Category: book Nook
Hi all. Which would you all prefer, reading something in braille or large print or whatever you use to read or listen to it. For me I'd rather read something
in braille rather then listen to it. The reason I myself comprehend better when reading something rather then listening to it on tape. It also keeps me
alert for if I listen to something I tend to lose atention. So how about the rest of you? What is your prefference and why?
Troy
well if i'm reading for pleasure, i'd rather listen, because it makes the book come alive more, and is more exciting than braille, plus braille is so cumbersome because of the number of volumes it takes to make one book in print. However, if it were something i had to read and study, in order to learn, it would be easier to read it in braille, since it would be easier for me to go slower and also it would be easier to find certain text i might needc to read over.
wonderwoman
I'm an audio junky all the way. I've never liked braille and as a result never became a particularly quick reader. I read well enough for the limited amount of things that I use braille for, however I could never ever read an entire book in braille. I tried just once and gave up after just a few pages. The effort of reading plus my torturous pace took any pleasure out of the experience for me.
Give me a good book with a good reader any day over braille and I'm a happy happy man.
I generally prefer listening to a book because even with large print, I can lose my visual focus real fast if other thoughts pop into my mind or I'm interrupted by a noise or a discussion or something. If I'm listening to it, it's usually the top thing on my mind and if I press pause or stop, I can pick up right where I left off and make sense of it. I'm learning Braille and would love to try a Braille book sometime to see how well I can focus on that.
I am with Troy on this one. I always consider audio a more passive way to learn, in that nothing is moving to read the book. With braille, we move our hands, and with print, people move their eyes across the pages. To me, reading in the more tradtional sense is what I call "Active" learning. Having said that, I know braille isn't for everyone. I was a braille instructor for a number of years, and actually pittied people who were so intent on learning braille.
Lou
I usually like reading in Braille, especially when I really have to pay attention to specific details such as math or when reading specially formatted information such as tables and charts, and I also prefer tactile graphics or models rather than having them described to me when possible. I also prefer to read my tests in Braille or (since that is not an easy option at school),, at least on computer as then I feel like I could go at my own pace to think. As for regular stories and novels, if it's just reading a story/novel for fun, I don't mind it either way really. I love reading things in Braille, but if the book is being read by a pretty good narrator, I won't mind listening to it like that either. For informational and school-related stuff, I either like Braille, or I will scan the book or find it on Bookshare or somewhere else on the Net if possible, since then I'd be able to skim thru that material more easily and if I need to focus on specific passages, I can mark (for Braille versions) or temperarily copy and paste (for computer versions), and easily take notes on, what I will most need to study.
I'm with Harp all the way, but then I'm an older braille learner and have used audio for many years.
I prefer audio for pleasure reading. But there are times I wish I could see or feel the words. For example, I get a health and nutrition magazine on tape each month. There are times when herbs or other types of supplements are recommended, and I would be interested in trying them out, but I have no idea how to spell them and the reader does not spell them. So I have to go to internet and do a search and hope google can figure out what I mean if I spell something way wrong.
Braille all the way. An audio book isn't bad, and about a million times better than an e-text, but I'd rather have a book, with pages, that I can actively, physically read, spill things on, lose my spot on a page, get so absorbed that I don't notice my fingers hurting til later. It just doesn't feel like reading without a book. And like Becky said, the absence of spelling, of names and places, as well as the little formatting quirks that different writers have, is just annoying. Interesting though, how people all read so differently.
I agree about the test thing, if the teacher didn't give my braille teacher the test in time it had to be an oral test and I didn't like that.
Troy
I thoroughly enjoy listening to books on CD or cassette. It guves all the characters an actual voice, something to say for themselves thour the narator and if it's Stephen Fry reading the books to you, you're in stitches for hours, he is just so funny.
i'm weird for this. it depends what mood i'm in. i always listen to a book on tape at night, so it sends me to sleep. i have the volume low, but if i feel like reading, i'll do that in braille, it's mainly tape for me though when i have time to read lol.
for my own purposes, I like both tape and braille though i find that when i read things in braille, i get way more into the text though tape isn't bad if you need to multi task.
