Who uses Sign Language? Obviously Sign Language is used by the hearing impaired and their families, but it is also used by Sign Language interpreters. You might think, then aren’t the interpreters trembling with fear at the announcement of these new finger-spelling gloves which translate sign into speech? But can the Enable Talk Gloves really provide ASL interpreting services? If you were asked this question, your answer would probably be “of course!”; however, it is not as simple as that!
Enable Talk Gloves vs. Sign Language Interpreters
Sign Language is not a universal language: it is does not therefore allow a deaf person from one country to communicate with deaf people from other countries. There are in fact as many sign languages as there are spoken languages, and each country has its own just as each country has its own way of counting on one’s fingers or gesturing “yes” or “no” using one’s head. A Bulgarian, for example, shakes their head to say “yes” and nods to say “no” which is the exact opposite of an American.
Moreover, just as spoken language uses words, Sign Language uses gestures, and these gestures in turn represent ideas. But Sign Language is not structured in the same way as spoken language, so there is no point in interpreting gestures as if they were words. Sign language takes advantage of iconicity to create signs and these also depend on facial expressions and obviously the context in which something is being said. Thus, Sign Language, just like spoken language, is affected by many para-linguistic factors.
So, how do the Enable Talk Gloves work? There is an electronic system set up to recognize hand signs and more specifically finger-spelling used in sign language. There are fifteen sensors that are able to detect these signs by recognizing the position of the fingers and the hand. The sensors are connected to a Smartphone through Bluetooth. The sensors convert gestures into letters, and these are then converted into words by a Smartphone, which in turn converts them into speech. Yes, it sounds mesmerizing, but are they really going to replace the need for interpreters?
No doubt they will definitely help the hearing impaired communicate with individuals who are not fluent in Sign Language. But they will not be able to take the place of ASL interpreters since Enable Talk Gloves cannot interpret context or recognize the vast spectrum of ideas that are expressed by human beings. Thus, ASL interpreters will still be required!
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