Sofiah Sajap et al., International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and Engineering, 9(1.1), 2020, 385 -394 385 ABSTRACT This paper is a documentation of the development of an Android mobile application ‘JARI’ that is specifically designed and developed as Malaysian Sign Language (MSL) learning application. The application name, ‘JARI’ is an acronym that stands for ‘belaJAR Isyarat’ (Learn Sign). The development of this project is triggered by the lack of available mobile MSL learning application in the market today. The main objective of this development is to design an MSL learning application on Android platform that demonstrate the MSL gesture by using 3-Dimensional (3D) animation. The application allows user to enter their own input in the form of word or simple phrases by providing speech input or by just typing in normally. The input is then translated to an animated 3D MSL gesture. ‘JARI’ allows user to translate a sentence to MSL or spell a word by using fingerspelling method. ‘JARI’ is developed by adapting the Multimedia Mobile Content Devel-opment (MMCD) methodology, the animated MSL was modelled and animated by using MakeHuman and Blender, while the interface of the application is fully developed by using Android Studio. Android Speech Application Programming Interface (API) is used to enable the speech recognition function in the application. This application is foreseen to be beneficial among deaf communities in Malaysia whom intended to learn the basic of MSL conveniently and effectively. Key words : Android Speech API; animation, JARI, Malaysian Sign Language. 1. INTRODUCTION Malaysian Sign Language (MSL or Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia) is the principal language of the deaf community in Malaysia. It was born when the Malaysian Federation of the Deaf was established in 1998 and the users has expanded among deaf leaders and participants. It was based on American Sign Language (ASL), but the two are considered different languages. According to Ethnologue [1], the population of the deaf community in Malaysia is approximately 29,500 but the population of the signers of Malaysian Sign Language is 58,700 as of 2013 and the number is probably growing. Speech Recognition is the inter-disciplinary sub-field of computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enables the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers. In this mobile application, the speech recognition technology is used with the help of Android Speech API to detect speech and will later translate it to a sign language gesture. This mobile application is based on Android platform. It will enable user to translate simple Bahasa Malaysia words or phrases to MSL. It will also help beginners and non-signers who have interest in learning MSL to learn it in easy, interactive and interesting way. The main reference for the development of this project is ‘Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia’ which was published by the Malaysian Federation of the Deaf. The book is the first and official compilations of all the signs used by the deaf community in Malaysia. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section II describes the related works that helps in the development of this application. Section III will discuss in detail about MMCD, which is the methodology used for this application development. Section IV presents the system analysis and design and Section V discusses on the implementation and testing of the application. Finally, section VI discusses and concludes the development advantages, limitation and future works for this project. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW This section will discuss related concepts and technique related to this project. First, an insight about the history of MSL will be discussed. After that, the elements of MSL which consists of Sign Language and Finger Spelling will be elaborated. The existing MSL learning resources will also be reviewed alongside with the technology that can be used to assist in learning MSL. The last component of this this chapter is the review of existing sign language learning application. 2.1. MSL in Brief and Its Elements Long before MSL was first introduced in Malaysia, deaf community in Malaysia already use Penang Sign Language (PSL) to communicate with each other. PSL began surfacing as an informal method for students in Primary School for the Deaf in Penang to communicate with each other [2]. When the school was first established in 1982, its main focus was on oralism (i.e.: lip-reading) and thus signing was prohibited from being used in their formal education. But the student still JARI – Malaysian Sign Language Translator Sofiah Sajap 1 , Norhanifah Murli 2 , Nurul Amirah Paham 3 1 Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, sofiahsajap@gmail.com 2 Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, hanifah@uthm.edu.my 3 Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, amerpaham@gmail.com ISSN 2278-3091 Volume 9, No.1.1, 2020 International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and Engineering Available Online at http://www.warse.org/IJATCSE/static/pdf/file/ijatcse6491.12020.pdf https://doi.org/10.30534/ijatcse/2020/6491.12020