One of the most important things to learn in ASL is the American Manual Alphabet - otherwise known as Fingerspelling. Fingerspelling allows you to spell out words in American Sign Language.

There are many times when you will use fingerspelling in ASL. It is actually used frequently to augment the standard set of signs. Fingerselling is used for:
- Places like Cities and States
- Proper Names and Titles
- And - most significantly, for words that don't have signs

So, what words don't have signs? Many of them. Often times, when a word is unusual or used rarely, there isn't an established sign for the word. So, if you want to talk about dogs, you are fine. If you want to tell someone you went to Clayton, North Carolina you have to use fingerspelling.

This book is designed to show you the basic 26 letters used in fingerspelling. To get additional practice there are 50 US state capitals listed with the book. Test your knowledge of Fingerspelling by tabbing through the pages and recognizing each letter. Then, see if were able to understand the city!

For more practice, a test section is also included. This section lets you see the city name and then asks you to fingerspell it. The following pages show the correct fingerspelling!

Have fun, and remember to practice, practice, practice!