A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Is There Any Hope for Developing Automated Translation Technology for Sign Languages? (2021)

Jantunen, T., Rousi, R., Rainò, P., Turunen, M., Moeen Valipoor, M., & García, N. (2021). Is There Any Hope for Developing Automated Translation Technology for Sign Languages?. In M. Hämäläinen, N. Partanen, & K. Alnajjar (Eds.), Multilingual Facilitation (pp. 61-73). Helsingin yliopisto. https://doi.org/10.31885/9789515150257.7

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Jantunen, Tommi; Rousi, Rebekah; Rainò, Päivi; Turunen, Markku; Moeen Valipoor, Mohammad; García, Narciso

Parent publication: Multilingual Facilitation

Parent publication editors: Hämäläinen, Mika; Partanen, Niko; Alnajjar, Khalid

ISBN: 979-871-33-6227-0

eISBN: 978-951-51-5025-7

Publication year: 2021

Pages range: 61-73

Number of pages in the book: 313

Publisher: Helsingin yliopisto

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31885/9789515150257.7

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/75259

Abstract

This article discusses the prerequisites for the machine translation of sign languages. The topic is complex, including questions relating to technology, interaction design, linguistics and culture. At the moment, despite the affordances provided by the technology, automated translation between signed and spoken languages – or between sign languages – is not possible. The very need of such translation and its associated technology can also be questioned. Yet, we believe that contributing to the improvement of sign language detection, processing and even sign language translation to spoken languages in the future is a matter that should not be abandoned. However, we argue that this work should focus on all necessary aspects of sign languages and sign language user communities. Thus, a more diverse and critical perspective towards these issues is needed in order to avoid generalisations and bias that is often manifested within dominant research paradigms particularly in the fields of spoken language research and speech community.

Keywords: sign language; translating; computer-assisted translation; human-computer interaction

Free keywords: automated sign language translation; machine translation; human computer interaction; interaction design

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 0