By Maya de Wit, PhD

A Comprehensive Guide to Sign Language Interpreting in Europe, 2026 edition gives an overview of the organizations, educational programs, and employment situations of signed language interpreters in Europe. First published in the year 2001, this year’s guide is the seventh updated edition. As before, I have conducted this as a pro bono project, depending on volunteers across Europe who donated their time to advance the profession as a whole.


 Sign Language Interpreting in Europe is based on an extensive survey, held among national organizations of sign language interpreters in European countries and regions in 2025. The findings of the survey were supplemented with information collected from other publications.

 Qualitative and quantitative survey data allows readers get a deeper understanding of the current situation in the field of sign language interpreting in Europe, make comparisons between individual countries, and to identify emerging trends.


For the first time ever, this publication includes comprehensive data on the position, education, and work of deaf interpreters in the field.

Countries and regions (45) participated in the survey 2025:
Albania, Austria, Belgium-Flanders, Belgium-Wallonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, England/Wales/Northern Ireland, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland-French/German/Italian region, Turkey, Ukraine.