Reply To: Spanish English glossary

[rsherwood12]

Hi Michael,

I did not see your question in the Math and Science forum, so I am posting the feedback I received from a knowledgeable Nemeth transcriber:

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Putting aside for a moment what we should do in the braille transcription, I want to suggest a reason why the Spanish word "o" meaning "or" is carrying an accent in this glossary entry. I believe the reasoning is the same as that for using an accented o between numbers. To explain that, I will translate a quote from the Spanish language Wikipedia entry on accents in Spanish:

"La o entre números en ningún caso debe tildarse. Anteriormente se tildaba cuando estaba entre números para no confundirla con el cero, pero actualmente se considera que el riesgo de confusión es mínimo y se escribe 1 o 3, 52 o 26, por ejemplo. Recuérdese que ante un número cuyo nombre empieza por o se convierte en u, como en 79 u 80 (setenta y nueve u ochenta)."

"An o between numbers should under no circumstances be accented. In the past an accent was used when it was between numbers in order to avoid confusion with the zero, but nowadays we believe that the risk of confusion is minimal and we write 1 o 3, 52 o 26, for example. Remember that before a number whose name begins with an o we convert to a u, as in 79 u 80 (setenta y nueve u ochenta)."

Personally, I think the most reader-friendly transcription would thus be one that ignores the acute accent on the Spanish word o. I suppose a transcriber's note should be used to explain that the printed ó has been transcribed as o in braille.

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I hope that explanation is helpful to you in transcribing this glossary.

Best,

Rebecca