Spanish words within English context

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  • #40896
    emilycarterbrlr
    Participant

    Hello,

    I’m transcribing a fiction book that contains some Spanish words and names. Do I use contractions in these words or not?
    Based on the following formats rules I believe because this is just a simple fiction book in English context and not a school/language textbook i use contractions in these Spanish words unless the contraction is attached to a accent? Am I thinking correctly?

    Would the rules be different if I was doing a simple children’s picture book that contains English words with Spanish equivalent under it?
    ——————-

    formatting rules I believe apply to my situation..

    1.16   Foreign Material in English Context

    1.16.1
    The provisions given in these guidelines apply to the transcription of foreign words and phrases appearing in English language materials other than those texts teaching a foreign language.
    1.16.2
    Foreign Material. For the purposes of agencies and transcribers working with codes of the Braille Authority of North America, any language other than modern English is considered a foreign language. This includes Old English and Middle English, as well as transliterated or romanized forms of languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, and Russian.
    1.16.3
    Foreign language words or phrases within an English language paragraph are contracted. Use modified letter indicators to represent accented letters. If a modification applies to a letter that would be part of a contraction, do not use the contraction. Use UEB symbols for inverted punctuation. (See UEB §4.2.1–4.5.2, Letters and Their Modifiers; §13.2, Using UEB Contractions; and §13.5, Using UEB Signs.)
    Thank you in advance for any clarification you can provide!
    Emily C
    #40898
    Anna
    Moderator

    A book with occasional Spanish can be done entirely according to the rules of UEB.  That means using contractions unless other rules apply; an accented letter within text that would otherwise be contracted means you cannot use the contraction.  For example, in the word árbol the "ar" contraction cannot be used; on the other hand, the word caminar would be transcribed with the "in" contraction and the "ar" contraction.

    "Occasional" or "incidental" foreign language text is not clearly defined in every case.  For example, a novel could have a character that regularly says Spanish words, but it would be reasonable to do the whole thing in UEB.  Books for foreign language learners or dual language texts are best done with UEB for the English and uncontracted Spanish braille for the Spanish (using UEB for punctuation, indicators, etc.).  That's what I would do for a children's book that is in both languages; using different margins for English and Spanish text will help the reader understand the switch from one code to another.

    #40899
    emilycarterbrlr
    Participant

    Anna, that’s super helpful thank you!!

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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