How to Sign Experience in ASL

The short answer

In American Sign Language (ASL), EXPERIENCE is commonly taught as a one-handed sign made beside the head. Start with your dominant hand open and its fingertips near your temple or upper cheek. Then pull the hand away from your head while closing the fingertips together, so the hand ends in a flat-O shape, with the fingertips meeting the thumb like a closed beak. Some signers repeat the movement.

This guide was written without a verified sign dictionary or video to confirm the details, so treat the description above as the widely taught form, not an authoritative ruling. Check it against a reputable ASL dictionary video or a fluent Deaf signer, especially for anything important such as a job interview or a presentation.

Which meaning of "experience" do you need?

ASL signs carry meanings rather than English words, and the English word experience covers several ideas. The choice of sign can change with the meaning:

• Experience as accumulated knowledge or background, as in work experience or years of experience: this is the meaning the sign above usually covers.
• Experienced in the sense of skilled or expert at something: many signers use a separate sign for skill or expertise instead. Confirm which one fits your sentence.
• An experience as a single event, as in a great experience on vacation: fluent signers often express this through context or other vocabulary rather than a direct one-to-one sign. Ask a fluent signer how they would phrase your sentence.

Regional and personal variation also exists in ASL. If the people you sign with use a different form, follow their usage. If you are unsure of the sign mid-conversation, fingerspelling the word is an understandable fallback, though it is slower than the sign.

Step by step

• 1. Use your dominant hand, meaning the one you write with. Your other hand stays relaxed and out of the way.
• 2. Open the hand with the fingers extended, and bring the fingertips to the side of your head near the temple or upper cheekbone.
• 3. Move the hand outward and away from your head. As it moves, close the fingertips onto the thumb.
• 4. Finish with the hand in a flat-O shape, a short distance from your head.
• 5. Pair the sign with a natural facial expression that fits your sentence. Facial expression is part of ASL grammar, not decoration.

Check yourself in a mirror. The sign is formed correctly when the hand starts open beside your head and ends closed, slightly away from it, in one smooth movement. Watch for two common slips: starting with the hand already closed, or making the sign in front of your face instead of at the side of your head.

Checking the sign on camera before a video call

EXPERIENCE is made beside the head, so it is easy to lose at the edge of a tightly cropped webcam frame. If you plan to sign on a video call, check three things separately. First, camera access: the browser or app is allowed to use the camera. Second, video capture: a clear picture actually appears. Third, call quality: the picture stays clear for the other person over the live connection. Passing the first check does not guarantee the next two.

• 1. Open the camera preview in your call app or your device's camera app. If no picture appears, check the browser or operating-system camera permission for that app and make sure no other program is using the camera.
• 2. Frame yourself from just above the top of your head to around your waist, with some space on both sides. The full movement of the sign, from your temple outward, should stay inside the frame.
• 3. Light your face and hands from the front. Strong light behind you can turn your hands into dark shapes.
• 4. Choose a plain physical background whose color contrasts with your skin and clothing, so your hands stand out.
• 5. Turn off background blur and virtual background effects while you test. These effects work by separating you from your surroundings, and fast-moving hands can be smeared, clipped or partly erased. If you want to use an effect, test it with real signing before relying on it.
• 6. Record a short clip of yourself signing EXPERIENCE in a sentence, then play it back.

Many apps mirror your self-view, so your dominant hand can appear on the opposite side of the screen. This usually affects only your own preview, so you don't need to switch hands to compensate. Check the app's mirroring setting if you are unsure what others see.

The recording check passes when the playback shows the whole sign: the open hand at the side of your head, the outward movement, and the closed hand at the end, without blur or parts of the hand cut off at the frame edge.

A local recording leaves some things untested. It does not show how your video looks after it is compressed and sent over the call connection. Slow or unstable connections can lower resolution or drop frames, which can blur quick hand movements. It also does not tell you whether your signing is understood. The most reliable final check is a short test call with someone who signs, asking them whether EXPERIENCE came through clearly. No specific resolution, frame-rate or bandwidth thresholds for signing were verified for this guide, so none are recommended here.