In my mind, being bilingual means being fluent in two languages, and being fluent means more than just being able to muddle one's way through a limited conversation. It means being comfortable conversing in the language, being able to watch a TV show in the language or read a newspaper article and not necessarily be able to understand every word but to understand the gist of what's being said. From what you've said here, you're not fluent in ASL. You know some, which is good, and you and aren't afraid to use what you have when it would be useful, which is even better, but I think of fluency (and thus bilingualism) as a higher standard.
I don't know whether a dictionary, or a linguist, or someone who IS fluent in ASL, would agree with me.
no subject
In my mind, being bilingual means being fluent in two languages, and being fluent means more than just being able to muddle one's way through a limited conversation. It means being comfortable conversing in the language, being able to watch a TV show in the language or read a newspaper article and not necessarily be able to understand every word but to understand the gist of what's being said. From what you've said here, you're not fluent in ASL. You know some, which is good, and you and aren't afraid to use what you have when it would be useful, which is even better, but I think of fluency (and thus bilingualism) as a higher standard.
I don't know whether a dictionary, or a linguist, or someone who IS fluent in ASL, would agree with me.