSL by showing them the "real" side of it."

From conversations with her hearing friends, Tianah found that beginner BSL courses provide basic information but the style often feels very formal and unnatural.

That's why she began sharing the BSL translation for words and phrases you might not hear in a classroom but would hear in daily conversations with a real deaf person.

Videos of her translating words like "slay" or "LOL" show the expressive, fun side of BSL that Tianah believes the traditional courses miss."

Tianah, a freelance content consultant from Hackney, London, said: "I love BSL so much and I just want to inspire others to get involved."

"I feel like it's such a sassy, fun and creative language but people don't really get that through these courses."

"It's the same way you would learn any other language; you'd start with basics like 'Hello' and 'Where's the bathroom?'."

"But that never really captures the tone or personality of a language and BSL is all about personality."

Tianah was born deaf alongside her sister in an otherwise hearing family, so she considers BSL her first language.

Most of Tianah's friends are hearing and often people people approach her with their newly-learnt, often rigid, BSL.

Tianah said: "I've definitely noticed that more hearing people are learning BSL simply because they're interested, which is great!"

"But when hearing people who don't regularly sign with deaf people show me their BSL, it doesn't feel like a natural conversation."

"The experiences of talking to these people is what got me thinking about making videos explaining BSL slang."

"More than other languages, BSL is about the colloquialisms, so it's important people learning it get how we really talk."



The BSL versions of slang words are either slightly altered versions of a similar word or sometimes a whole new creation.

Tianah said: "Similar to words in the hearing community, slang like this usually comes from a certain sub-community."

"So the BSL word for 'slay' would have probably first been concocted in the black or LGBTQ+ deaf communities and then it just spreads from there."

"It's interesting though most people don't know that there are different accents in sign language."

"So even though it's all BSL, the way a Scottish person signs 'LOL' will be slightly different to how a Londoner or Mancunian would."