Post by account_disabled on Oct 21, 2023 6:31:29 GMT -6
You may already know that Hand Talk's mission is to break down communication barriers between deaf and hearing people. Following precisely this purpose, we are launching a super new feature on our app ! In addition to translating Portuguese into Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) , Hugo now translates texts and audios in English into American Sign Language (ASL).
The internationalization of the app has always been in Hand Talk's cell phone number list plans and this big step was driven after our participation in the Google AI Impact Challenge . We were one of the 20 organizations selected, being the only Brazilian one, to receive a million-dollar contribution from Google.org to invest in improving the quality of Hu go's translations, also counting on mentoring and assistance from AI (artificial intelligence) professionals.
As we have already said here on the blog, Libras is not universal and there are different sign languages around the world . We chose to add American Sign Language because it is widely used. It is estimated that in the United States alone ASL is present in the communication of 500 thousand to 2 million people . Countries such as the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and some parts of Canada and Mexico also use it.
Lots of love and people involved!
In addition to all the technology, behind this new feature is an incredible team of experts in American Sign Language. Through a collaborative system, they record and tag videos of signs and sentences, improving Hugo's translation and building an increasingly comprehensive vocabulary. This data is the essential input for the artificial intelligence system to perform well and, thus, be able to provide translation into a language as rich and complete as we do with Libras.
This news marks a new chapter in the history of Hand Talk. In the words of our CEO, Ronaldo Tenório: “Now, we are taking another step towards the future, helping to make the world more inclusive and sign language even more widespread.”
Many accessibility barriers still exist, but we work all the time to make them smaller and smaller!
If you are curious and want to learn about ASL, enter our app. Language switching is available on the home screen to the right of the text field. After selecting the United States flag, all content you search in English will be translated into American Sign Language.
The internationalization of the app has always been in Hand Talk's cell phone number list plans and this big step was driven after our participation in the Google AI Impact Challenge . We were one of the 20 organizations selected, being the only Brazilian one, to receive a million-dollar contribution from Google.org to invest in improving the quality of Hu go's translations, also counting on mentoring and assistance from AI (artificial intelligence) professionals.
As we have already said here on the blog, Libras is not universal and there are different sign languages around the world . We chose to add American Sign Language because it is widely used. It is estimated that in the United States alone ASL is present in the communication of 500 thousand to 2 million people . Countries such as the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and some parts of Canada and Mexico also use it.
Lots of love and people involved!
In addition to all the technology, behind this new feature is an incredible team of experts in American Sign Language. Through a collaborative system, they record and tag videos of signs and sentences, improving Hugo's translation and building an increasingly comprehensive vocabulary. This data is the essential input for the artificial intelligence system to perform well and, thus, be able to provide translation into a language as rich and complete as we do with Libras.
This news marks a new chapter in the history of Hand Talk. In the words of our CEO, Ronaldo Tenório: “Now, we are taking another step towards the future, helping to make the world more inclusive and sign language even more widespread.”
Many accessibility barriers still exist, but we work all the time to make them smaller and smaller!
If you are curious and want to learn about ASL, enter our app. Language switching is available on the home screen to the right of the text field. After selecting the United States flag, all content you search in English will be translated into American Sign Language.