Arabic/English symbol dictionary: early challenges and technological opportunities

Over the last ten years there has been an expansion in the number of symbol sets available to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) users, their therapists, teachers and carers. They have tended to be developed in USA or Europe with English or European language word lists, although some have other language options including Arabic. The problem is that few show the traits of true localisation where solutions have to be found for “the differences between cultures and the problems that are likely to occur because of these differences” (Evers et al., 2000). Researchers have shown in relation to symbol use for communication that it is important to have: • translucency (How appropriate is a proposed symbol for a suggested meaning?) (Bloomberg et al. 1990),• guessability (Can subjects guess the intended meaning of a symbol?) (Hanson & Hartzema 1995, Dowse & Ehlers 2001,2003), and• iconicity (How distinctive are the symbols?) (Haupt & Alant 2003).Simple language translations may offer word for word matching within the lexicons, but they tend to miss the issues of local colloquial vocabulary, cultural, social and environmental differences which can all impact on the speed of communication especially when using many inappropriate icons, pictorgrams and other types of imagery to support dialogue and literacy skills