Being able to text in hand signs means that the nuance of ASL isn’t lost in translation.
Some of the signs available in the Signily keyboard app.
Signily is a new mobile keyboard app for sending texts and emails in American Sign Language, which means signers can finally communicate over mobile with the nuance and texture of ASL, not just written English.
"In the recent times, the signing community would use Instagram, Vine or SnapChat to express thoughts in ASL and Glide to send video-texts instead of typing in English through any SMS-based messenger," Suzanne Seckler, product lead for Signily told BuzzFeed News. But communicating over video has obvious limitations – you can't hold the phone when you're signing with both hands, and you don't want to do it with bedhead or in your pajamas. "For a long time, the signing community has craved for something like this," she said about the app.
Certain signs in ASL simply don't have a good English translation. Stecker gives this example:
"This sign, as often used by the younger generation, comes in several meanings depending on the context: high-caliber person either in a positive or negative light," she explained.
There are also some communication nuances other than words themselves that are unique. For example, when hearing English speakers are scrambling for our next thought or pausing we say "hmmm" or "ummm", but in ASL that's expressed through a wiggling hand like this:
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