Automated Sign Language Translator adds Gestures to Subtitle

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
We've seen quite a few devices designed to help hearing impaired users communicate via phone or computer, but Japan's NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories has just announced a new animated translation system to help get important news to deaf viewers. While televised subtitles may work for those who understand the language, people who were born deaf and learned sign language from an early age can have significantly more difficulty.
 
I wonder if xtranormal.com will pick this up. I'd love for a new way to insult deaf people.

Does anyone know if sign language is international -- that is, has no variants per language or culture?
 
If that is ported for ASL that might be great(My wife is deaf and I had to learn sign language fast when I met her),but mostly interpreters are used when they need help in meeting people. I guess if this to take the place of interpreters it might work,but seems impersonal to me.
 
venm11 said:
I wonder if xtranormal.com will pick this up. I'd love for a new way to insult deaf people.

Does anyone know if sign language is international -- that is, has no variants per language or culture?
Click to expand...

Why would you want to insult deaf people? And sign language is not universal,the signs used for each language be it Russian,French,etc are different and you'd have a extremely difficult time trying to "talk".
 
I've been watching the sign language version of the news a lot more since the quake. They use furigana for all the kanji (They RARELY do on regular news), making it easier to understand.
 
OldDeadOne said:
Why would you want to insult deaf people? And sign language is not universal,the signs used for each language be it Russian,French,etc are different and you'd have a extremely difficult time trying to "talk".
Click to expand...

Because deaf people suck! haha. Seriously though--- did you not realize I was joking?
 
This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I have a deaf friend, and through him several deaf acquaintances. They are deaf, not stupid, and THEY CAN READ. If they can't, they need a kick in the ass to learn to read, just like any other kid in a developed country. Subtitles are already available in various languages, and its relatively unobtrusive and requires no additional expense and adds next to nothing to the file size.

The point of gestures is only for when it is impractical to transcribe a conversation, although with today's technology even that is rarely the case as so many people can type so quickly that its easy enough to hook up a laptop to a projector and have it translated just about as fast as you can sign what the speaker is saying... and even faster actually if you have a transcript in advance (just about everyone uses a teleprompter).
 
Ducman69,if they went to a deaf and blind school,their comprehension of the english language is different as they are not taught like you and me when we went to high school. The only difference would be if a deaf kid went to a regular high school(I know of one in which the parents had her go to a regular school). Sure they can read and write,it's just not the same. Teleprompters LOL. a lot of deaf use interpreters in daily life when they have to meet hearing people. I have been married 35 years to my deaf wife and wouldn't trade that for anything. One of the best things that have happened have been closed captioning and video conferencing with other deaf people throughout the country(and I suspect worldwide if both know each other languages signs).
 
Curiously, is sign language universal? Like say, the sign for "I walked the dog this morning" would be the same in both Japan and US?
 
I'm deaf, and no sign language isn't universal, just like any language, different regions have their own versions.
 
Sly,you can say " I walked a dog this morning" in ASL but would would mean nothing to someone who did Japanese sign language unless that person also knew ASL,the signs are totally different.
 
Sly said:
Curiously, is sign language universal? Like say, the sign for "I walked the dog this morning" would be the same in both Japan and US?
Click to expand...

sadly no. there are literally dozens if not hundreds of different sign languages. People tend to develop their own in different deaf communities. That doesn't mean that they correspond to the spoken languages of the area (in fact as often as not they have little to do with what is called "manually coded languages"). to add to the confusion there are several families of the different sing languages that make them similar but not the same. ASL is about as close as a "standard" sign language as any. I would imagine that others here could explain it far better having dealt with it more
 
Sly said:
Curiously, is sign language universal?
Click to expand...
Only certain words like "you're number 1" signified by holding up your middle finger.
OldDeadOne said:
Ducman69,if they went to a deaf and blind school,their comprehension of the english language is different as they are not taught like you and me when we went to high school.
Click to expand...
They can learn to read and write just like anyone else, and if they are lacking in that area, they don't need a new technology to get around that limitation, they need a tutor to give them extra help to master reading and writing.
 
It's hard than you think,man and you are lacking in understanding deaf culture.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top