Anna
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Oh, ok! I was thinking that chords only work with a single line of music, like lead sheets. Must have been too long since I've seen them in another context.
Good questions!
Short answer:
Yes, Category 2 is correct.
Transcribe all t-pages and transcriber notes in contracted UEB. On the Special Symbols page, list UEB symbols and symbols from the other language’s code under separate headings. (For a language that uses a modified Latin alphabet, letters that are the same in UEB and the other language do not need to be listed on the SS page, but other alphabetic symbols like modified letters or tone markings should be included.)
Long answer:
BANA is not explicit about every aspect of this type of transcription, but I take the general assumption to be that a braille reader in North America will have UEB as their primary code. This reader may have previous experience with another code while living in a different country, but is now in North America, where UEB is the default. Or they may be a speaker of another language without ever learning the full braille code, or may simply be multi-lingual and reading text in a non-English language in addition to being a reader of English text in UEB. It is safer, as a rule, to assume that UEB is the primary code for someone in North America. Based on this assumption, Category 2 is the best choice for a fully non-English book unless specifically requested otherwise.
The guidelines specify that the title page is in UEB. It is logical that all transcriber-generated content should be in a single code (UEB) so that the reader knows which code they are reading. My advice is to do all the t-pages, and all transcriber’s notes, in English. This is not explicit in the guidelines, but I think it is what makes the most sense; the reader should not have to guess at which language is being used when, and transcribers are (as a general rule) not qualified to be translators and should avoid taking on that role.
First of all, the 2015 "Provisional Guidance for Transcribing Foreign Language Material in UEB" has been replaced by 2022's "Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English", which you can find here: https://brailleauthority.org/guidelines-braille-transcription-languages-other-english-approved-may-2022 .
Method 3 corresponds to Category 2 under the new guidelines. Under this category, it states: "This category also includes literature entirely in a non-English language for use in North America, such as advanced textbooks or literature in a language other than English." Your project fits under this description. In this Category, Spanish text is transcribed uncontracted, using the Spanish braille code's symbols for accented letters. Punctuation, indicators, and other symbols are transcribed in UEB. T-pages are transcribed in UEB, and Spanish titles/names/etc. that appear on the title page are transcribed as Category 1 text (using UEB modifiers and contractions). (The title on braille page 1 and the running head are transcribed as Category 2 if they contain non-English words.)
If you have a client who requests a specific type of transcription, you can use a different Category, but without that request Category 2 is the appropriate way to go for this type of text. I do recommend reading through the new guidelines, because in some areas they are much clearer than the former document. You can also go the Webinars Archive on this website (under Resources: Webinars) to find the Foreign Language webinar "Overview of BANA’s Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English" from 2023 for more discussion on the change of guidelines.
You are correct; the grade 1 indicators are not necessary in this type of situation. This is an error in the Bulletin article.
Yes to both of those questions. It may be helpful to think of your Category 2 transcription as simply "uncontracted braille" and remove "grade 1" from that label. "Uncontracted braille in a UEB context" may be an even better framing. UEB is still our framework in Category 2 for formatting, punctuation, and, in general, indicators. The grade 1 indicator is not needed for single letters standing alone or words that in UEB would be shortforms, but it does still have uses in these transcriptions.
The first is to end numeric mode in a sequence of numerals and letters, just as in UEB. For "5a a 5b" a grade 1 symbol indicator is necessary before the "a" and "b" to differentiate the phrase from "51 a 52." The rules regarding numeric mode all apply, so if your example were "5A a 5B" the capital letter indicator would end numeric mode (and a grade 1 symbol indicator would not need to be added).
Another place grade 1 symbol indicators can be useful in foreign language texts is with symbols and shapes. Where a UEB symbol could be confused with an alphabetic symbol of the non-English language, a grade 1 indicator can help the reader interpret the symbol. For example, the UEB shape indicator (dots 1246) is the same in French as e-diaeresis. A grade 1 indicator before the shape indicator distinguishes it from the French alphabetic symbol. In this case, the grade 1 indicator isn't doing exactly the same thing as in UEB, but its use is clear and helpful.
I have had some discussions before about other uses of the grade 1 indicator. There aren't set guidelines, but you may decide that it is useful elsewhere, although not strictly necessary. In a dual-language text, there is an argument to be made for the consistency of how symbols and indicators are used - personally, I am in favor of using a grade 1 indicator in front of a symbol like a superscript indicator whether it is in an English passage or a non-English passage of the text. The shape indicator doesn't overlap with any Spanish alphabetic symbols, but it may still be confusing to run across it within Spanish braille - a grade 1 indicator is not strictly necessary here but it may be helpful. These kinds of decisions are, at this point, at the discretion of the transcriber; the main thing is to be consistent throughout the transcription.
(Note: use of the grade 1 indicator will not be the same in a language with a different writing system, like Arabic or Japanese)
For this kind of request, your best bet may be to join the "Braille Transcription" group on Facebook (not affiliated with NBA). I will ask the Foreign Language committee members if they know any transcribers to send your way, but if you post in the Facebook group your request can reach a wider audience and have a better chance at finding someone who meets your need.
