Transmit the power of the soul: Sign language Braille has a "national standard"
Editor's note
Sign language and Braille are special forms of language and characters, important tools for thinking, learning and communication for the hearing and visually disabled, and an important part of the national language and writing.
However, problems such as large differences in sign language play in different regions and irregular braille spelling have restricted the communication and interaction between more than 30 million hearing and visually disabled people in our country to a certain extent, and even affected their daily study, employment and life.
Therefore, it is very important to promote the national common sign language and national common braille.
This issue of "Language and Written" focuses on how to better promote the popularization and application of sign language "Mandarin" and Braille "standardized characters" to protect the language rights of the visually and hearing impaired.
Braille informatization promotes barrier-free interaction (Author: Zhong Jinghua)
Braille is the core of the language rights of the visually disabled, the key to improving the level of cultural education for the blind, and the guarantee for the blind to share cultural rights and equal educational rights.
Promoting the informatization of Braille and the standardization of publication is related to the improvement of the cultural quality of the more than 17 million visually disabled people in our country, and the process of achieving an all-round well-off for the disabled.
This is a tough battle to get rid of poverty in the spiritual and cultural life of the visually disabled in the 14th Five-Year Plan after the material life has been lifted out of poverty during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan".
During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the "National General Braille Program" issued by the Ministry of Education, National Language Commission, and China Disabled Persons' Federation solved the problem of irregular braille pronunciation that has been unresolved for nearly 70 years. Under the premise of maintaining the stability of braille and the connection between the old and the new , Realized the transition from "guessing" to "reading" in Braille, and ended the history of "guessing" in Braille.
The national universal braille can accurately record the phonology, rhyme and tone of the national universal language, so that blind people in our country have a writing tool equivalent to the function of Chinese pinyin, and can accurately use the national universal language.
The national universal braille has achieved the standardization of pronunciation, and the problem of word segmentation and writing has become a stumbling block to the further standardization and informatization of the national universal braille.
In the process of corpus construction, we discovered the full picture of the problem of Braille word segmentation. Violations of grammar, semantic logic, and pragmatic habits are everywhere, and there are a large number of scattered monosyllables.
Write within the same semantic unit, and write consecutively between two different semantic units.
A large number of typical examples of "no connection for the company, no score for the point" circulating among blind people have emerged.
The current word segmentation not only failed to realize the original intention of improving the ability of Braille to express meaning, but also became the final bottleneck of the national standardization and informatization of Braille.
It is imminent to develop a complete system, logical self-consistent, concise detailed rules, and high operability rules for word segmentation and writing in many fields such as blind school teaching.
The concise word segmentation and writing rules are coupled with a high-precision intelligent word segmentation and writing thesaurus. The combination of "rules + thesaurus" can take into account the needs of Braille teaching, publishing, informatization and standardization.
From Chinese characters to Braille translation, the core difficulty lies in word segmentation and pronunciation labeling.
The word segmentation and writing rules of Braille involve semantic and grammatical information, which are difficult to be described and processed by the computer, resulting in poor performance of the rule-based method.
In view of the current problems of Chinese-blind translation, it is necessary to introduce the latest deep learning technology, based on the machine learning model to automatically learn Braille word segmentation rules and polyphonic characters, soft-sound discrimination rules, to achieve high-accuracy Chinese-blind translation.
In view of the problem that braille and Chinese characters are stored separately, braille documents are likely to lose the corresponding Chinese character information. It is necessary to study and formulate the national general braille holographic (braille-pinyin-Chinese character) storage standard, and realize the contrast storage of braille-pinyin-Chinese characters at the string level. , So that when reading electronic Braille documents, blind people can obtain one or more precise comparison information of Braille, Chinese characters, and Pinyin at any time as needed, and can further convert it into voice and other channel information, realizing multi-channel and multi-channel information. Modal holographic reading experience.
At present, there is still great room for improvement in braille proofreading.
Research and develop braille translation "one-to-multiple-blind" support technology.
One-to-one cooperation between the sighted person and the blind in the braille proofreading process. The blind person can touch and read the braille content, and the discerned person will check and correct the original text to carry out thorough technological innovations, realize the basic independent barrier-free completion of the proofreading process for the blind, and replace the collaboration brought by the two A proofreading mode with complex workflow, low efficiency and high cost.
