* ASL stands for American Sign Language. It is the primary sign language used in the United States and Canada.
* BSL stands for British Sign Language. It is the primary sign language used in the United Kingdom.
Although both languages use visual signs, they have different signs, grammar, and sentence structures. They are as different as spoken English and French.
Here's a simple analogy: Imagine you're trying to communicate with someone from a different country. You might both be speaking English, but your accents, slang, and even some of the words you use could be different. ASL and BSL are similar to this.
While there are some signs that are similar between ASL and BSL, they are not mutually intelligible. This means that someone who knows ASL would not be able to understand someone who knows BSL, and vice versa.