Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Social Development and Family (MoSDF) has launched the Sokoon Sign Language app funded by the Social & Sport Contribution Fund (DAAM) dedicated to digitizing the sign language in collaboration with the Qatar Assistive Technology Center (Mada).
Minister of Social Development and Family H E Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad said the work is underway to complete the second phase of the project that includes modernizing the vocabulary to contain 15,000 Arabic words to ensure the utmost benefits and services for the community segments, in addition to providing intelligible platform through which the certified sign language is taught in Qatar and disseminating it in the Arab region and countries of the world.
For her part, Assistant Undersecretary for Family Affairs at the MoSDF Sheikha Sheikha bint Jassim Al Thani thanked DAAM for its role in supporting the sustainable development in alignment with the Qatar National Vision 2030.
The accessible “Sokoon” application helps the individuals learn the sign language in a more interactive and seamless way and forge a social network that connects people with the deaf and mute individuals and promotes the feasibility of interaction and communication with the society.
The application is a solution for communication in Qatar and the Arab world, considering the existence of unified terminologies, as the App is easy to use and features an educational and recreational content through innovative technological tools, along with a combination of activities and educational resources that cover various aspects of the Arabic sign language.
“Sokoon” application has been upgraded within the framework of the State of Qatar’s initiative, represented by the MoSDF, to digitize the unified Arabic sign language vocabulary in collaboration with the Arab league. The application currently includes 2,637 words, 485 sentences, along with 20 classifications in a variety of fields and it can be surfed with Arabic, English and French languages.
Qatar is making massive efforts to empower the persons with disabilities at the local and Arab levels, especially since the country had the merit of unifying the Arabic sign language and issued the unified Arabic sign language vocabulary in 2007.
