Transcribing Texts for Mainstreamed Blind Students in a Foreign Language Cla

Abstract

Students with blindness need to have braille versions of any kind of text that is used in class. In addition to the Chinese books available here in Taiwan, there do exist several textbooks for English and Japanese foreign language instruction, in braille. _x000D_ But in the case of German or any other foreign language it is difficult to find someone who is able to do the transcribing. This paper wants, therefore, to show how the transcribing is done in an effective way. First, an introduction to braille is given in order to provide a better understanding of the problems that arise with the transcribing of texts to braille. Afterwards, the problems that appear in the transcribing process are demonstrated and solutions given with examples of how the original text of a textbook for German as a foreign language was transcribed into braille. The transcribing process of the German textbook resulted in a number of rules that were _x000D_ set up to serve as a reference for anybody who needs to transcribe texts for students with blindness.