Turkey to release its own sign-language dictionary

ISTANBUL

The new dictionary will be the first one in Turkey for hearing impaired people.

The Turkish Education Ministry is set to release a new Turkish sign-language dictionary featuring 1,986 words and idioms particular to Turkish, daily Hürriyet has reported.

The new dictionary is a work in progress that the Turkish Language Association, nongovernmental organizations, academics and ministry consultants have been preparing for the past year, Education Minister Ömer Dinçer said.

“They prepared the Turkish sign-language dictionary. We are going to present the outline to the public in the following days. It is going to be Turkey’s sign-language dictionary,” he said, noting that the outline would be completed and published based on input from the public, as well as other scholars and NGOs.

“There was no alphabet or dictionary for people who are hearing-impaired. And there wasn’t any certified instructor who knew sign language. I [have worked to address] this issue since becoming a minister,” Dinçer said.

“This dictionary will be in use for the education of hearing-impaired people,” he said, adding that Turkey’s hearing-impaired community had heretofore been forced to use sign-language dictionaries that were designed for other countries. “Now, however, we have compiled a dictionary particular to us and set some standards.”

Dinçer said his ministry had organized a course for the hearing-impaired in the southern province of Antalya based on the new dictionary.

Relating the problems that many hearing-impaired people face, the minister said: “I met someone who couldn’t get out because of his impediment. To be frank, I was deeply moved.”