multiple language taglines in non-educational documents

[rsherwood12]

Hello,

Is there a consensus on how to handle a document that repeats information in multiple languages where the transcriber does not know the non-English languages which may include both Roman and non-Roman alphabets (e.g., a statement in an insurance benefits booklet like "You have the right to a free translator" in 10 languages)?

Should the transcriber attempt to use translation software and include the non-English languages using non-UEB passage indicators? Is it preferable or acceptable to omit the non-English languages (with a transcriber's note explaining the omission) if the base language of the document is English rather than unintentionally providing incorrect non-English braille?

If the document is also being offered in other languages (Spanish, Russian), I believe this falls under category 3 where the transcriber is advised to use the full non-English language braille code (according to the Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English). What is a transcriber to do when they receive an assignment but they don't know the language? Is it acceptable in this less-than-ideal situation to use BANA formatting and a translator that can handle the non-English braille code? Are there agencies that would be able to proofread a category 3 braille document?

Thanks for any advice you can offer! I know this is a difficult area in braille transcription right now.

Best,
Rebecca

[Donald Winiecki]

Hi Rebecca!

That is a very good question! That part of the document is known as the "MLI" (Multi-language Insert).

The first thing I will suggest is to ask the client requesting the document if they require the full MLI, or if only parts of it are required. If the recipient is known to be reader of UEB but not other braille codes, the other languages will not be useful and can be omitted without worry. This is a common outcome in my case. As you say, a transcriber's note is included to identify this omission.

Second, if the MLI is required by your client, it will be necessary to also provide a special symbols list of the language change indicators for each of the languages to be included. I am attaching a document titled "MLI special symbols example.docx" to show you what I mean.

In that attachment, you'll see the "dot locator for mention" and then the language change passage indicator for English (eng), Spanish (esp), and Farsi (fas). The language change passage indicator is a 3-cell symbol (highlighted in yellow in the attached document) and the language abbreviation (highlighted in green in the attached document) is inserted after the second cell of the symbol. I will recommend that you use the 3-letter language abbreviation specified in ISO 639 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639_language_codes

In the same attachment I am also including several MLI paragraphs corresponding to English, Spanish, and Farsi.

The language change passage terminator is also a 3-cell symbol. I have highlighted the language change passage terminator in blue in the attached document.

There are some tools that can convert other languages to braille for those languages, but it is always necessary to spend the time proofreading. For most transcribers, producing and then proofreading of unfamiliar languages will be a symbol-by-symbol comparison using a resource like the World Braille Usage (WBU) document https://www.perkins.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/world-braille-usage-third-edition.pdf.

This symbol-by-symbol process is definitely time consuming -- it is a "chronovore" ... because it "eats time" (get it?), but very necessary no matter how the braille was actually produced.

It is relevant to note that there are occasional errors in WBU. It is also the case that some braille codes have been updated since WBU was last updated. For those reasons it will always be advisable to check with experienced transcribers and/or readers of the languages being transcribed.

If you contact me outside of Ask an Expert, I can direct you to experienced producers and proofreaders of braille in multiple languages.

 

 

 

 

• This reply was modified 2 days, 12 hours ago by Donald Winiecki. Reason: fixed URLs

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[rsherwood12]

Thank you, Don! That is very helpful info. I will start with asking whether the MLI is required.

If it is required, when English is the primary language, would you still use the non-UEB indicators for the English statement on the insert? Or in your example document, was that for a document primarily in another language where English only occurs in the MLI?

Best,

Rebecca

[Donald Winiecki]

Good catch Rebecca!

I included the code change indicators for the English MLI paragraph in this case because the primary language of the document is Arabic.

If the primary language of the document was English, then the code change indicators would not be necessary for the English MLI paragraph.

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