Specialists translated the Constitution of Russia into the language of the deaf and dumb in 9 months

Plans for the future include translations of the Civil, Family, and Labor Codes

The first ever translation of the Constitution of Russia into the language of people with hearing impairments was presented on Monday, December 12, by its authors. The creation of the translation was carried out under the auspices of the Russian State Social University (RGSU).

Andrey Khazin, rector of the RSSU, said that 13 million people in Russia are now born deaf, and the same number lose their hearing during the first three years of life.

“So many of our fellow citizens have serious difficulties in legal matters,” — he emphasized.

The professor explained that legal literacy for the deaf and dumb is a matter of paramount importance. Many people with hearing impairments often become victims of fraud, especially in real estate matters. Often they do not understand what they sign.

The decision to create a translation of the basic law was made in February this year. The authors are several dozen specialists, including employees of the Russian Sign Language Laboratory of the RSSU. First, the specialists conducted a pre-translation analysis of the document, studied all the articles of the Constitution, then sifted through a huge amount of normative literature in order to understand the legal terms. We tried to adapt without losing the meaning. In the Constitution for the Deaf and Dumb, each article in the usual text version is accompanied by two QR codes, one provides access to simultaneous translation, which, according to Andrey Khazin, does not provide a clear understanding of the basic law in all details. This will help sign translation, which gives an understanding of the nuances of the law. In order to “read” special translations, you do not need to install special applications, an application for reading QR codes is enough.

“We, simultaneous interpreters, did an accurate translation, specialists in Russian sign language translated the Constitution according to the meaning, — said one of the authors of the translation, Tatyana Globa. — Then they turned off the sound and looked to see if the Constitution was translated into sign language clearly.”

According to the head of the Moscow city organization of the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, Alexander Bochkov, the fact that the first translation of the Constitution into the language of the deaf and dumb appeared in Moscow is very important, since the literary Russian language, as a supranational one, was created precisely on the basis of the Moscow dialect of the Russian language.

The translation of the Constitution is only the beginning, the plans for the future include the Civil, Family, and Labor Codes.