If you have ever wondered how a word is signed in another country, there is a free tool built for exactly that question. Spread the Sign is an online, multilingual sign language dictionary that lets you search for a word and see how it is signed across many different sign languages.
What Is Spread the Sign?
Spread the Sign is a free dictionary available as a website and as an app. Users type in a word or sentence and watch the matching signs in video form. The project began in 2006 and was founded by Thomas Lydell. It is managed by the European Sign Language Centre, a non-governmental organization based in Orebro, Sweden.
The Numbers
According to its Wikipedia entry, the dictionary now covers 34 sign languages and more than 610,000 signed videos, alongside about 36 written languages. The collection keeps growing, and adding videos and languages is ongoing work.
How It Is Funded and Built
Spread the Sign is financed through funds from various projects and is largely supported by public institutions, public funding, and partnerships with universities and academics. Volunteers carry much of the workload, and the organization has only two employees. That is a small team for a resource this big.
Who Benefits
- Deaf travelers and students who want to compare signs between countries
- Interpreters and teachers looking up vocabulary in another sign language
- Families and learners picking up their first signs
- Researchers studying how different sign languages express the same idea
A Note on International Sign
It is important to know that Spread the Sign is not International Sign. It is a dictionary of many separate national sign languages, shown side by side. International Sign (IS) is a different thing: a contact form of signing used at international events. Still, tools like Spread the Sign help Deaf people discover how signing differs and overlaps across countries, which is exactly the kind of awareness that makes cross-border communication easier.
The Takeaway
Spread the Sign is a free, volunteer-powered resource that makes the diversity of the world’s sign languages easy to explore. If you are learning, teaching, or simply curious, it is well worth bookmarking.
Interested in International Sign or the global Deaf community? Follow OneDeafWorld.com for more coverage of IS, accessible technology, and events from around the world.