Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary
Toon Vandendriessche, Caro Brosens, Hannes De Durpel, Mathieu De Coster, Joni Dambre
Correct Metadata for
Abstract
Video-based sign language dictionary search – in which a user records a sign to retrieve its translation – has been increasingly studied, yet never deployed in a large-vocabulary setting. We present the first such deployment: a fully scalable video-based search system integrated into the Flemish Sign Language (VGT) Dictionary, comprising over 11,000 signs. The system, released on November 28th, 2025, requires no retraining as new signs are added, and was validated on data collected in the wild. It was developed through an equal partnership between the deaf-led Flemish Sign Language Centre (VGTC) and AI researchers from Ghent University, and shows that closing the gap between sign language research and community impact is both achievable and essential.- Anthology ID:
- 2026.eamt-2.15
- Volume:
- Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2)
- Month:
- June
- Year:
- 2026
- Address:
- Tilburg, The Netherlands
- Editors:
- Dimitar Shterionov, Eva Vanmassenhove, Mirella De Sisto, Fred Blain, Javad Pourmostafa Roshan Sharami, Lisa Lepp, Chiara Manna, Argentina Anna Rescigno, Alina Karakanta, Ayla Rigouts Terryn, Manuel Lardelli, Natalia Resende, Elena Murgolo, Janiça Hackenbuchner, Anna Zaretskaya, Miquel Esplà-Gomis, Thierry Etchegoyhen, Dagmar Gromann, Rachel Bawden, Barry Haddow, Sara Szoc, Mikel Forcada, Helena Moniz
- Venue:
- EAMT
- SIG:
- Publisher:
- European Association for Machine Translation
- Note:
- Pages:
- 31–32
- Language:
- URL:
- https://aclanthology.org/2026.eamt-2.15/
- DOI:
- Bibkey:
- Cite (ACL):
- Toon Vandendriessche, Caro Brosens, Hannes De Durpel, Mathieu De Coster, and Joni Dambre. 2026. Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2), pages 31–32, Tilburg, The Netherlands. European Association for Machine Translation.
- Cite (Informal):
- Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary (Vandendriessche et al., EAMT 2026)
- Copy Citation:
- PDF:
- https://aclanthology.org/2026.eamt-2.15.pdf
Export citation
@inproceedings{vandendriessche-etal-2026-scalable,
title = "Scalable Video-Based Search in the {VGT} Dictionary",
author = "Vandendriessche, Toon and
Brosens, Caro and
De Durpel, Hannes and
Coster, Mathieu De and
Dambre, Joni",
editor = "Shterionov, Dimitar and
Vanmassenhove, Eva and
De Sisto, Mirella and
Blain, Fred and
Pourmostafa Roshan Sharami, Javad and
Lepp, Lisa and
Manna, Chiara and
Rescigno, Argentina Anna and
Karakanta, Alina and
Rigouts Terryn, Ayla and
Lardelli, Manuel and
Resende, Natalia and
Murgolo, Elena and
Hackenbuchner, Jani{\c{c}}a and
Zaretskaya, Anna and
Espl{\`a}-Gomis, Miquel and
Etchegoyhen, Thierry and
Gromann, Dagmar and
Bawden, Rachel and
Haddow, Barry and
Szoc, Sara and
Forcada, Mikel and
Moniz, Helena",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the {E}uropean Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2)",
month = jun,
year = "2026",
address = "Tilburg, The Netherlands",
publisher = "European Association for Machine Translation",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.eamt-2.15/",
pages = "31--32",
ISBN = "9789403901404",
abstract = "Video-based sign language dictionary search {--} in which a user records a sign to retrieve its translation {--} has been increasingly studied, yet never deployed in a large-vocabulary setting. We present the first such deployment: a fully scalable video-based search system integrated into the Flemish Sign Language (VGT) Dictionary, comprising over 11,000 signs. The system, released on November 28th, 2025, requires no retraining as new signs are added, and was validated on data collected \textit{}in the wild. It was developed through an equal partnership between the deaf-led Flemish Sign Language Centre (VGTC) and AI researchers from Ghent University, and shows that closing the gap between sign language research and community impact is both achievable and essential."
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%0 Conference Proceedings %T Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary %A Vandendriessche, Toon %A Brosens, Caro %A De Durpel, Hannes %A Coster, Mathieu De %A Dambre, Joni %Y Shterionov, Dimitar %Y Vanmassenhove, Eva %Y De Sisto, Mirella %Y Blain, Fred %Y Pourmostafa Roshan Sharami, Javad %Y Lepp, Lisa %Y Manna, Chiara %Y Rescigno, Argentina Anna %Y Karakanta, Alina %Y Rigouts Terryn, Ayla %Y Lardelli, Manuel %Y Resende, Natalia %Y Murgolo, Elena %Y Hackenbuchner, Janiça %Y Zaretskaya, Anna %Y Esplà-Gomis, Miquel %Y Etchegoyhen, Thierry %Y Gromann, Dagmar %Y Bawden, Rachel %Y Haddow, Barry %Y Szoc, Sara %Y Forcada, Mikel %Y Moniz, Helena %S Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2) %D 2026 %8 June %I European Association for Machine Translation %C Tilburg, The Netherlands %@ 9789403901404 %F vandendriessche-etal-2026-scalable %X Video-based sign language dictionary search – in which a user records a sign to retrieve its translation – has been increasingly studied, yet never deployed in a large-vocabulary setting. We present the first such deployment: a fully scalable video-based search system integrated into the Flemish Sign Language (VGT) Dictionary, comprising over 11,000 signs. The system, released on November 28th, 2025, requires no retraining as new signs are added, and was validated on data collected in the wild. It was developed through an equal partnership between the deaf-led Flemish Sign Language Centre (VGTC) and AI researchers from Ghent University, and shows that closing the gap between sign language research and community impact is both achievable and essential. %U https://aclanthology.org/2026.eamt-2.15/ %P 31-32
Markdown (Informal)
[Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary](https://aclanthology.org/2026.eamt-2.15/) (Vandendriessche et al., EAMT 2026)
- Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary (Vandendriessche et al., EAMT 2026)
ACL
- Toon Vandendriessche, Caro Brosens, Hannes De Durpel, Mathieu De Coster, and Joni Dambre. 2026. Scalable Video-Based Search in the VGT Dictionary. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual Conference of the European Association for Machine Translation (Volume 2), pages 31–32, Tilburg, The Netherlands. European Association for Machine Translation.