Thaawarchand Gehlot Launches ‘2nd Edition of ISL Dictionary’ for Hearing Impaired Persons
New Delhi: Shri ThaawarchandGehlot,Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment launched the “2nd Edition of Indian Sign Language (ISL) Dictionary” brought out by ‘Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC)’ under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), M/o Social Justice & Empowerment at a function here today. The first edition of the dictionary with 3000 words was launched on 23rd March 2018. With the second edition, dictionary includes total 6000 words under the categories of academic, legal, medical, technical and everyday terms.
The ISL Dictionary is also available on ISLRTC’s YouTube channel. Around 1000 videos have been uploaded already and the rest are in the process of being uploaded on YouTube. The videos can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFjydPMg4Dapq9vcdmGyHs8uJhiqMgUrX.
Addressing on the occasion, Shri Gehlot applauded the efforts of ISLRTC in bringing out such a useful dictionary for hearing impaired persons of our country. He said that the dictionary is intended to serve as a resource for ISL teachers, ISL learners, teachers of the hearing impaired, interpreters, parents of hearing impaired children, researchers, etc. Hearing impaired persons will benefit from this dictionary since they can look up information about a particular sign and its English/Hindi equivalents. The Dictionary includes total 6000 words under the categories of academic, legal, medical, technical and everyday terms. It has been made with the involvement of the hearing impaired community, by giving due consideration to their suggestions and understanding.The videos contain the sign, the English term for the sign and pictures where relevant. A word list is also given with the English and Hindi equivalents of the signs.
Two National Workshops were conducted from 7th-9th February, 2018 and from 22nd-24th January 2019 with hearing impaired participants from all over India to provide feedback and suggestions on ISLRTC’s Dictionary. The videos recorded in the workshops have also been included as regional signs in the Dictionary.
According to Census 2011, there are 50.71 lakh hearing impaired persons in India. Most of the hearing impaired persons use Indian Sign Language to communicate. The aim of the dictionary is to help spread the use of ISL and result in better education and employment opportunities for hearing impaired persons. The dictionary is intended to serve as a resource for ISL teachers, ISL learners, teachers of the hearing impaired, interpreters, parents of hearing impaired children, researchers, etc. Hearing impaired persons will benefit from this dictionary since they can look up information about a particular sign and its English/Hindi equivalents. The Dictionary has been made with the involvement of the hearing impairedcommunity, by giving due consideration to their suggestions and understanding.