Most sign-language vocabularies online cover only a few hundred everyday words.
Every sign you contribute unblocks a real translation, and becomes open data
that researchers, teachers, and learners can build on free, forever.
Kozha can only animate signs that exist in the dictionary. The word you add might be the one that stops coming back blank.
02
No expertise required
Describe a sign in plain language. Kozha drafts the HamNoSys for you, and a Deaf native signer reviews it before it goes live.
03
Open data, forever
Every approved sign becomes CC-licensed open data that researchers, teachers, and learners can build on. It stays free, always.
The flow
How a contribution actually works.
Step through the full flow before you start. Use the numbers below, arrow keys, or the next/prev controls.
Step 1 of 5
Pick a language. Pick a word.
Choose the sign language you sign in (BSL, ASL, DGS, LSF — and more coming), then type the English gloss you want to add. One word, one sign.
Uppercase gloss works best: ELECTRON, RAIN, HELLO.
If your language isn't listed yet, email us and we'll stand up a reviewer pool.
SIGN LANGUAGE🇬🇧
BSL — British Sign Language
GLOSS
ELECTRON
Step 2 of 5
Describe it in plain language.
Say how you'd describe the sign to a friend on the phone. Where does the hand sit? What shape is it in? How does it move? The more detail you give, the better the first draft.
No jargon required. Write like you speak.
Kozha drafts the HamNoSys for you. You can read along if you want; you don't have to write it.
“
Index finger circles at the temple,
palm facing the head. Small, tight loops — like a thought spinning.
”
handshape: indexlocation: templemovement: circle
Step 3 of 5
Fill the gaps through chat.
If something's ambiguous — palm direction, finger orientation, which hand — Kozha asks one question at a time. Answer in a sentence or tap a suggestion chip.
Three to five questions, max. Usually fewer.
You can always say “submit as-is” and let a reviewer finish it.
Kozha
Which way does the palm face when the hand is at the temple?
Toward the headAway from the headDownward
You
Toward the head.
Kozha
Step 4 of 5
Watch the avatar perform it.
Tap Play to watch the sign. Click any chip to see what it controls, or tell the chat what to change.
HamNoSys · DGS · HAMBURG1^
HAMBURG1^ · DGS
Step 5 of 5
Submit for Deaf review.
A Deaf native signer of the language reviews and validates. Once two reviewers approve, the sign goes live in the translator — and stays there, free, forever.
Your submission gets a permanent link you can share.
Approved signs land in /progress so everyone can see the growing coverage.
ELECTRON · BSLsubmitted
draft
pending_review
validated
exported
permanent linkkozha.dev/contribute/s/x7Q…
Contributions are paused
Contributions are paused while we seat reviewers. Email the governance address below to be notified when the queue opens.
Contribution backend is currently offline. You can save a draft locally, and we'll upload it when the backend is available.
Pick a language to begin
Which sign language are you contributing to?
Tap a language — we'll take you straight into drafting.
Suggest a sign language
Tell us which sign language is missing — a maintainer will review your suggestion. We don't auto-add languages because every corpus needs a license and a Deaf reviewer.
Thanks — a maintainer will review your suggestion.
We don't auto-add languages because every corpus needs a license and a Deaf reviewer. We'll reach out if we need more detail.
Advanced: use your own OpenAI API key (optional)
If the shared project key is unavailable or rate-limited, paste your own OpenAI key here. It stays in this browser and is sent directly to the Kozha backend on your requests only.
·
No sign selectedDraft—
Resume this draft
To resume this draft, paste the resume token shown when you first created it.
1Describe
2Clarify
3Preview
4Submit
restored from your last visit
Authoring: in —
Clarification
Preview
Preview unavailable in this environment. The sign can still be submitted; the HamNoSys below is what the reviewer will evaluate.
Notation
Not yet reviewed
This draft will be marked as unreviewed until a Deaf native signer of
this language
approves it.
The generated notation could not be validated. A reviewer will finish it.
Symbol
—
Hover or tap a glyph
Handshape
—
Orientation
—
Location
—
Movement
—
copied
Each tag below is one phonological slot of the sign. Click any
tag to see its meaning and pick a different option from the
same category, and the preview will re-render with your choice.
Pick a tag
Raw SiGML source
copied
Submit for review
Gloss set
Language set
Description complete
Sign generated and validrequired
Deaf native signer self-identificationoptional
At least one correction appliedoptional
Submitted
copied
Inbound language proposals
Maintainers only. Accepting prints a seed-file snippet — it does not modify any file under data/.
Discard this draft?
ASLHOUSE
Plays the SiGML the chat2hamnosys pipeline produced for the
house fixture session.
DGSHAMBURG1^
Plays the SiGML for the German Sign Language entry
HAMBURG1^ recorded in the open DGS corpus
(data/German_SL_DGS.sigml).