qbi
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 Biblical Original Language Studies tables support print-to-braille translation of English-language, Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, European languages, Arabic, Russian, and Ethiopic in a manner designed to support the needs of braille-reading biblical scholars. This table is a work in progress. Those wishing to participate should contact languages@duxsys.com.
The functional summary of what this table does is best found by following this external link.
The handling of Roman script text follows the specifications of Unified English Braille (UEB or UEBC, also formerly known as UBC) that was developed by the International Council on English Braille (ICEB) from 1992 to 2004 and that has been maintained by that body since then. In early April 2004, the ICEB General Assembly declared that UEBC was sufficiently complete and ready for possible adoption by the ICEB's constituent national authorities.
Braille-to-print translation is supported for this table.
The DBT translation codes may or may not be supported in the same way that they are supported in the English/Unified table. Users can test whether these codes work.
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, Spanish, and Portuguese
Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac and Coptic scripts
British pound, Japanese yen, Euro, and other miscellaneous signs (DUSCI pages D+ec..., D+ed..., D+ee..., D+f5...)
The earliest versions of this table were created in 2014 by mixing the translation tables for English/Unified with Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew tables. A table for Syriac and Coptic was added based on the work of a committee described below.
This committee (listed in alphabetic order) consisted of:
Because so much of this work is new, we all wanted to form a committee that could work together on this common goal. We should acknowledge the role of Matthew Yeater for initiating this work when he needed a braille translation table specially crafted to handle "Critical Analysis" notation (Nestle-Aland notation). Everyone in the committee wishes to thank Duxbury Systems for their help in producing this tool for the blind biblical scholar.
(Documentation reviewed: November 2018)