[id10t]

Much like taking Spanish or French or whatever in college, you'll get out of it what you put into it. Everyone I know who has completed the course has been able to at that point have a basic conversation with a deaf person (that is the final exam). The ones that keep the skill up after final exams end up being fairly fluent. And yes, it does count as foreign language credit that is required to graduate...

Quoth the course description -

"ASL 1140 introduces students to the basic components of American Sign Language (ASL) as used in the Deaf community as well as to various manual communication systems and philosophies. Introduction to Deaf Culture and items related to the Deaf community will be discussed. This course is intended for students who have no or minimal American Sign Language (ASL) skills focuses on communication primarily in social and work environments. The course will also give an overview of sign language through general discussion of ASL structure and its use in society today. Students will learn to use ASL to (1) ask and answer questions (2) exchange personal information (3) discuss their jobs (4) discuss their families (5) discuss where they are from, and (6) to make appointments. "