In response to the national general braille publishing and application research issues, in-depth development of the error correction function of braille editing software, support sample training, sample learning, and data reuse of manual error correction results of different users.
On the basis of correct understanding of the content of the original text, the voice reading and braille display of the proofreading process can be realized, and the computer keyboard shortcuts can be used to quickly and directly check and compare the original text and braille.
Introduce online network error correction service to realize automatic error correction and proofreading of various problems in Chinese text such as word segmentation, standardization, punctuation, and difficult words. At the same time, it prompts the error position in the original text and braille and returns the modification suggestions.
The shortcut keys can be used to view the results of each error correction, and the error correction content can be manually corrected twice, so that the blind can operate without obstacles.
At present, the braille information processing technology on mobile electronic devices is not perfect. In order to narrow or eliminate the "information gap", it is necessary to carry out research and application of braille information processing technology on mobile electronic devices.
Focus on breaking through the problems of Braille information and interactive accessibility on smart electronic devices.
Research on the algorithm for the conversion of braille and dot Chinese character encoding, and lay the foundation for braille speech recognition and conversion.
Research the key technologies of blind touch gesture collection, cleaning, normalization, data labeling, data training, model calculation and so on.
Research the construction methods of multi-touch gesture recognition, Braille and gesture relationship matching.
Study the two-way conversion of national braille and speech, and realize the speech recognition and speech output of braille.
In addition, research on the key technologies of Braille information processing for mathematical formulas, circuit diagrams, geometric diagrams, and music scores is also an important way to accelerate the standardized and informatization of Braille.
The construction of special language disciplines provides scientific support for the standardization of sign language Braille (Author: Gu Dingqian)
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's sign language and braille standardization activities have entered a "golden period", and a series of important results have been achieved.
At the same time, we must be soberly aware that there are still many short versions of sign language and braille that need to be made up quickly.
For example, the Second National Action Plan for the Standardization of Sign Language and Braille (2021-2025) continues a basic judgment of the first phase of the action plan, that is, the construction of the disciplines of sign language and braille in my country started late and there is a shortage of professional talents.
Therefore, in the guiding ideology of the second phase of the standardized action plan, it is proposed: "accelerate the construction of disciplines and talents, and provide language support for the hearing and visual disabilities to receive high-quality education and participate in social life on an equal basis." At the same time, "sign language and "Blind literature professional construction, talent training and further enhancement of basic research capabilities" will be one of the basic tasks in the next five years.
From the first phase of the plan to the second phase of the plan, the issue of the construction of sign language and braille majors has been repeatedly raised, which is a deepening of our country's understanding of sign language and braille work.
The standardization of sign language and Braille has been going on for more than half a century. However, due to various reasons, this work lacked strong academic support and theoretical guidance for a long time in the past, and detours inevitably appeared.
Just as the basic principles of Marxism say: a theory divorced from practice is an empty theory, and practice without theoretical guidance is a blind practice.
Therefore, the standardization of sign language and braille is not only a job and a career. At the same time, as a special language, sign language and braille are also a subject, with their own knowledge system, research objects, research characteristics, and research methods.
They need specialized people to study and research and form their own professional talent team.
The standardization of sign language and braille needs to be guided by the subject theory of special language, and the subject theory of special language will also be enriched and developed in the practice of standardization.
Now our country has reached the key node where we must promote the construction of special language disciplines as soon as possible to provide scientific support for the standardization of sign language and braille.
The discipline construction of special languages needs to rely on majors, and universities are the main front.
It is undeniable that the formation and development of a new discipline requires a process of academic accumulation. It is inseparable from the support and help of the government and all walks of life, and it is also inseparable from the endogenous motivation of the school. I hope that more first-class institutions can cultivate special In the language and writing discipline, more experts, scholars and young students pay attention to and concentrate on the linguistic research of sign language and braille.