One thing to note is that the Facebook group has an international membership, so it may help to be very specific in what you need (e.g. t-pages in UEB).
Good question! I ran into a double modifier myself a while back and was confused because The Rules of UEB do not explicitly cover this. The consensus I found is that it is ok for a modifier to be followed by another modifier, and then the letter. You can see an official example of this in BANA's recently updated Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English, in the section on Latin.
So in this case, you can braille [caron above the following letter] [umlaut above the following letter] [u].
This looks to me like a ligature - I've seen it come up in pronunciation sections before, although print texts may vary in exactly how it looks. I've seen ligatures shown before as a line connecting two letters, or as the two letters pushed together so the lines are touching (as in "Cœur"). In pronunciation, a ligature indicates that the two letters make one combined sound.
Ligatures are covered in UEB 4.3: the ligature indicator (dots 45, 235) is brailled in between the two letters ligatured in print.
I suspect that this is just a visual quirk of this particular text. If it's used throughout the text, whether in all text or within a specific typeform, you can ignore it throughout.
If the spacing is used to draw attention to the exclamation mark, the space can stay in; check the context of the text around it. (If this is a one-time or occasional thing.)
If the text uses both "exclamation point with a space before" AND "exclamation point with no space before" throughout, that's a little trickier. If there doesn't seem to be a difference between the use of the two, I would lean toward ignoring the space anyway (because I think it's still most likely to be used for visual distinction rather than any semantic meaning). In this case, you can add a note on the TN page explaining that these spaces are omitted.
Follow-up: committee members suggested that the note on the TN page say something like "Spanish text within the brochure is available on braille page ..." That would help the reader find the information, such as it is, quickly.
Category 1 (contracted, with UEB modifiers) is the best for this Spanish, since there's only a small amount in an overall English context.
I don't think there's a good basis in any guidelines for moving the Spanish text, and it's unclear if moving it would make it more helpful. My advice would be to add a note on the TN page (or on the first page, if there's no TN page) saying something like "Spanish information available". I don't know if you can say much more than that, because the brochure doesn't even say where the Spanish information is! But I think a TN will be the simplest solution to this problem.
A book with occasional Spanish can be done entirely according to the rules of UEB. That means using contractions unless other rules apply; an accented letter within text that would otherwise be contracted means you cannot use the contraction. For example, in the word árbol the "ar" contraction cannot be used; on the other hand, the word caminar would be transcribed with the "in" contraction and the "ar" contraction.
"Occasional" or "incidental" foreign language text is not clearly defined in every case. For example, a novel could have a character that regularly says Spanish words, but it would be reasonable to do the whole thing in UEB. Books for foreign language learners or dual language texts are best done with UEB for the English and uncontracted Spanish braille for the Spanish (using UEB for punctuation, indicators, etc.). That's what I would do for a children's book that is in both languages; using different margins for English and Spanish text will help the reader understand the switch from one code to another.
There are no official guidelines, except the general rules of tables.
I recommend keeping the print format wherever possible; if the text doesn't fit in a braille table with Spanish text I will key the long pronouns. Since Spanish has abbreviated forms of usted/ustedes, I usually key "el/ella/usted" as "ud" and "ellos/ellas/ustedes" as "uds." (In other texts, the verb charts read "nosotros/nosotras" and "vosotros/vosotras" and may also need to be keyed.)
In terms of the table setup, I prefer to treat these as two columns but still align verbs within each column, adding guide dots where necessary. I would then use an underscore to represent a missing verb. A TN might be helpful to clarify, e.g. "An underscore represents a verb to be filled in." See attached for this example.
An alternative would be to do the chart as four columns, in which case a blank entry would be represented by guide dots across the width of the column. This format lacks a break between singular pronouns/verbs and plural pronouns/verbs, but that probably wouldn't prevent the reader from understanding it.
FYI (not that it really matters) this is a "conjugation" table ("declension" refers to the forms of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns; "conjugation" refers to verb forms)
Hi Julie, sorry for the delay. Yes, in language-learning materials, Spanish is brailled uncontracted and using Spanish symbols for the accented letters. For punctuation and indicators, BANA recommends using all UEB symbols, including for the inverted question and exclamation marks. Using all UEB punctuation prevents any confusion between the codes, such as between the Spanish question mark and the UEB subscript indicator, which use the same symbols.
The Provisional Guidance was less specific on this, but it has been replaced by "Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English," which you can find on the BANA website. The new guidelines are more straightforward in recommending all UEB punctuation in texts at this level.
A modified letter is still a letter, but with a hyphen before or after (or both) it would be fine to italicize just the letter, or the letter-hyphen combination (as a word).
In a foreign language textbook where this type of thing will come up often, I think it makes the most sense to use the italicized word indicator and include the hyphen(s) in the italics. It's easier for you as a transcriber, and it's clear and consistent for the reader to have the italics come first in a symbols-sequence, to signal the language change.
So, in this case, "e-" "-v-" and "-a" would be brailled as: [italicized word indicator][e][-] / [italicized word indicator][-][v][-] / [italicized word indicator][-][a]
