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Accelerating Bible Translation In Sign Languages

There are many unique sign languages, many rich with intricate nuances and concepts unrelated to the surrounding spoken languages. Surveys conducted by Wycliffe Bible Translators have already identified more than 200 living sign languages, and many estimate twice that number are in existence. It is estimated that worldwide there are over one-hundred million deaf people, often marginalized within the dominant communities around them, and living within their own deaf sub-cultures.

In developing countries deafness frequently occurs at a much higher rate. It is not uncommon for babies and young children in these locales to lose their hearing before they learn to speak due to the limited availability of medical care for common conditions such as ear infections. Not knowing the spoken language, deaf children very rarely attend school, remaining illiterate throughout their lives.

The majority of sign languages in use today are undocumented, and consist of very limited vocabularies. As a result, portions of the Bible have been translated to very few sign languages. Our affiliates and partner organizations have linguists in the field who are working to understand, document, and translate the Bible into many of these sign languages. The objective of the WordSign project is to develop special 3D animation production tools for use by these field teams, greatly accelerating their delivery of the Bible in many more sign languages.

Until now, sign language material has been produced using actors and video cameras. Video production and editing is expensive, labor-intense, and very slow. In most cultures the physical appearance of the signer is crucial to acceptance of the message by the local deaf community, complicating the production of video content using human ‘actors’.

With 3D animation we are able to use photo-realistic virtual actors, whose ethnicity, sex, and age are flexibly suited to each story and audience. Issues involving long-term continued availability of the same actors, or threats to actors from antagonistic groups, are eliminated through the use of animated virtual actors. The tools and technology we are developing also enable the production of realistic scenery, greatly enhancing the communication of story context and detail.

With these quality 3D animation tools sign language translations will be:

• Easier to produce and edit
• Culturally relevant
• Consistent appearance of characters during a production
• Protect the anonymity of signers and production staff