In line with digitizing sign language, “Social Development” launches Sokoon application
The Ministry of Social Development and Family launched the Sokoon application to digitize Sign Language in cooperation with the Mada Center and funded by the Social and Sports Activities Support Fund (Daam).
The Sokoon application helps disabled people to master Sign Language interactively and smoothly, creating a social network that connects deaf and mute people with their society.
The application facilitated communication for this group in Qatar and the Arab world since Arabic words are unified. Mada Center approved the application and its accessibility to deaf and mute people.
The app is easy to use and contains educational and entertaining content designed through innovative technological techniques. It also has a wide range of educational activities and resources covering various aspects of Arabic Sign Language and its unification among the countries of the Arab region.
It builds bridges of knowledge for people with hearing disabilities, ensuring their roles in their society. Within the framework of the State of Qatar's initiative to digitize the Unified Arabic Sign Dictionary, the Sokoon application was developed and represented by the Ministry of Social Development and Family in cooperation with the League of Arab States, which aims to enhance inclusiveness and digital access for deaf people in the Arab world.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Family Council credited the State of Qatar with unifying the Arabic sign language and issuing the Unified Arabic Sign Dictionary in 2007.
The Sokoon App translates written and spoken sentences into sign language via three-dimensional characters, facilitating communication with the deaf community without the speaker needing to know Sign Language in a fun and easy way. Thus, the Sokoon application will be a very effective tool for learning sign language for other people.
The beginning on the Sokoon application was an emerging idea to raise community awareness about sign language, and from there, the idea developed into an electronic portal aiming to serve the deaf and mute group in a certain way, but the greater goal is to spread the culture of sign language to build bridges of knowledge with this group.
The application won the Mada Innovation Award and is available for free in Android and Apple's iOS systems. It contains 2637 words and 485 sentences with 20 classifications in all aspects and fields. People are unrestricted to one language since the app is multiple languages of 3.
Her Excellency Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al-Misnad, Minister of Social Development and Family, stated that work is underway to complete the project in the second phase to update the dictionary so that it contains 15,000 Arabic sentences to ensure the greatest possible benefit. She pointed out that this app contributes to service various segments of society and provides an easy-to-use app through which they can learn the Sign Language approved in the State of Qatar and also contributes to spreading it to the Arab world and the countries of Europe and America.
It is worth noting that the Social and Sports Activities Support Fund, since its establishment in 2010, has laid the foundation for many vital projects and initiatives in the social, sports and cultural fields considered essential in achieving community development.