Meet Maya, the Hand Talk’s new virtual translator

Hugo, Hand Talk’s first, and until recently, only virtual translator, is known for his friendliness and performance, helping to make the world more accessible to deaf people and encouraging hearing people to learn more about this universe. He alone represented only a portion of the world population and because of that we realized that a super reinforcement was needed.

And that’s why Maya is here! The launch of this new virtual translator has a very important meaning for us, as it increases the representation and diversity of our team!

Her name was chosen because it is short, universal, easy to memorize, and reflects beautiful symbols, such as transformation, cleanliness, and purity, in analogy to water and to love. Her sign, which would be like her “name in sign language”, was created by our network of ambassadors from Brazil, composed of d/Deaf influencers and artists.

The new virtual translator is already present in the Hand Talk application, which has been updated and has a new look. Voted as the Best Social App in the World in 2013 by the UN, the app works as a pocket dictionary that translates text and audio in English into the American Sign Language in addition to Portuguese texts and audios into the Brazilian Sign Language. 

In a scenario where most deaf people communicate through sign languages ​​and hearing people’s interest in learning them has increased, a virtual translator app can be a great help to study a new language. Now, with a black virtual translator, many people inside and outside of the deaf community can feel even more represented.

“Maya is the result of long research and conversations that we have been carrying out to make the application more diverse. Since we work so hard with diversity in terms of accessibility, she was designed with this purpose in mind and is the final representation of all this.”, emphasizes our CEO, Ronaldo Tenório.

If you are interested in getting to know Maya and seeing her translating content into different sign languages, check out the Hand Talk app.