Sign Language Interpretation. Sign language is the language that uses signs made with the hands, mouth and other movements, such as facial expressions and body postures. Thanks to this language, deaf people can communicate with their social environment, both with other deaf people and with anyone who knows the language. While oral language communication is carried out in a vocal-auditory channel, sign language is carried out through a gesture-viso-spatial channel.
According to the World Federation of Deaf People, there are more than 70 million deaf people in the world and the different communities have been creating natural linguistic systems in each country or region, which have given rise to the different sign languages. It is estimated that there are more than 300 sign languages in the world. These are natural languages, with their own grammar and lexicon. They are not universal, nor are they mutually understandable, yet there are striking similarities between them.
As mentioned above, sign language is not universal, this creates one of the biggest problems in educating people in the deaf community and others to communicate with them. In the same way, it is always important to remember that accessibility to information and communication is a right that must be guaranteed to all people. Regardless of communicative characteristics, all people need to communicate and be informed without barriers in any area of life. Learning the sign language used in your country or hiring interpreters guarantees accessibility to information, environments, services, goods and products. In other words, obstacles that prevent a comfortable, safe and effective interaction are eliminated.
For many it is difficult to understand why there is more than one sign language, this is because they think that there must be a system invented and then given to the deaf community as an assistive device. However, it is not so. Sign language, like any other existing language, developed naturally from groups of people interacting with each other and that is why deaf communities in different countries use their own sign language. An example of this is the Nicaraguan deaf community, they invented their own sign language from scratch. This is why appropriate sign language interpreters must be hired depending on the country where the interpretation is needed to be performed. It is also important to remember that sign language does not represent spoken language. For example, American Sign Language is quite different from British Sign Language, even though English is the spoken language of both countries.
Regarding the linguistics of this language, multiple scientific studies show that this language contains all the properties and difficulties that any other oral natural language has. It has abstract phonology, which in the case of sign language is given the name of chylology. It has syntax, since it complies with the general principles of other languages, which allow us to affirm the effectiveness of morphological processes. With all this, it is further confirmed that sign languages are not at all simple, they have complicated and creative grammar, just like any other natural language.
In conclusion, accessibility to information and the opportunity to communicate fluently is a key aspect for inclusion. Countries, along with companies, must adapt to the communicative needs of deaf people to guarantee real inclusion in society. This is achieved by giving due study and importance to sign language, teaching more and more people the respective sign language of their country, ensuring that the means of communication are accessible to deaf people through interpretation, etc.
