| Adapting UEB for Languages Other than English.
J. E. Sullivan, Duxbury Systems, Inc./ICEB
joe@duxsys.com
As its name implies, Unified English Braille (UEB) is a braille code for English. It is "unified" not only in that it has been adopted by major English-speaking countries that formerly used different codes, but also in that it seamlessly provides for the inclusion of technical notation, notably for mathematics and computer programming. It can also deal with an occasional loanword from French or a Greek letter in math, but its way of handling plain-language text would not be suitable for sentences in most languages other than English. While a focus on one language is normal in a Braille code as a practical necessity, UEB has the interesting property that its design principles, grounded firmly in Louis Braille's original work, could be applied to other languages often without substantial modification, so that for example the mathematical aspects remain highly compatible with those aspects of UEB itself. This can be very useful, especially in circumstances where English is one of several languages commonly spoken, for instance in South Africa with its 11 official languages. This paper explores the characteristics of UEB that enable such work, and the design issues that may be encountered.
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