Many people question how you can take ASL, American Sign Language, as a Foreign Language credit when it is not used in another country. Long ago ASL was not recognized as a formal language. Although ASL was formally started in the United States in 1817, it wasn't until 1960 when William Stokoe, a professor at Gallaudet University, proved ASL to be a true natural language for the deaf. Below is a formal definition of what makes any language considered a “formal language”: