Spreadthesign is an online

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

. Searching for words and sentences provides the corresponding signs within the target sign language. Spreadthesign is available as a

free access Free content, libre content, libre information, or free information is any kind of creative work, such as a work of art, a book, a software program, or any other creative content for which there are very minimal copyright and other legal limit ...

learning tool both as a website and an app. The project is largely supported by public institutions, public funding and public partnerships, universities and academics. Produced contents and software are published under proprietary licences.

History

The project was initiated in 2006 with only six sign languages represented. Spreadthesign is managed by the Non-governmental organization European Sign Language Centre in

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

, Sweden. The organization is financed by funds through different projects and a lot of the work is supported by volunteers. Today there are more than 610,000 videos in the database of Spreadthesign and the work to expand the number of videos and sign languages is an ongoing process. At the inauguration at the

Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Sweden) The Ministry for Foreign Affairs (, UD) is a ministry in the Government of Sweden responsible for policies related to foreign policy, democracy, human rights, international development cooperation and foreign trade. The ministry is currently h ...

on March 31, 2009, several Swedish dignitaries were present. Among them were

Queen Silvia of Sweden Silvia (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath; 23 December 1943) is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Vict ...

, the

Minister of Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

Jan Björklund Jan Arne Björklund (born 18 April 1962) is a Swedish Liberals (Sweden), Liberal politician. He was a member of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2019, representing Stockholm County (Riksdag constituency), Stockholm County, and served as leader of the Lib ...

and the

minister of culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth Lena Elisabeth Adelsohn Liljeroth (born 24 November 1955) is a Swedish politician who served as Minister for Culture and Sports from 2006 to 2014. A member of the Moderate Party, she was an MP of the Swedish Riksdag from 2002 to 2014. Person ...

. During the period 2016–2018, extensive work has been done to heighten the quality of the dictionary.

Supported languages

The sign languages represented in Spreadthesign are American Sign Language (ASL), Austrian Sign Language (ÖGS), Belarusian Sign Language, Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), British Sign Language (BSL), Chilean Sign Language (LSCH), Cuban Sign Language, Cypriot Sign Language, Bulgarian Sign Language, Chinese Sign Language (CSL), Croatian Sign Language, (HZJ) Czech Sign Language, Estonian Sign Language (ESL), Finnish Sign Language, French Sign Language (LSF), German Sign Language (DGS), Greek Sign Language, Icelandic Sign Language, Indian Sign Language, Italian Sign Language (LIS), Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Latvian Sign Language, Lithuanian Sign Language (LGK), Mexican Sign Language (LSM), Polish Sign Language (PJM), Portuguese Sign Language, Romanian Sign Language, Russian Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language (LSE), Swedish Sign Language (SSL), Turkish Sign Language (TİD), Ukrainian Sign Language (USL) and Pakistan Sign Language (PSL). The

written language A written language is the representation of a language by means of writing. This involves the use of visual symbols, known as graphemes, to represent linguistic units such as phonemes, syllables, morphemes, or words. However, written language is ...

s represented in Spreadthesign are American English, Belarusian, British English, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, English (India), Estonian, Finnish, French, German (Austria), German (Germany), Greek (Cyprus), Greek (Greece), Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian (Belarus), Russian (Russia), Spanish (Chile), Spanish (Cuba), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu (Pakistan). Singlanguage interpreters

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Sign language

History

Supported languages

See also

References

External links