wide side-by-side columns

[Chris Clemens]

I have a French textbook with columnar material that is too long to fit side-by-side on the braille line. For the most part, there are no column headings, so I'm not sure if it is appropriate to rearrange the columns as I would a table (into stairstep, linear or listed format, for example). Can you give me some guidance about how to arrange this material?

I see in the Interim Manual Section 4.5.a(3)(b) that for columns of foreign material and translations that are too long to be contained in the width of the braille page, the format is:

1-5 foreign word/phrase (print column 1)
3-5 translation (print column 2)

However, the columns I'm asking about are not translations, but more like related columns without headings (i.e. items and samples, or two different tenses). Would it be appropriate to use the same format here, anyway?

Also, in the table at the bottom of the page the first column contains the foreign phrase and the English translation in two separate typefaces with no intervening punctuation. The second column contains example phrases. Should I use two spaces between the foreign and English words and ignore the special typeface?

Thanks!

[joannavenneri]

Thanks for your patience. This page has complex formatting issues to it that I have been considering. I do appreciate the print page that you sent. It's essential for understanding what you are working with and the precise nature of the questions you are asking. I'm going to answer in two parts.

First we'll try that middle section regarding the plural article des. You have referred to it as being in columns. This is not columned material. It looks like columns because it happens to be printed that way, that's all. For purposes of braille formatting this material is neither useful, nor easily read in columns. These are long sentences. What you want to do is to arrange them so that the full sentence can be easily read and the comparison of the article forms is quickly accessible to the reader.

The singlemost difficult issue in foreign language braille is translation and the shifting of one language to another, especially in close proximity. It is easy to visually identify each language and easy for the print reader to see when a shift it made from one language to the other. This is not true in braille and so a number of formats are used to show language shift that include usage of special typeface and the actual formatting of the material. You have described one of these methods with regard to tranlations that are too long for a single braille line. This is NOT a good usage here for these comparison sentences. That format tells the reader translation is taking place and the reader will be poorly served by wasting time discovering that nothing is being translated. Do not use that format here. And these these are not columns, so don't do that.

These sentences are actually examples and should be treated as displayed material. Each pair of sentences is treated as an example with a blank line between. Use 1-3 and appropriate typeface emphasis of the article.

Il achète du vin.
Il n’achète pas du vin.

Je mange de la viande
Je ne mange pas de viande.

The second part of my response will be regarding the translated list and sentences at the bottom of the page that you have referred to as a table. This is not a table, but two lists. There are competing formats here because at least one of these lists is a translated vocabulary which also has formatting requirements. I'll present suggestions for dealing with in the second part.

--Joanna

[joannavenneri]

On the vocabulary list and illustrative sentences at the bottom of the page-- Section 71b in the Interim Manual has been modified. This type of vocabulary list has a colon inserted between the foreign language and the English translation. Do no use two spaces--just a colon with one space after it. Ignore special typeface that designates language. This is also in the new rules under review and is authorized for use by BANA at this time. Understand that this might be ultimately changed when the new rules are published, but it is valid now.

I changed my mind about columns. This is not a table, but it is useful to treat it as related columns. Use stairstep with the vocabulary word and translation in cell 1 (there won't be any runovers) and the appropriate sample sentence blocked in cell 3. See page 77 in Braille Formats. You can refer to first column and second column in the transcriber's note, since there aren't column headings here.

--Joanna

[joannavenneri]

Thank you very much for your advice and clarification that not all printed columns should be transcribed as braille "columned material". I am still trying to get a sense of when I should maintain a columnar relationship, versus rearranging in some other format.

Could you address the first two print column sections on the page I sent earlier? Am I right in interpreting the first section as related columns, and the second section as text with translations (1-5, 3-5)? I have attached a .brf with my best guess at formatting this print page.

Also, is there an errata sheet containing modifications to the Interim Manual? I would like to make sure I have the most up-to-date guidelines.

Thanks!!
Rebecca

[Chris Clemens]

I disagree about brailling that first section as columns. This is another instance of brailling something by what it LOOKS like, rather than by what it IS. I think this section could be easier to read if formatted a little differently. I see this as a list that happens to be printed to LOOK like columns.

Masculine Noun (cell 5 heading)
The sentence in 1-3.

Feminine Noun (cell 5 heading)
The sentence in 1-3.
etc.

The text on the left actually IS a heading to the material it applies to.

Is there a right and wrong about this? Not really, especially in this case. But that is how I would do it. I am not impressed with print that LOOKS like columns unless the material really columned material. Marginal notes are often printed to look like columns too. Doesn't mean they are.

Please see my previous response about inserting two spaces for that translated material at the bottom of the page. I've already covered that. I also mentioned that I don't think it is a table at all.

--Joanna

[joannavenneri]

OK, fifth cell headings makes sense for that first section. Do you agree about the second part with long phrases and their translations being placed in 1-5, 3-5?

As for the last section, I thought I understood your advice to be:

,'Column form changed as follows:
First Column
Second Column,'

French word/phrase: English translation (blocked in cell 1, ignore typeface)
Example sentence (blocked in cell 3, emphasize the french word/phrase in the example sentence)

Is this correct?

Rebecca

[Chris Clemens]

Yes to all.

--Joanna

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