Category: Language and Culture
Hi people. I'm studying Japanese. my teacher says that my pronounsiations and all these things are going well, but the problem is that I have to know how to write it.
My question is, where can I learn Japanese braille? does anyone know where can I find something to learn japanese braille?
thanks for your atention, Andres
Hello,
Makes me wish I still had the cheat sheet I made up in college twenty years ago.
I got it from a Consulate in Tokyo - don't remember the offie.
Basically, Japanese Braille is phonetic, imagine Katakana or Hiragana, where you start with the primary sounds:
a i u e o
i is like the i in Spanish si and e is like Canadian "Take off, eh," Okay maybe that's just Bob and Doug McKenzie - dating myself, I guess.
Anyway, these are represented by the characters
a b c f i
in Braille: basically, combinations of dots 1, 2 and 4, or as an image, the north-west section of the Braille cell.
Dots 3, 5 and 6 add the remaining parts to the characters.
So to the above, to get the set ka ki ku ke ko, you just add dot 6 like this:
* <% $ {
I can't remember all the rest here, but fortunately it's an international group here, and maybe a Japanese person can actually help, or someone who is taking Japanese now.
The only exceptions I remember is that there was ya yu yo and then the two characters wa and nn.
As I remember it, Japanese Braille was the most sensible Braille system I've ever seen, and appeared to be constructed not by colonialists but real users.
You'll like being able to read and write the characters, although you won't be able to turn in written work, because often the characters are words themselves, and will help you assemble the language.
I've forgotten a lot, but I hope this at least gets you a start.
I have a Japanese friend who uses the Zone, and he'd definitely be able to give you some help. His name is Katsutoshi. He doesn't come on the boards often, but send him a PM and I'm sure he could help.
Hi!
I also know how to read and write japanese braille as well.
Because I've got experience to be there for a year.
I also teaching japanese for my part time here as well.
Please let's me know if you need some help.
Best.
Bee.
I definitely know someone who could assist you with that, if you still need help.
sometimes cheat sheets
not a bad thing
for learning
continues on
I love the Japanese language but I've always had a really tough time with the writing system (hiragana, katakana and especially kanji).
Wow, thanks LeoGuardian. Know of a site that explains the rest of the Japanese Braille system like that? All google turned up was a Wikipedia article, and a couple pages written by someone who barely knows English. :(
I'm learning Japanese myself, and would love to be able to write it. BTW, are the characters the same for Hiragana and Katakana, or is there some kind of indicator to show which one you're writing in? And what about Kanji?
Thanks,
KJ4UFX
All the characters are the same in Japanese Braille.
I learned Japanese, and did Braille with it, back in 1990s, before the Internet was ever popular.
SeaMaiden is from Japan and speaks North American English... why not give her a shout... maybe she'll help you.
Leo.. in regards to the "Eh"... we still use that up here in every day speech.