lav
This is the technical description of a DBT Translation table. If you want more general information about languages and template choices, please see the list of templates.
Initially, the language table for braille translation is determined by the selected template, and may be changed using the Document / Translation Tables menu. Using those menus does not require use of the table designator. However, to switch to a different translation table partway through a file, one must enter a DBT code and the designator for the table to switch to. For switching secondary languages within a base language table, see the [lng~X] command. For switching from one base language to another, see the [lnb~...] command.
The Latvian tables support print-to-braille translation of Latvian-language literary text written in either the Roman or Cyrillic alphabet. Russian written in Cyrillic characters should also work as a secondary language. |English text may also be processed as a sub-language, and converted to contracted or uncontracted English braille (generally following British conventions in those minor instances where they differ from American ones).
Braille-to-print translation is supported for this language. However, braille-to-print translation may not be perfect, therefore beware that errors can occur. If you find errors or have suggestions, please send both the *.dxb and *.dxp files along with an explanation to: languages@duxsys.com. Please be sure to include sample files!
If entering any Cyrillic text, see the documentation for the Russian tables regarding the entry and editing of the text.
English text may be entered as a secondary language, and converted to contracted or uncontracted English braille. That is, the grade switches affect the translation of the English text even though the Latvian text is always translated in grade 1 regardless of the grade setting in effect. In literary text, British conventions are generally followed, to the extent that they sometimes differ slightly from American ones.
Note that in addition to the abovementioned provision for secondary language support within the Latvian table itself, it is also possible to switch to any of the available translation tables listed in DBT. (See the [lnb~...] code below.)
No technical codes are supported.
However, 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 Latvian 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.
[/] may be embedded within letter-groups that would normally be contracted, to prevent the contraction.
[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 does not affect the Latvian text, which is uncontracted anyway, but does affect any embedded English text.
[g2] switches to "grade 2" (contracted) braille. This is the normal mode, but actually applies only to any embedded English text as the Latvian text is always uncontracted.
[in] is equivalent to [g1]
[lnb]
[lnb~...] (for switching to another base [primary] language table)
[lng~bg] switches to Bulgarian language.
[lng~en] switches to English language.
[lng~lv] or [lng] switches to Latvian language.
[lng~ru] switches to Russian language.
[tx] resumes normal translation, ending "direct braille."
The table is designed to work with the following groups of characters:
All ASCII printable characters
Accented characters and punctuation marks typical of French, German, Italian, and Spanish
British pound sign (£)
Cyrillic unaccented characters (internal DUSCI codes D+b631 through D+b681; see also Unicode codes U+0400 through U+047f)
The above is a general guide only (see "General Notes" section at the beginning of this document).
These tables were developed in December 2002 by Duxbury Systems, Inc., based upon information from Maxim Sorokin.
(Documentation reviewed: July 2010.)