The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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thelinguist.uberflip.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER The Linguist 11 FEATURES Nick Williams. Consumer Digital Director at Lloyds, explains how the bank is improving accessibility for BSL-speaking customers Tell us about the services Lloyds bank offers speakers of BSL (British Sign Language)… Lloyds currently provides a wealth of ways for customers to interact with their bank. Alongside Text Relay and SignVideo (a signed video service that provides customers access to an online interpreter), Signly is a new tool the bank has piloted to make it easier for those whose first language is BSL to engage with the bank. Improving our services to make them simple and intuitive is key to removing barriers of financial exclusion. How does Signly work? It is an app which displays pre-recorded sign language videos on a user's mobile. The app allows customers to scan Signly-enabled literature on their smartphone, which provides translations into BSL. It was conceived and developed by Mark Applin, founder of Intermedia Solutions, and Deafax, a charity committed to transforming the lives of Deaf people through technology. Why is it so important for BSL customers to have translations of texts written in English? BSL is a unique language with its own sentence structure, and contains a number of key differences to both spoken English and Signed Supported English (SSE). This means that for people who use BSL as their first language many English-language communications are often hard to understand. The purpose of the pilot was to test whether the Signly app is a viable alternative for profoundly deaf users to engage with the bank's literature. How many customers were involved in the trial? An initial pilot was held in July with 200 BSL customers who had registered to take part. Before that our Innovation Labs trialled the technology to understand how Signly could offer an alternative option for up to 250,000 people in the UK who use BSL each day. What training did staff receive? Some of our colleagues received training as part of the trial within a controlled test-and-learn environment in our Innovation Lab. Feedback was really positive and colleagues were surprised at what a difference it could make. Will you be rolling out Signly across the country? The pilot tested the technology with a larger group of customers to get more information Signs of the times on how they find interacting with the app. Subject to the results of the pilot, the bank will look to roll out the new technology so it is available for all customers with BSL as their first language. Do you use partners and agencies to provide BSL services? We worked closely with [BSL communication agency] Positive Signs, [accessibility charity] AbilityNet and Signly to develop the Signly trial and pilot. We work with a number of partners to improve the accessibility of our products and services. By effectively working with practitioner charities and businesses, we are able to support change across the communities we serve, the financial services industry and our own colleagues. Lloyds is working with AbilityNet to accredit our websites and apps, ensuring they're accessible for people who may have sight, literacy or other needs.