The sign language dictionary
Spread the sign is an international web based translation tool for sign language. The tool increases the accessibility to other sign languages and simplifies the exchange between sign language users in the world.
Some key notes
This tool provides the possibility to directly translate words and sentences into sign language and is shown as video clips. These words and sentences can be shown in many different sign languages, and access is more or less immediate. The home page www.spreadthesign.com facilitates and is helpful for communication between deaf and hearing people, and for users of different sign languages in the world.
SpreadtheSign started in 2006 as a Swedish project by Social Science teacher Thomas Lydell-Olsen from the Swedish National Upper Secondary School for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired in the town of Örebro, Sweden.
It was initially funded by the European Commission and the Leonardo programme under Life Long Learning.
It is worth underlining that there is no universal sign language, which means that every country has a unique sign language, just like spoken language. More than 200.000 signs have been put into the data base, and the intention is to increase the number of signs and partner countries. SpreadtheSign is the largest dictionary of its kind in the world.
As an extension, the mobile application Spread Signs was launched in Sweden in 2011. For Android and iPhone.
The site is free to use and works so that the visitor print a word in a selected language, which is then translated visually into the chosen language.
