Uma metodologia multinível de avaliação da qualidade da tradução gerada por tradutores automáticos para libras

Abstract

The translation or interpretation of content in sign language allows deaf people to have better access to information, interaction and socialization, functioning as an accessibility tool. However, considering the complexity of the translation process between oral and sign languages, this translation when done automatically may not adequately handle all grammatical aspects of sign languages, such as: the treatment of homonymous words, adverbs of negation , directional verbs, interrogative phrases, exclamatory phrases, among others. The inadequate treatment of these aspects can compromise the user’s understanding of the translation presented by the translators and, consequently, interfere in the communication making the experience of the deaf user with these tools inadequate. Therefore, a multi-level methodology was developed to evaluate the quality of the translation of automatic translators from the Brazilian Portuguese Language (PT-BR) to the Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). The methodology presented in this work, proposes methods to evaluate the translation quality of automatic translators, with the participation of interpreters in Libras, with the participation of deaf people and without the participation of users. The proposed methodologies were evaluated based on three case studies with VLibras, an automatic translator from PT-BR to Libras. As a result, weaknesses were observed in the treatment of some grammatical aspects, which made it possible to identify points of improvement in the translation process. These methodologies can be used by researchers and developers in the field, to identify points of improvement in the process of automatic translation from oral to sign language.