To this end, the second phase of the plan proposes two measures: First, “support qualified colleges and universities and research institutions to set up sign language and Braille-related majors, and conduct joint training with domestic and foreign colleges and universities and professional research institutions. Encourage cross-border training. Schools and interdisciplinary training of high-level professional talents in sign language and braille with a complex knowledge structure. Relevant majors are set up in the rehabilitation university, sign language and braille courses are set up, and talents with a complex knowledge and skill structure are cultivated." The second is "referring to higher institutions. The school's teacher training professional certification standards guide existing colleges and universities' sign language translation majors to carry out disciplinary reforms and comprehensively improve the quality of training. Colleges and universities with special education teacher majors should be equipped with full-time sign language and braille teachers."
The above measures clarify the two professional directions of the current stage of discipline construction and the path of how to construct them.
The author believes that sign language and braille professionals can be more focused on the cultivation of graduate level, focusing on the ontology of sign language and braille, providing high-level theoretical researchers, teachers and professional technical personnel for sign language translation majors, braille editing and reviewing.
Sign language translation can focus on training at the undergraduate level, focusing on providing applied talents with a certain professional level for special education schools, social public service departments, and independent employment.
It’s worth pointing out that the several colleges and universities currently majoring in sign language translation in my country have different administrative affiliations, different levels of training, and different upper-level disciplines of the major. The logical framework and discourse system of their current professional training programs are the same as those newly issued by the state. The document spirit of quality control for undergraduate training in colleges and universities is far away. It is urgent for relevant colleges and universities to refer to the professional certification standards of colleges and universities, to earnestly understand the basic concepts of "student-centered, output-oriented, and continuous improvement", and to build a professional The thinking is unified to the general direction of the country's relevant colleges and universities professional construction and certification management.
Promote the national common sign language Braille to reduce the cost of language communication (Author: Yuan Wei)
The national universal sign language and the national universal braille are special languages used by the hearing and visually impaired. They are an important part of the national language and have the characteristics of a large information carrying capacity and a wide range of dissemination.
Promoting the national common sign language and braille, and continuously accelerating its social application, is conducive to reducing the language cost of the hearing and visually disabled in different regions, is conducive to creating a broader social communication space for the hearing and visually disabled, and is conducive to ensuring hearing and The visually disabled fully integrate into social interactions and participate in social life on an equal footing.
During the two sessions in 2021, Tai Lihua, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and head of the Chinese Art Troupe for the Disabled, "sang" the national anthem in the national common sign language, shaking people's hearts with silent power.
In the past five years, standardized and unified national common sign language and national common braille have been quietly promoted in the social and public spheres, which has promoted the exchanges and exchanges of people with audiovisual disabilities in different regions and improved the quality of life of users.
In this year’s celebration of the centenary of the founding of the party, the national general braille facilitated the visually impaired people to learn General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech on July 1st, and the national general sign language facilitated the development of activities such as "sign language singing red songs and silent transmission of classics".
An atmosphere for the use of language that is tolerant, mutual aid, and the integration of the disabled and healthy is gradually taking shape.
For example, the national common sign language video to promote epidemic prevention, the joint prevention and control mechanism press conference will be equipped with on-site national common sign language interpreters, the national common braille and sign language courses are set up in the employment placement project for the rural poor blind and deaf, and many TV stations provide the national common sign language Public services such as judicial, medical, transportation, banking, commerce, tourism and other public service departments in many places provide national sign language services, and signs of public places and facilities use national braille, and so on.
Although the national universal sign language and the national universal braille social promotion have made some achievements, it should be clearly seen that in the process of accelerating the high-quality development of the language and writing cause and the cause of the disabled, the national universal sign language and universal braille social promotion are distributed. Problems such as imbalance, insufficient total supply, and low quality and efficiency.
Therefore, we must still insist on vigorous promotion and quality improvement, comprehensively deepen the national universal sign language and the national universal braille social promotion and application, and continue to meet the diverse social needs of the majority of hearing and visual disabilities.
The construction of the rule of law is the guarantee for the social promotion of the country's universal sign language and braille.
Accelerate the promulgation of the barrier-free environment construction promotion law, and further clarify the relevant requirements for the social promotion of the national common sign language and the national common braille; promote the revision of the "National Common Language Law" or the formulation of the "National Common Language Law" implementation measures, the national standard Relevant requirements for social promotion of sign language and general braille are included; to promote the implementation of relevant provisions of laws and regulations such as the "Protection Law for the Disabled", and "Regulations on the Construction of Barrier-free Environments" on the promotion of barrier-free information exchange.
