Where online can I find a free American Sign Language translation program?
I prefer for this program to be browser-based, but if the only such programs available need to be downloaded, then I’m willing to download them so long as they’re free.
I want an English-to-Sign-Language translator that does it so when I enter a sentence and press “Submit,” a Flash animation of hand movements show me exactly how to sign that sentence.
So, where can I find such a translating program?
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7 Answers
The only ASL programs I’m aware of are Word-to-Sign, not sentence to sentance. The syntax and grammar, including word/sign order & facial grammar, are different and too complex. The best way to truly learn American Sign Language, is in person, with a native Deaf signer highly preferable as the teacher.
@BraveWarrior is right. First of all “Sign Language” is not a language, but a modality. There are many Signed Languages throughout the world.
And just like with any automated translation software out there it will not do a very good job. I would not want to learn Spanish using the Gooogle translator.
Also because of this modality, as BraveWarrior said, facial grammar, space, and affect are very hard for a flash animation to produce accurately. There are some amazing examples of well done animation in very accurate and fluent Sign Language, but these are animated “manually” and are not produced automatically by a computer.
I do recommend you find your closest community college that teaches a Sign Language (Assuming you are in in the US, that would be ASL. UK = BSL. Australia = AUSLAN. Canada = ASL or LSQ). Please don’t make the mistake of using a dictionary of some type (like the link provided above) and match English words to signs. That will not be respected by most members of the Deaf/Signing Community. Also you will most likely not be able to produce intelligible sentences without the appropriate grammar.
@Noon
American Sign Language is, indeed, a language with all of the factors that make a language a language. It has its own grammar rules, structure, vocabulary and culture that do not correspond with English. That is why it is taught in high school and in colleges and universities as a foreign language. There are other signed languages in the world that would fit this same description.
Signed English and Signed Exact English are a different matter. Simply signing any spoken language word-for-word is not a language. The website provided:
http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi
is a cool tool but not a way to learn a language.
@justmesuzanne Please read my whole post before commenting on it. Thanks :-)
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