WHAT...... I have to learn a whole new language here????

The best thing about moving from England to America was that eventhough I had to deal with a whole new culture at least I didn't have to learn a new language (just deal with the accent thing)..... or so I thought.
For the last two years before I left England, while I was studying for my A Levels I was also taking an evening class in British Sign Language (BSL). I had taken a couple of courses and I was qualified as a trainer for the subject. 
Unfortunately, in America they use American sign language (ASL). I thought that maybe I could just adapt a few things here and there and try to learn it. So during my associates degree I took a class in American sign language. Wrong move!!! It was completely different. For one thing, Americans use just one hand to sign while British sign language incorporates both hands. Everything was completely different. The alphabet. Words. Everything. It was insane. I did not think that it would be so different. Since I've never been too skilled with my hands, and with the confusion of British sign language, I decided to drop that class. I can still recall the alphabet in both languages and some key terms so if I were to encounter a deaf person which I have often in my field I can communicate with them. I'm still waiting to meet someone in America that is from England and I can use my BSL skills on them so they don't get too rusty.
That just goes to show.... even in two places where English is spoken, there can be language differences.