>

And between floors at the Narkina 5 imperial prison complex
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Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
(For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >

Morse code. Semaphore. International maritime flags. Literally anything displayed on a screen or written on paper. >

If you're gonna use a medium, then all languages work. Radios, paper ect. >

Are your hands not a medium for sign language
You could write on your hands >

And air a medium for voice >

There's no air in the Vacuum of space >


if you’re gonna use a medium  

That’s my point, if you change it to allow mediums like the top level comment said anything could work including voice through air >

But we are talking about mediums for languages that you can use in the Vacuum of Space so your point is moot.
P.S.
Radio waves can propagate through Vacuum which is why it was mentioned as an example. >

This was one of my favorite details in The Expanse.  Belters, who spend a lot of time out in space, have a lot of common gestures for situations where you're out in vacuum, they have signals for things like "no comms," "do not approach," "explosion hazard," and such. 
Even when they're inside, none of their communication gestures involved your hands/arms being in front of your torso.  Their gestures are bigger, with arms out and away from the torso for better visibility.  There's tons of lines in the books like "Naomi gave a Belter shrug..." which isn't just a shoulder movement like Earth- or Mars-born people usually do, but involves both arms being extended out and raised in a shrug-like motion. >

And, if I recall, they don't nod/shake their heads, but rather their fists, held up/out near the helmet >

That is correct >

The Expanse had a whole system for Belters(People born in space) to communicate efficiently in a vacuum, the show is great and the books are as well. >

You know can write things down and read things in space right? Grab a flashlight. >

Yeah that would work better.
Get a grease pencil that has been thickened so it is easier to hold in spacesuit gloves, and write what you need to say on a smooth piece of metal or a window.
Or, just do what real Astro/Cosmo/Taikonauts do, and use your spacesuit's built in radio to talk to whoever you need to. >

If you are in space without a suit you die. If you have a suit you probably have a radio to communicate >

Read/watch any sci-fi in space and you know you should prepare for the situation where you've got your suit but no comms. 
But sign language is far from the only way to do it. >

For all of 12 seconds before you pass out from lack of oxygen. >

Binary code works really well.  So well in fact we can get communications from beyond Saturn. >

Not really a language as much as, well, a code ;p >

It's very much a language.  It's a language that's more complex than just an alphabet as sound, color and motion are also included in it's texts.
It's like saying the alphabet isn't a language.  You're right, it's the fundamentals of language. >

Exactly. The alphabet isn't a language. Its a code that can be used to, well, encode languages. Using binary code you can definitely encode images, languages, instructions etc, it's super useful
As a side note, I should say that the alphabet is not fundamental to language, it's a tool we've invented to represent languages in another medium. >

Not with the gloves on the current generation of spacesuits.
Sure, they're dexterous enough to allow you to use tools, but a lot of the fine motor skills needed to do some of the more subtle signs are out of the question. And you can forget about fingerspelling. >

There are many different sign languages, so this is just plain wrong. >

All languages work in a vacuum, you just need to write them down. Unless it's very dark then nothing will work. >

Braille? 
Might have to be bigger font braille (is that a thing?) to be able to sense it through whatever protective gear the reader might be wearing. >

Unless you press your helmets together. The series 'The Expanse' has neat scientific tidbits like this all over it. >

I'm beginning to think this subreddit isn't /r/ShowerThoughts but /r/FalseThoughts >

The old tin cans and a string trick might work.  Hold each can against each helmet and see if you can communicate along the string. >

There you go. Sound wont travel because no medium, so give it a medium. I wonder if with the helmet the can is even necessary >

Tin cans and string are the medium. >

Yes I get that, I mean to say that you are giving space the medium. But the sound might transmit right through the string if they press it tightly to the helmet. Or it could be trash science, just thinking out loud >

Wich one ? The US one ? International french ? Toddler one ? Etc. >

I’m a hearing person who dated a Deaf person for 3 years. Learned ASL, learned the culture.
Now that I’m predominantly back in the hearing world, I so wish more hearing people new sign language as it is extremely useful in a multitude of circumstances. >

City traffic mostly makes me feel this way. >

There are a lot of instances where deaf people have an innate advantage >

How would sign language work with the thick gloves you have to wear?  Have you seen an astronaut? >

pointing out the obvious here, but
sign language is not a language any more than spoken language is a language.
It's a mode of communication.
BSL for example is a language, a signed language just like Swahili is a spoken one >

It can be assumed that when someone says “sign language”, they are talking about their local sign language. When American people say “sign language”, they mean American Sign Language. When Chinese people say “sign language”, they mean Chinese Sign Language. “Sign Language” is part of the name of the language so it is an acceptable abbreviation. Like how The United States of America is often abbreviated to just America. Or how The Russian Federation is often abbreviated to just Russia.
Spoken languages do not have abbreviations like this because “spoken language” is not part of any language name. No one says “French Spoken Language”. >

Hmm….  It’s also more effective underwater than spoken language too. >

Oh and between cars that are going 100 miles per hour. >

…. and through glass.