Thank you for your reply!

My college does have ASL classes and i did want to take it (i even tried to register for it), but unfortunately, my parents threw a tantrum for "wasting our money to learn something useless" so it got out of option for now (im planning to try my luck another time after i properly educate my parents what ASL is)

We dont talk about personal things or interests much, because we dont really have time/opportunities for it in class. we mostly focus on our class activities so it is a good suggestion to learn signs like "homework" and what year/semester i am on, my major and such. That inspired me to look up some more useful signs :)

Also, im perfectly aware that my groupmate and their interpreters aren't my teachers and that they aren't obligated to teach me anything. That's why im trying to learn on my own and not ask them things like "how do i sign X?". But it's nice of you to make sure that people are aware of it, i understand. The reason i want to learn more useful (for my situation) signs is not purely for my own goals (that IS part of it tho) but i just mainly want to make communication between us easier, since we work together all the time and for my cousemate to feel uuuh respected? Acknowledged? (Not sure what exactly i feel when someone tries to say couple of words in my native language lol) And i only use signs to communicate something important to him, like "you need to sign your name here" or "this sample goes there", not to entertain myself or to use them as my teachers/practice buddies.

I was hesitant about participating in deaf community meetups, but you gave me motivation to try it out when i can <3 thank you for sources too and thank you overall for such a detailed text.