The supply of talents is the basis for the social promotion of the national universal sign language and universal braille.
Promote the establishment of a professional mechanism for sign language translation; build a volunteer service team to provide national universal sign language and universal braille voluntary services for multiple social fields, especially emergency universal sign language and braille services; increase the number of countries that can provide national universal sign language and national braille services The resource supply of social institutions and enterprises gradually meets the special language needs of government departments, courts, hospitals, schools, enterprises and other public places; provides the national common sign language and national common braille for rural disabled e-commerce personnel and disabled workers in cities. Training services help rural revitalization.
The key area is the main front of the social promotion of the national universal sign language and universal braille.
Focus on major party, national and local events, increase the supply of national universal sign language translation and national universal braille written materials; focus on news media, and promote the establishment of national universal sign language columns (or programs) by television stations at or above the city level with districts, and broadcast programs equipped with national standards Universal sign language; focus on the application of new technologies, improve the national universal sign language and braille automatic translation technology; focus on the public service industry, support aircraft, railways, ships, subways and other public transportation to provide the national universal sign language and universal braille services for the hearing and visually disabled; Promote the excellent Chinese culture, launch the national universal braille digital reading promotion plan, continue to compile and publish the sign language version and braille version of the "Chinese Classic Reader", and build an excellent Chinese cultural resource suitable for the learning needs of the disabled.
66 countries and regions around the world have legislated to confirm the language status of sign language and guarantee its use——
Legislation to establish the language status of sign language Braille (Author: Zheng Xuan)
"The legal person is the ruler." The "Second National Sign Language and Braille Standardization Action Plan (2021-2025)" released this year highlights the importance of legal protection in many ways.
During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, my country’s sign language and braille work has achieved a lot of results, but there are still problems such as weak legislation that need to be addressed. Therefore, "the construction of sign language and braille legal system will be further improved" is the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. One of the main work goals.
my country’s sign language braille standardization work has a solid legal basis, such as the "Disabled Persons Protection Law", "National Common Language Law", "Disabled Persons Education Regulations", "Barrier-free Environment Construction Regulations", etc. The second phase of the plan clearly proposes to promote the "Chinese The National Common Language and Written Law of the People's Republic of China was revised to clarify the language rights of the hearing and visually disabled, establish the legal status of the national common sign language and national braille, and provide legal protection for the promotion and standardization of the use of national common sign language and national braille.
Strengthening the legal protection of sign language braille work is an inevitable measure to conform to the trend of the times.
Data from the World Federation of the Deaf shows that the countries and regions that have passed legislation to confirm the status of sign language have been on a continuous growth trend.
As of August 2021, 66 countries and regions around the world have passed legislation to confirm the language status of sign language and guarantee its use.
As one of the first signatory states to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, China has always attached great importance to sign language policy and planning.
Many documents issued by the China Disabled Persons’ Federation and the National Language Commission clearly pointed out that sign language and braille are special languages used by the hearing and visually disabled, and are an important part of the national language.
But so far, the language status of sign language and braille has not been clearly reflected in the revision of the "National Common Language Law".
This is the direction of work that needs to be worked hard in the next stage.
Strengthening the legal protection of sign language braille work is the inherent requirement of our country's own development.
On the one hand, bringing the language work of special populations into the framework of the national language work is of great significance for optimizing language governance, enhancing language skills, protecting language resources, and prospering language life.
On the other hand, doing a good job in the national universal sign language and universal braille is not only a language issue, but also a political issue. It is related to whether the majority of hearing and visually disabled can participate in social affairs and obtain equal resources to the greatest extent and without distinction. Whether the superiority of my country's socialist system can be fully, fully and profoundly manifested is more related to the spread of my country's national image and the promotion of cultural soft power.
Our country has a huge population and complex language usage, including sign language and braille.
Through the effective linkage of multiple departments and the joint efforts of the whole society, we should make precise efforts and long-term success to jointly promote the standardization, standardization and informatization of sign language and braille in our country.