We would like to introduce you to another project that is very close to our hearts. That’s why we’ve been supporting it from the beginning of its development by providing a server.
It’s about SignDict, the online dictionary for German Sign Language.
We spoke with Bodo Tasche, the founder of SignDict, about his work, his motivation, and the history of German Sign Language.
As a “Child of a Deaf Adult” (CODA), Bodo’s first language is German Sign Language, as both of his parents are deaf, making spoken German his second language. Additionally, Bodo is a software developer, and the idea for an interactive dictionary came to him with the emergence of the first videos on the internet.
The project was funded by the Prototype Fund, and covers all other costs through donations. Anyone can upload videos with new signs and participate. This way, the dictionary often contains multiple signs for the same word, highlighting the history of German Sign Language.
Unlike spoken dialects, which developed geographically and vary from region to region, dialects in sign language arose due to discrimination and misconceptions.
In the late 19th century, signing was prohibited. Up until the 1980s, deaf students in German schools were forbidden to communicate through sign language. It was believed that it would be more beneficial for children and adolescents to learn spoken language and lip-reading.
Despite the prohibition, students communicated with each other in sign language during breaks and free time, often creating new signs for the same word or expression to circumvent the rules.
It wasn’t until 2001 that German Sign Language was officially recognized, following research by both hearing and deaf researchers into the grammar and unique characteristics of the long-used sign language.
SignDict is free to use, and the videos can be used in lessons or for learning sign language.
As an internet service provider and network technician, we enable people to communicate with each other every day. Supporting a project like SignDict is, therefore, a given for us.
