The Not-Langblr

Introducing a new langblr challenge… Langblr Word of the Day Challenge!

Hi all! I feel like I’ve not been making enough original langblr content lately, so I decided to make a langblr challenge! This challenge is quite simple and quite flexible: it starts on the first of February, and every day for the month has a different word (the word of the day). Your challenge is to use the word in your language learning that day, in whatever capacity you feel like! Here are a couple of ideas:

Translate the word into your target language

Find a synonym and/or and antonym for the word

Write a paragraph (or more) based around the word

Write one sentence containing the word

Learn 5 words related to the word

Create a vocab list based around the word

Search the word on unsplash, find a picture you like and describe it

Read and share an article related to the word/with the word in the title

Listen to a podcast about the word/with the word in the title

Watch an episode of a TV show about the word/with the word in the title

Have a conversation with a native or another learner about the topic

Feel free to interpret the word as literally or as creatively as you like.

Here’s the word list - feel free to brainstorm some ideas ahead of time:

rain

love

memory

time

comfort

desire

flight

fun

song

puzzle

peace

sunshine

truth

curious

freedom

gift

rest

trust

letter

library

forest

create

night

play

high

ghost

ocean

magic

There is much to be explored in Braille literacy in terms of cognitive science. What parts of the brain is used in reading Braille? How is Braille reading learned? What approaches are taken in representing a language in Braille? What is the impact of contracted Braille in reading and writing, and how can its creation and organization be informed by linguistics?

“Picht Braille Typewriter ca. 1920″ via u/EkriirkE on Reddit.

Imgur album.

Also video of this baby in action:

Okay, so I thought I’d write a post about a topic that’s really close to my heart, being a Legally Blind person: Japanese Braille. 

There are 1.64 million people in Japan with an Uncorrectable Vision Impairments, 187,000 of which are listed as Blind.

Japanese Braille sounds really difficult, but in reality it’s not actually that hard! Especially once you get a few hundred Kanji in, learning Japanese Braille is honestly super simple. 

First of all, a note: Japanese Braille (99% of the time, at least) is completely phonetic; there’s no differentiation between Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji like there is in Written Japanese.

Additionally, it follows really basic patterns; with the exception of a few Punctuation-type characters, you basically only have to learn 21 basic pieces, as everything else follows basic patterns beyond that. 

First off, the vowels: 

All other Syllables use these same Vowels, in the same places

Following this, there comes all of the Consonants

Note that the vowels are in the exact same spot as in the AIUEO characters, just with an added mark for the Consonant.

Here is probably a good place to point out: Dakuten is marked by a single dot on the middle of the right side of the cell, placed BEFORE the character that gets changed by the Dakuten (Handakuten is the same, except the dot was lowered to the bottom right of the cell)

You’ll note that this brings us up to 14 characters…. where are all the rest?

If you’re observant, you’ll note that Ya, Yu, Yo, and Wa and (W)o are missing from the chart here. That’s because these 5 characters break the rules, just a little bit.

(Note that the Wi & We characters are only there for Ancient Japanese; don’t worry if you never learned them before, they’re gone from Japanese now)

Note that the -y- character there is placed BEFORE another consonant to make it a _y_ version of it (i.e. put it before Ka to make Kya), and that the -w- character is used to make all the irregular Little Characters (i.e. put it before Ha and you’ll get Fa).

There’s 2  more characters to learn, and they’re pretty easy. 

They’re made for doubling consonants, and doubling vowels respectively

For example, putting a Sokuon before Ka makes Kka, and a Chouon AFTER A makes Aa

After talking about Braulle so much, I kind of got into "braille nerd" mode...

I started a langblr...for Braille!

Glad you asked!

If you’ve ever watched Molly Burke’s video on Braille, then you know the difference between “contracted” and “uncontracted” Braille. Basically, the “uncontracted” is called Grade 1, because it only really consists of the alphabet.

Example: the word “archer” would be spelled A-R-C-H-E-R 

With contracted Braille (Grade 2), you still use the alphabet, but words are spelled according to the groupings of the letters. 

Continuing with the “archer” example: it would be spelled AR-CH-ER. 

Contracted Braille is a bit more complicated, since some words/groupings have their own symbols. For those of you who know the structure of the letters, the word “the” for instance, has the dot structure of a “z”-- only backwards. A backwards “y” is the symbol for “and” and can be used in combination. 

Example: 

(Grade 1) T-H-E B-A-N-D P-L-A-Y-E-D A S-O-N-G. 

(Grade 2) THE B-AND P-L-A-Y-ED A S-ONG. 

And not to mention, some words have their own contractions. “As” is a “z,” “good” is “gd,” even braille is “brl.” 

Example: 

(Grade 1): The band was great!

(Grade 2) The b-and was (as a lowered g) grt! 

I guess Grade 2 braille would take up less room then?

See, when a sighted person uses cursive, it’s because they learned to write and read that way. It’s really no different than learning a new handwriting style, really. For Braille purposes, it’s mainly used for translation. For example, in a science or history textbook, you might have all the vocabulary terms bolder and the important concepts italicized. In rare cases, you may even have a “handwriting” type font

Or something like this

For my VIPs, it says “or something like this” in the curly font.

[ID: A metal Braille slate with a Reizen stylus next to it. The slate has a notecard inserted.]

Louis Braille began losing his sight at three years old, due to an accident with a toy that struck him in the eye and which became infected and spread to his other eye. By age five, Louis was completely blind. It was 1812 and there was nothing that medicine could do for either eye.

He was lucky though and was able to attend one of the first blind schools in the world, the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. There, Louis was exposed to the “night writing” method invented by Captain Charles Barbier of the French Army. It was a series of dashes and dots intended to be read by soldiers when putting on a light might be dangerous. But the night writing system was rather complicated and difficult to use. It did, however, inspire Louis to try and make a better system on his own. By the time Louis was 15 years old, he had trimmed Barbier’s 12 dots into six and had found 63 ways to use a six-dot cell in an area no larger than a fingertip. Braille, the system still used around the world, had been born.

Just to finish off Louis’ story – his life did not end at age 15! He published his own system in 1829 and added symbols for both mathematics and music. He went on to have a number of publications about the new reading and writing system, and in 1833, Louis was offered a full professorship where he taught history, geometry and algebra. He also became an accomplished cellist and organist. Unfortunately his invention was met with skepticism by the public. It was not even taught at Braille’s alma mater, the Royal Institute. Due to a persistent respiratory illness he was forced to give up teaching and move back to his hometown at age 40.