Amharic (Ethiopic) - Translator Table Ethiopian Flag

Table Designator: amh

A translation table is a module in DBT that provides the rules to convert (translate) a document from print-to-braille or from braille-to-print. Normally, it is selected by the DBT template that controls production of the current document. All documents have a template. In fact, for many languages there are multiple templates, with differences in translation rules or formatting, but each references at least one translation table. (For more on templates, see DBT Templates, the Basics.)

Regardless of your template, you can choose a different translation table to translate your current document using the Translation Table selection from the DBT Document Menu.

You can also select different translation tables to use for particular passages in your document. See the section below on Language Table Switching.

Purpose

The Amharic (Ethiopic) tables support print-to-braille translation of literary text written in Ethiopic script for Amharic and other Ethiopic languages with similar braille.

Translation from braille-to-print is supported for this language.

Key Characteristics

Table Designator: amh identifies this translation table for Language Table Switching.

Braille Contractions: This language is usually produced in uncontracted braille. This means that the letters of each word are rendered into braille on a one-for-one basis.

Capital Sign: The Amharic translator does not use any capitalization mark in braille because the native script does not employ capitalization. Text written with the Roman alphabet (such as English) uses dot 6 for capitalization.

Emphasis: The Amharic translator ignores all bold, italics, and underlining from the inkprint text. These are not represented in the braille.

Mathematical Braille: This translator defaults to using the English UEB braille mathematics translator by using the math style.

Script Systems Used: The Amharic translator handles the Amharic script. These are the Unicode characters U+1200-1398. The Amharic translator also handles text using Roman characters, and a wide variety of symbols and punctuation marks.

Translation Modes (DBT Codes which Change the Mode of Translation)

A number of DBT codes affect the mode of the translation or create special translation effects on specific letters or symbols. Some translation modes are specific to particular translator tables.

There are no special translator modes for this table, only those which are present for all tables, such as the [lnb~] code (language-switch) and a few codes for internal testing.

For more about DBT codes that affect the mode of translation, search on the two words, "Translation code", in the topic, DBT Codes Quick Reference.

Language Table Switching

DBT has translation tables for over 200 world languages. Modern versions of DBT allow using multiple language translation tables within a single document.

Suppose that you are working on a document using this base translation table, but it has passages in a foreign language, or that need a technical braille code. At the beginning of each such passage, insert the DBT code lnb, followed by ~ (tilde) and the table designator for the desired language table. (The table designator for each language table is listed in the Key Characteristics.) Note that using the lnb code you can change from the base table to virtually any other translation table and back again.

For some language tables, the table designator is short, like ise for Icelandic. Thus, to switch to Icelandic braille translation, insert [lnb~ise]. The table designators are more elaborate for mathematics code tables and for languages that have multiple translation tables. As an example, the designator for Unified French Braille is fra-xuf. To start a passage in the French Unified Braille code, insert [lnb~fra-xuf]. At the end of a foreign language passage, use the plain [lnb] code to switch back to the original, base, language translation table.

Some translation tables, and hence their table designators, are for braille codes but not for natural languages. Some examples are the International Phonetic Alphabet (designator: qip) and Nemeth Code (designator: qmt-xnem72m) for mathematics. Using lnb with those table designators allows you to switch to the IPA braille code or the Nemeth braille math code.

While a plain [lnb] code returns translation to the base language, it does not restore any other translation properties that might have been in effect before the switch. For example, if you had been using a [g1L] code (for "grade 1 lock") to prevent contractions, you need to repeat that code after the [lnb] code to restore that effect. Fortunately, you can build lnb codes into DBT styles, to customize what modes to enter and exit at the switch in and out of a translation table.

Note that DBT templates whose names contain the word "basic" all have a number of styles defined for switching between different translation tables. (For the list, see Basic Templates.)

Notice that if you include Roman alphabet characters in a document but do not use a language style or code to switch to a different translation table, you will get uncontracted English with the same marks of punctuation, emphasis, and capitalization used for the base language.

References, History, and Credits

Duxbury Systems developed the Amharic tables starting in October 2006, working from the document "Braille" provided by Lemma Regassa, Educational Affairs Department Head of the Ethiopian National Association for the Blind. Duxbury Systems is also grateful to Tigabu Gebremedhin of Christoffel-Blindenmission (CBM), Deputy Regional Chairperson for East Africa in the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI), for assistance obtaining the necessary information, for guidance, and feedback.

Duxbury Systems also thanks Tamru E. Belay, PhD, of the Adaptive Technology Center for the Blind (ATCB), who has provided helpful feedback and information, and who adds the following thoughts, "Ethiopic script has been in use since 100 BC. It is the only indigenous African alphabet still in use today. Each character in the Ethiopic alphabet represents a syllable: a combination of consonant plus vowel. There are 33 consonants and seven vowels. Just as we have computerized braille in Arabic, Hausa, Kiswahili, and Somalia, there was no reason why one cannot develop Ethiopic Braille."

The aspects of these tables related to English literary usage, mathematics, and computer notation were derived from the English (British) tables.

Updates and Errors

If you have information about changes in the braille rules for your language, please email Duxbury so that we may update our translation tables. Likewise, if you find errors in your translated document, in either the print-to-braille or braille-to-print direction, please contact us. To describe your problem, it is best to send both the *.dxp and *.dxb files along with a full explanation, because the correct braille is often a matter of very specific circumstances. Contact Duxbury at: languages@duxsys.com.