Skip to main content

A Methodology for Assessing Translation Quality Generated by Sign Language Machine Translators: A Case Study with VLibras

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Practice (HCII 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12189))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 2550 Accesses

Abstract

Machine translation tools for sign languages are developed to reduce barriers to access to information for deaf people. However, these technologies have some limitations related to the difficulty of dealing with some specific grammatical aspects of sign languages, which can negatively influence the experience of deaf users. To address this problem, we developed a methodology for assessing the quality of the translation of machine translators from Brazilian Portuguese (PT-BR) to the Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). We apply the evaluation methodology as a study case with Libras, a Brazilian machine translate to Libras. In this experiment, some Brazilian human interpreters evaluated the treatment of some specific grammatical aspects in the application. As a result, we observed significant limitations in the translations performed by this application, indicating the need to improve the treatment of these grammatical aspects. Thus, the proposed methodology can be used by researchers and developers in the field to identify limitations and points of improvement in the process of translating a spoken-to- sign language machine translator.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    http://lavid.ufpb.br/index.php/2015/09/28/libras-tv/.

  2. 2.

    http://www.vlibras.gov.br/.

  3. 3.

    https://www.handtalk.me.

  4. 4.

    http://portal.rybena.com.br/site-rybena.

  5. 5.

    Corpus of Sentences available at https://tinyurl.com/CorpusOfSentences.

References

  1. Araújo, T.M.U.: Uma solucção para geração automática de trilhas em Língua Brasileira de Sinais em conteúdos multimídia. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Capovilla, F.C., Raphael, W.D., Mauricio, A.C.: Novo dicionário enciclopédico ilustrado trilíngue da Língua de Sinais Brasileira (Novo Deit-Libras). Transtornos de aprendizagem: da avaliação à reabilitação, pp. 165–177 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Colling, J.P., Boscarioli, C.: Avaliação de tecnologias de tradução Português-Libras visando o uso no ensino de crianças surdas. RENOTE 12(2), 5–8 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Corrêa, Y., Vieira, M.C., Santarosa, L.M.C., Biasuz, M.C.V.: Tecnologia Assistiva: a inserção de aplicativos de tradução na promoção de uma melhor comunicação entre surdos e ouvintes. RENOTE 12(1), 5–6 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Corrêa, Y., Vieira, M.C., Santarosa, L.M.C., Biasuz, M.C.V.: Aplicativos de tradução para Libras e a busca pela validade social da Tecnologia Assistiva. In Brazilian Symposium on Computers in Education (Simpósio Brasileiro de Informática na Educação-SBIE), vol. 25, no. 1, p. 164 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  6. de Quadros, R.M.: Educação de surdos: a aquisição da linguagem. Artmed Editora (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. de Quadros, R.M., Karnopp, L.B.: Língua de sinais brasileira: estudos lingüísticos. Artmed Editora (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Eco, U.: Quase a mesma coisa. Editora Record (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Felipe, T.A.: Libras em contexto: curso básico: livro do estudante (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Huenerfauth, M., Lu, P., Rosenberg, A. Evaluating importance of facial expression in American sign language and pidgin signed English animations. In: The proceedings of the 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pp. 99–106. ACM (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Huenerfauth, M., Zhao, L., Gu, E., Allbeck, J.: Evaluating American Sign Language generation through the participation of native ASL signers. In: Proceedings of the 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pp. 211–218. ACM (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Li, J., Yin, B., Wang, L., Kong, D.: Chinese Sign Language animation generation considering context. Multimed. Tools Appl. 71(2), 469–483 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-013-1541-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lima, M.A., de Araújo, T.M., Oliveira, E.S.D.: Incorporation of syntactic-semantic aspects in a libras machine translation service to multimedia platforms. In: Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Symposium on Multimedia and the Web, pp. 133–140. ACM (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Morrissey, S.: Data-driven machine translation for sign languages. Doctoral dissertation, Dublin City University (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  15. San-Segundo, R., et al.: Design, development and field evaluation of a Spanish into sign language translation system. Pattern Anal. Appl. 15(2), 203–224 (2012)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. Santana, A. P. Surdez e linguagem: aspectos e implicações neurolinguísticas. Plexus Editora (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Vieira, M.C., Corrêa, Y., Cheiran, J.F.P., Santarosa, L.M.C., Biasuz, M.C.V.: Contribuições da Teoria da Aprendizagem Multimídia e da Usabilidade para aprendizagem de Libras e Língua Portuguesa por meio de aplicativos móveis. RENOTE 12(2), 7–8 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Vieira, M.C., Corrêa, Y., Santarosa, L.M., Biazus, M.: Análise de expressões não-manuais em avatares tradutores de Língua Portuguesa para Libras. In XIX Conferência Internacional sobre Informática na Educação-TISE, vol. 10 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Xu, L., Gao, W.: Study on translating Chinese into Chinese sign language. J. Comput. Sci. Technol. 15(5), 485–490 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02950413

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luana Silva Reis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Silva Reis, L., Maritan U. de Araujo, T., Costa Aguiar, Y.P., Lima, M.A.C.B. (2020). A Methodology for Assessing Translation Quality Generated by Sign Language Machine Translators: A Case Study with VLibras. In: Antona, M., Stephanidis, C. (eds) Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Applications and Practice. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12189. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49108-6_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49108-6_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49107-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49108-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics