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I have conferred with colleagues about this one and we are in agreement! These diagrams are too complex to be put into braille. It is now felt that diagrams of this nature are simply not suitable for braille at all and the new Formats guidelines will say that. You may disregard the rule in the current Formats book that you included in your attachment. The recommendation for this material is to create tactile graphics for these diagrams if you are able to do that. If not, you may simply omit the diagrams and explain the omission in a transcriber’s note. Don’t forget that statement of omission. See Rule 17 Section 1g on the omission of illustrations.
Thank you for including that print page. It is essential for me to be able to see exactly what the problem is.
The new Formats guidelines have been approved and will take effect when the guidelines are published, some time in the next few months. Please let us know if the men in your program need further information about this.
–Joanna
I would treat the opening questin mark as part of the word and include it in the typeface indicator. That seems in accord with the spirit and intent of the foreign language rule, especially since there is no reason here to do otherwise. No mention is made of the typeface of the question mark. In fact, no mention is made of the question mark at all–just the word that is associated with. The question is not even in a different typeface, but the same color as the other words in the sentence. This is only a visual device to draw attention to the word that follows.
–Joanna
Thank you. I am attaching some examples. The punctuation is in black print. The emphasized word is in red.
ABSOLUTELY have a space between UNIT and the number. Frankly, I didn’t see that as unspaced anyway. WORDS and the numbers that follow are assumed to be spaced. It’s print symbols (non-alphabetic, non-numeric) that can be tricky to space.
You’re the transcriber and that means you’re the boss. But I do think the TN is over-describingg and it wouldn’t be done that way by most transcribers. A TN is basically an interruption and an intrusion, no matter how necessary. The idea is to keep them very brief and use only when necessary. It is not necessary to describe the print just to describe it. If you are using arrows and you have listed the arrow symbol, you don’t say in a TN that arrows are there. If they’re in the braille, there they are. The reader sees them and knows they are there. It’s just like anything else. When something is in italics you use the italisc sign. You don’t add a TN to describe that italics is there. Same thing with double caps. If a word is double-capped. ANY word, you don’t write a TN to say the word is double-capped. You just do it in the braille and the reader reads it.
Just sayin’
–Joanna
Ok, I’ll delete the colon, but I’m including a TN prior to the first instance that says:
In Print below, the unit numbers inside the brackets are subscript in small capital font. Also a braille arrow (symbol shown) is used for a double arrow in print.
Is it permissible to add a space between the word UNIT and the following number (UNIT 1 instead of UNIT1)? Because otherwise the student will read UNITABLEA.
I’m uncomfortable with substituting unrelated puncutation (a colon) for a change of typeface. I realize this is unusual text and the transcriber must devise, but I always try to avoid tampering with the print. Even if you explain it, you’re still altering the print unnecessarily. In this case, I would just use double caps for UNIT. Keep the parentheses, keep the square brackets as in print. You will have followed print and you don’t have to explain anything. The braille reader sees the same double caps that the print readers are seeing and I’m sure all the students will ask the teacher what this means! You braille reader is not access the same thing as the print readers. I would just use double caps for UNIT and ignore the subscript position. If absolutely necessary, THAT you can explain in a TN and say the double capped UNIT designations are printed in the subscript position. But I wouldn’t even bother with that unless there is some unavoidable significance to it.
–Joanna
Thank you Joanna! I was thinking of devising something similar, with just the dot 4(s), but will use your technique … and I have already stressed to this particular student, the importance of reading the Special Symbols page. The author continues to use the prime symbol throughout the text.
Another interesting style she uses … dropped capitals to indicate grammatical units. See attached. I have decided to include a transcriber note (on the first instance and on the TN page) to include a colon after these dropped letters, in place of the subscript in print. I worded it:
..In print below the unit numbers inside the brackets are subscript in small capital font. A braille colon after each has been added in place of the subscript. Also a braille arrow 1246 25 25 135 is used for a double arrow in print…
Please let me know if I should handle this differently. Thank you!
Your citation applies specifically to Spanish. This is given on page 23 in Section 6.5f regarding the spacing of slashes in various languages. And this is why it is called the INTERIM manual. This rule was modified in 2005 to say that the slash would be spaced as in print for all languages, of course with some other exceptions having to do with pronunciation and other issues. This modification was not widely disseminated and so you and most other people just didn’t know about it. This whole situation arose out of the special difficulties in formulating official BANA foreign language rules as part of the 1997 Braille Formats The Interim Manual is not a BANA publication, but it is based on BANA rules that existed at the time and it’s all we have–UNTIL NOW. The new offical BANA Foreign Language Braille rules have been completed and the final document is being edited. The new rules clarify the slash usage–which is generally to follow print spacing. There are exceptions that have to do with unique issues in foreign language and other things and these are spelled out clearly.
In this case, if you have been following that slash rule for Spanish as given in the Interim Manual, you are correct. The usage I presented in the article is also correct. And when the new rules are published it will be much clearer for everyone and then you and I will know exactly what to do.
I hope this helps and I apologize for the complicated answer. The situation has indeed been complicated in foreign language and all I can tell you is that it is soon to be resolved at last.
–Joanna
There is not a provision for runovers in a multi-columned list and I am not sure whether it is correct or not.I reccommend a single column for this list as you suggested. The rule clearly does allow for fewer or more columns than is printed.
–Joanna
I think it would be helpful in this case to know more about this exercise. You have included only the exxample. What about the rest of the exercise items? Do they also have proofreading marks? It looks like the purpose of this exercise is for the student to apply proofreading marks to sentences or not, depending on whether they are identified as correct. Is there a list of proofreading marks given in the adjacent text? Consider what it says in Section 6c–Proofreading marks are of no practical value to the braille reader. If the purpose of this exercise is only to identify incorrect sentences and to correct them, braille readers will not be doing that by applying proofreading marks. Therefore, it might be appropriate simply to give this example in corrected and uncorrected even though there are no transpositions. You’ll have to decide based on the surrounding text, which was not included.
–Joanna
Hi Melissa,
I don’t see any poetry here. Did you mean PLAY with numbered paragraphs? In this case, each diaglog is being treated as a paragraph for purposes of this test. Since the paragraph format for dialog is 1-3, number each speaker’s dialog as in print and treat each one of these 1-3 diaglogs as a numbered paragraph.
A format is chosen according to what it IS, (numbered paragraphs), not by what it might LOOK LIKE (line-numbered text of some sort.)
Hope that helps. Let me know if it doesn’t!
–Joanna
I see your file Social Problems and that is posted successfully. I have downloaded it and reviewed it. This is very helpful, but I’m not sure I understand your question. Your post is titled “Table Separation Lines” but you seem to be asking about the width of columns. I’m sorry, but I find this confusing. It might be that you are using the term “separation lines” in a way that is unfamiliar to me. It might help if you send a braille file that shows how you are considering formatting this table. You can post either a .brf or .abt file here. Format the second (and any other additional braille pages) of this table according to the columns on that page. It doesn’t help the reader to format the first page based on what is going to be different on the second or next pages.
Hope that helps. Please post again if you wish to discuss this further.
–Joanna
I understand better now. Thanks so much! I think I was confusing the distinction between “indented” and “change of margins”.
If I’m understanding correctly, the displayed material might be considered as displayed due to a change of margins.
Even though the print margin may be an inch from the edge of the page, this paragraph could then either be blocked or perhaps indented. But if it’s considered displayed, then I know to skip a line in the braille before the paragraph and after the paragraph.And it doesn’t matter I guess whether the print margin for a paragraph is an inch from the left side of the page or 2 inches, it’s all just considered to be displayed in braille.
Perhaps it’s not that important for the braille reader to know that print paragraphs may have changes of margins of different amounts. Or maybe there’s really no good way to indicate that in the braille.Patricia
Thanks for sending the print. I am going to suggest that the reason you had difficulty is that the file is very big–it’s over almost 7 MB for just a single page. This is because it’s an .rtf and those tend to be quite large. I suggest that you scan and save the image into .jpg or .pdf. Those will be much smaller and easier to send. I say this because I think I MIGHT need to see additional page. The print layout here is complex and one page only lets me see a small part of it. I’ll try with what we have.
Paragarphs are either indented or not regardless of where they are placed on the print page If all the text is at the same left margin, it is a blocked (NOT INDENTED) paragraph. If the first line of the paragraph is indented relative to the rest of the paragraph, it is an indented paragraph. So, there is only one indented paragraph on this page and that is the one starting The injury. I can’t tell about the paragraph at the top of the page because I can’t see how it begins. I’ll assume it is blocked.
All of the remaining paragraphs on this page are blocked. You will have to read your text carefully over many pages to see the pattern in print to determine which is the displayed material. Notice that the rule you cited defines displayed material as that which is set off from the text by a CHANGE IN MARGIN. Those paragraphs are still considered blocked and NOT indented. The display is shown by a blank line before and after.
And NEVER use two blank lines for this purpose. There is no provision for it in the rule and it simply creates a chasm for the reader to get past without imparting any additional information about the text. A single blank line indicates the displayed material and the resumption of regular text. It also indicates the change in format (1-3) that I assume is being used for the numbered items.
Here’s a problem. There is a blank line between blocked paragraphs because that’s the only way to tell where a pargraph ends and a new one begins. There is a blank line between regular text and displayed material. This means that if displayed material is also blocked, it is not obvious, except by context, in braille. There is really no way to tell in braille except by the content of the material itself. Usually, in print, the reader can tell by visual appearance of the various print indentions. Not always true in braille, at least not currently.
PREVIEW. The new Formats rules, just approved by BANA address this issue. But since those new rules haven’t been published yet, and BANA has not announced an implementation date, we use the current rules now.
–Joanna
