Author : Udit Barde and Dr. A. S. Ghotkar

Currently there is a lot of research going on in the domain of sign language interpreters, many sign-to-text, text-to-sign, speech-to-sign, automatic conversion systems are being developed to improve the conversation between hearing-impaired people. Different countries use different sign languages, even if two countries speak same language, their sign languages are completely different. Thus, there is need for system which will translate a sign language to another sign language. The Hamburg Sign Language notation system (HamNoSys) is a type of alphabetic system for describing signs of sign language. The HamNoSys is independent of the differing regional conventions, thus enabling us to apply on virtually any sign language. By studying the similarities between different sign languages, their HamNoSys, a sign-to-sign translator can be designed which would help in strengthening then communication between different sign language users.

Keywords: Sign language conversion, sign-to-sign language translation, HamNoSys, sign writing