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I have conferred with colleagues about this and the consensus is to carry on with what you have. In other words, this rule may be interpreted to mean the contents in the current volume. In volumes with no sub-items, use 1-3 and only in volumes where there are sub-items, use 1-5, 3-7 as you discuss. This is what most transcribers do and it makes the most sense.
This would be my own recommendation and it is, in fact, what I do in my own transcribing.
–Joanna
Good morning. Thank you for this interesting puzzle. This author is showing a way to visualize a division problem by using the area of a rectangle as a model. The rectangles need to be drawn in the braille transcription.
The numbers on the outside of the rectangles should be aligned as they are in print. They require numeric indicators because they are preceded by a space or begin a new line. The plus sign and equals sign also should be placed as they appears in print — above and just to the right of the vertical lines of the drawing. Starting with step b, the numbers inside the boxes do not need numeric indicators since they represent the partial products (subtraction portion) of a spatial problem.
I have attached what I feel is an adequate transcription of this, using braille dots to show what should be done as a graphic. If this is a worksheet you are preparing for an individual student, I use this “braille dot” method for drawing rectangles and then after embossing I run a burnishing tool along the lines on the back of the paper with a neoprene pad underneath, which ends up giving you a nice line.
There is no provision for the non-math use of the prime sign. I consulted with Lynnette Taylor on this one and we have agreed that the transcriber has to devise a symbol for this. We suggest dot 4p for the single prime and dote4pp for the double prime. I would follow print for spacing since that is the general practice for symbols of this type.
5e’ would look be [simbraille]#e;e@p[/simbraille]
These symbols are listed on the Special Symbols page. If there are only a few instances of this in the print, I would list the special symbols in the text right before they are needed. The concern is that the reader may skip over the special symbols page. But if occurring throughout the book, go right ahead and list on the Special Symbols page as prime and double prime. The text also mentions the symbols, so I’m sure the reader will figure this out.
Thanks for the interesting question.
–Joanna
Thank you. That’s very helpful. I’ll look forward to seeing the final rules document when it is available.
Susan
That’s an interesting point. Have you seen such a situation? Have you seen a situation in which the opening inverted question mark or exlamation point is in regular typeface followed by text in a special typeface?
I think the purpose of this rule is to establish that the opening inverted puncutation, which is unique to Spanish, assumes the typeface of the text it is associated with in the same manner that the ending punctuation does. In English, opening punctuation, such as quotation marks and parentheses are not included in the typeface indicators regardless of how they are printed. The same is true in foreign language. This rule covers the unique instance of the inverted question mark and exclamation point. I think most print situations are covered here.
It you do have such a situation in print, where the opening punctuation is clearly not emphasized, I’d like to see it so I can discuss it with other. I would be reluctant to separate the opending puncutation from the text it belongs to with a typeface indicator, but as I said, I would discuss it with others if you have such a situation.
–Joanna
I have checked with a couple of other committee members, and it seems that there has not been a more recent update to this material.
Betty
[quote=FisherLJ][quote=joannavenneri]Formatting a table in braille depends on how that table is printed, on how it looks. I have to be able to see the actual table. I can’t tell how wide anything should be without seeing how wide it actually is in comparison to whatever else is on the page. Please send a scan of the actual print page.
I’m sorry, but on this one I can’t help you without seeing what you need help with.
–Joanna[/quote][/quote]
[quote=joannavenneri]Formatting a table in braille depends on how that table is printed, on how it looks. I have to be able to see the actual table. I can’t tell how wide anything should be without seeing how wide it actually is in comparison to whatever else is on the page. Please send a scan of the actual print page.
I’m sorry, but on this one I can’t help you without seeing what you need help with.
–Joanna[/quote]
Formatting a table in braille depends on how that table is printed, on how it looks. I have to be able to see the actual table. I can’t tell how wide anything should be without seeing how wide it actually is in comparison to whatever else is on the page. Please send a scan of the actual print page.
I’m sorry, but on this one I can’t help you without seeing what you need help with.
–Joanna
That’s it exactly. Most of the time the distinction between the regular text and the displayed material is pretty clear in braille, just by virtue of the blank line. But in the case of your complex print, that distinction will tend to get lost in the braille, leaving the reader to depend on what the words actually say. The print reader of your book can rely more on relative position, but that is not available to the braille reader.
As mentioned, the new Formats rules will address this in new and interesting ways.
–Joanna
Hi,
I attempted the exam twice and did not make it. I successfully passed all 16 lessons of the Nemeth course through an NLS assigned instructor–you have to pass each lesson before you are allowed to go onto the next lesson. The course covered the math concepts well. I used to teach high school math so luckily the math concepts themselves weren’t a problem for me.
But the course doesn’t really cover the Nemeth formatting issues needed to pass the text.
I was praised by my grader how I did many complex math topics in braille correctly, but then I got the formatting wrong. My grader thought I was unusual but I think and have heard that my experience is common.
Who ever heard of taking a text covering formatting concepts you were not taught or exposed to?For the past few months I believe, NFB was not letting anyone apply or take the Nemeth (and literary certification tests too) I was told. I think they may have been standardizing their grading procedures or restructuring the exams or something like that. I was told people can take the exams again now.
But what I found disheartening was the way the grade report is done. It’s totally different from the literary test. Yes, they give you 1 chance to correct your 1st attempt, so that is why they can’t tell you on which lines errors may have occurred (since you will be attempting to make corrections).
But then when you get the final report after you attempted to correct the 1st submission, you don’t get told (like with the literary braille test) on what lines and pages of braille the errors occurred.
You just get told for example “Somewhere in this exam, this kind of error was made one time” and “3 times within the exam, this other kind of error was made”.
It’s just very hard to learn from your errors and see where the mistakes were when you don’t get told what page and line the errors were on.
There were very complex triple integrals and all kinds of nested radicals and messy algebraic equations on the test, and it would have been nice to at least know if an error was made within a certain equation.
Basically you are just left guessing as to where your specific error occurred.
