Cymraeg (Welsh) Pre-UEB Flag of Wales

Table Designator: cym-x15

Advisory: This braille translator is obsolete. The governing braille authority has introduced a newer braille code that replaces this one. Those familiar with this older code might have reason to want it for personal use. However, Duxbury recommends that braille produced with this translator should not be used for any official purpose, whether educational, governmental, commercial, or any form of outreach to blind individuals, unless specifically requested by the blind individual in question.

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 Pre-UEB Cymraeg (Welsh) tables support print-to-braille translation of Welsh-language literary text into contracted or uncontracted Welsh braille according to an older set of braille rules that predate Unified English Braille.

Technical codes for math and science (BAUK Math Code) and computer notation (BAUK Braille Computer Notation [BCN]) are also supported.

Translation from braille to print is not supported for this language. If you would like Duxbury Systems to prioritize the creation of a braille-to-print table for this language, please contact languages@duxsys.com.

Key Characteristics

Table Designator: cym-x15 identifies this translation table for Language Table Switching.

Braille Contractions: This language is usually produced in contracted braille, which means one should not expect a one-to-one correspondence between inkprint letters and braille cells. Instead, abbreviations (contractions) are used for many common words and letter sequences.

Capital Sign: Pre-UEB Cymraeg / Welsh uses dot 6 as the capital sign.

Emphasis: This translator converts inkprint emphasis to braille using the same emphasis signs as Pre-UEB English.

Script Systems Used: The Pre-UEB Cymraeg / Welsh translator handles 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.

[g1] switches to grade 1 as the "prevailing grade", but does not insert a grade 1 indicator.

[g2] resumes grade 2 as the prevailing grade, but does not insert a grade 2 indicator. (Grade 2 is the normal prevailing grade.)

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.)

References, History and Credits

Duxbury Systems originally created these tables in August 1998, based upon the document, "Welsh Braille Code / Braille Cymraeg", from the Braille Authority of the United Kingdom, December 1995. For this development, the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and Techno-Vision Systems, Ltd. provided technical advice and assistance.

In November 2005, Duxbury extensively revised these tables to accommodate the updates of 2004-2005 in both the English and Welsh braille codes. The major changes were to add support for mathematics and secondary languages other than English, all according to BAUK conventions, and also to switch from the American CBC to British BCN in the treatment of computer notation.

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.