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(The initial translation table for a translation is determined by the selected template, and may be changed using the Document / Translation Tables menu. Using those menus does not involve explicit use of the table designator. However, in cases where it is necessary to switch to a different translation table partway through a file, the designator for the table being switched to is required; see the general description of the [lnb~...] command for further details.)
The Greek (Modern) tables support print-to-braille translation of Greek-language literary text in uncontracted modern Greek braille. English text may also be processed as a secondary language, uncontracted. The American Computer Braille Code (CBC) and Nemeth Math code (with modifications as appropriate for Greek context) are also supported.
Although DBT version 10.5 and later can display Greek characters properly, it is often more convenient to use an external word processor to compose and edit the print text that is to be translated. When doing so, it is necessary to use a facility that encodes the text in Unicode so that it can be imported correctly to DBT. (Some methods of entering Greek rely upon a variant "font" to display standard ASCII characters as Greek. Those methods cannot be used, as those ASCII characters would be imported according to their standard interpretation, not as Greek characters.)
Microsoft Word, properly used, fulfills the above requirements.
True braille-to-print translation is supported only within any embedded English text, not in the Greek text. This means that it is not generally useful to translate the Greek braille file to print. It also means that the "translated line" will typically contain gibberish when viewing the braille file -you may prefer to turn off the "translated line" under the View menu, or even under Global/Default if you wish it to be off by default.
English text may be entered as a secondary language, and converted to uncontracted English braille.
Note that it is also possible to switch to any of the available translation tables listed in DBT. (See the [lnb~...] code below.)
The Computer Braille Code, as in the English/American tables, is supported.
In addition, it is possible to switch to any of the available translation tables listed in DBT (see the [lnb~...]code below), many of which do support various technical codes, such as for mathematics or computer notation, or which support “unified” treatment of technical notation as well as literary text in the base language associated with the table.
The following DBT translation codes are available when using the Greek (Modern) table. Any other translation codes used will be ignored, or indeed may cause unexpected results. If using an alternative translation table, i.e when switching to another base language table by means of the[lnb~...] code, please refer to the relevant topic and available codes for that table.
[/]
[ab] is equivalent to [g2]
[cz]
[fte~b]
[fte~i]
[fte~u]
[fts~b]
[fts~i]
[fts~u]
[g1] switches to "grade 1" (uncontracted) braille. This has no effect in this table.
[g2] switches to "grade 2" (contracted) braille. This has no effect in this table.
[in] is equivalent to [g1]
[lnb]
[lnb~...] (for switching to another base [primary] language table)
[lng~en] switches to English language.
[lng~el] or [lng] switches to Greek language.
[tx] resumes normal translation, ending "direct braille."
For mathematics and computer notation, the same codes as used for those purposes in the English/American tables are generally allowed.
These tables were initially developed in July 2000 by Duxbury Systems, Inc., based on information supplied by Professor Georgios Kouroupetroglou.
Starting in September 2008, Nemeth Math Code (as modified for use with Greek) was implemented in these tables.
In March 2010, support for contracted English as a secondary language was removed. (Note that [lnb~...]can be used if English contractions are required, which would be unusual in Greek context.)
(Documentation reviewed: July 2010.)