[MusicTlk] [Menvi-discuss] Creating InkPrint and Braille International Phonetic Alphabet and Translation Charts

[Noah T. Carver]

Hi Daniel,

Okay, good to know. Yes, I'd like this to be interline, with the order being text, IPA, and finally literary translation. I'd also ideally want it to be indented similar to how lists in Braille usually are, i.e. (hopefully I don't make a mistake here) original language text unindented, IPA indented by two spaces, and translation indented by four. Ideally, I'd like to write all this out in Microsoft Word so that it's visually presentable, then send it to DBT or similar which will then turn it into Braille. I have no idea how to do that, though, given that I'm basically switching Braille codes at every line.

Thanks much for your help.

Warmly,


Noah T. Carver (He/Him)

Candidate, B.M. '27, Applied Music (Performance) -- Voice

Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester

For National Federation of the Blind Related Matters: +1 (207) 205-7303<tel:+12072057303>

For All Other Matters:

noah.t.carver at outlook.com<mailto:noah.t.carver at outlook.com>

As a result of my academic schedule, I may email outside of standard business hours. Please feel free to reply during your normal working hours.

________________________________
From: Daniel Gillen <daniel.l.gillen at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 12, 2025 6:32 PM
To: Noah T. Carver via Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss at menvi.org>
Cc: Noah T. Carver <noah.t.carver at outlook.com>; perform-talk at nfbnet.org <perform-talk at nfbnet.org>; blind-music-readers at groups.io <blind-music-readers at groups.io>; musictlk at nfbnet.org <musictlk at nfbnet.org>; braille-music-chat at googlegroups.com <braille-music-chat at googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] Creating InkPrint and Braille International Phonetic Alphabet and Translation Charts


Dear Noah,

As a braille music transcriber who works with various braille codes/languages, I think this isn't too difficult to accomplish given the right tools. The original print document can be created in a mainstream program like Word, then opened/edited using software like Duxbury to translate and format into braille. If your document is to have the original-language text, an IPA transcription, and an English translation, you'd need to set up three different braille tables in the translation software and mark each text portion appropriately for that language or the IPA. Though as I haven't worked with documents with more than two parallel texts like this, I'm not sure if it's best to have every other line or stanza shown with its corresponding transcription and translation (dividing the document into blocks), or to just write out the entire text one version after another. I understand that in print, translations of a text in multiple language are often presented in an interline style, where every second or third line in the document is the next line in the corresponding text (which is how multilingual song lyrics are formatted above the line of music in a braille score). I would say the exact format really depends on whether you're emphasizing comparative analysis (where you might want parts of the text to be on the same braille page for easy comparison), or general readability and flow (an entire version given without interruption, followed by subsequent versions). In any case, you'll end up with a BRF with three different braille codes. As long as the placement of text lines in the document is clear, readers will hopefully not be confused which version they're looking at in any given position.

Best,
Daniel

Daniel Gillen
Accessible Music Technology Specialist
The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School
www.fmdgmusicschool.org

Daniel Gillen
Accessible Music Technology Specialist
The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School
www.fmdgmusicschool.org
daniel.l.gillen at gmail.com
(917) 626-7299

On Oct 12, 2025 4:50 PM, "Noah T. Carver via Menvi-discuss" <menvi-discuss at menvi.org> wrote:
Hi all,

Hope this message finds you well.

I'm looking into the best way to write out a text in another language, its corresponding International Phonetic Alphabet translation, and its word-for-word English translation in inkprint via a computer and then emboss or generate BRFs of that document to review. I would just write the BRFs on my Braille display, but I would prefer my instructors to see the IPA which I've written as sighted vocalists would. IF this is not easily accomplished, I will simply continue writing out my transcriptions via Braille display.

Thanks in advance for any help which you can give.

Warmly,


Noah T. Carver (He/Him)

Candidate, B.M. '27, Applied Music (Performance) -- Voice

Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester

For National Federation of the Blind Related Matters: +1 (207) 205-7303

For All Other Matters:

noah.t.carver at outlook.com<mailto:noah.t.carver at outlook.com>

As a result of my academic schedule, I may email outside of standard business hours. Please feel free to reply during your normal working hours.