I think the spelling thing is a huge huge issue. i'm an english major and have seen some pretty bad spelling on behalf of blind peers not through fault of their own but because they have always relied more on audio than braille/large print. i think that gramatical and phonetic foundations should always be established no matter what form of reading one prefers.
It's Braille all the way for me, whether it's for pleasure reading, or books I needed to have when I was in school. I much rather read whatever I'm reading myself. If there is a book that I want to read, but it's not in Braille, then I'll order it to listen to, but like I said, I'd much rather read the materials myself. I learned Braille when I was three, so I've been using it for over twenty years. When I was in school, I preferred Braille over recorded materials, for obvious reasons. It just seems like you can understand something a lot better, if you are reading it yourself, and like Becky mentioned, it's also a good thing to know exactly what you're reading, when it comes to spelling, etc. When it comes to pleasure reading, I've always enjoyed reading the book or magazine myself. I feel that I get more interested in the book when I'm reading it, as opposed to having someone else read it to me.
Yeah, I know what you mean Gemini, but I learnt Braille when I was about four, nearly 19 years ago now, but I've always preferred books on tape or CD. They're just so much more portable, you can take them anywhere with you in a personal stereo or your diskman, you can find your chapters and stuff a lot quicker than flicking through about umpteen braille volumes till you find where you shut the book and marked it with the ribbon provided or a paper clip. Audio all the way for me, definitely. You don't need Braille most of the time now, you have all your fancy scanners and PCs to deal with printed text.
It depends on my mood and what needs to be done. If I'm reading a pleasure book, I usually like to try to find it in E-text and read it on my notetaker, either in braille or with the speech. I've listened to synthetic speech for many years, so it doesn't bother me when listening to a book. I use a braille lite milennium, and the speech isn't to bad to listen to. If I'm taking a test, or need to read something for school, I prefer braille if possible, especially with math. Having math orally described or read is nearly impossible for me. So, usually its the books from bookshare or some other site I like to read on my notetaker due to the portability issue.
I love reading in all its forms. I have been a fluent Braille reader all my life and enjoy reading for pleasure in that medium whenever possible. In school, it was the preferred method for me, but I've always enjoyed being read to as well so for the sake of portability, much of my reading today is through tapes. For studying, hard copy is preferable and because I'm a word junkie, love to see how words are spelled.
Hi! Like others have said, I am in the middle on this one. I would like to get more books in Braille because I do agree with what motifated said, Braille, in my opinion, is more active than listening but I also enjoy listening to audio books by excellent narrators because I feel that a dimension to the book is added by the narrator's creation of a distinct voice for each character which then lends itself to a distinct personality. For example, I would absolutely listen to the Golden Compass trilogy which was dramatized by an entire cast of professional actors than read it in Braille, but I would much rather have a magazine or newspaper in Braille because of what another poster said earlier about spelling and other formatting issues that are not apparent to the listener. Having recently gotten a Braille display, I am finding that I really enjoy using that as well which is making reading books on the computer found on bookshare, web braille, or some other online books site more enjoyable for me. For school, I prefer listening to audio or synthetic speech--with synthetic speech, I find it's easier, as someone else said above, to find text or a certain string of words I need but I am considering ordering books for one of my courses this fall in Braille because the professor has us flip through the book to find things and I think that would be easier done in Braille, since I'm not looking for a specific string of words. Sorry this was so long!
I prefer audio books or jaws etc. I don't get as much from tactile reading.
I enjoy audio books for pleasure reading. I learned braille when I was grown and am not a fast enough reading to read for pleasure. I get more out of listening. I only read for pleasure at night and fall asleep reading and that's just fine. When I want to pay attention I read in Braille. For example, I read my Bible in Braille. I love touching the words and seem to get more out of it that way. So to make a long story short, it's mostly audio for me but Braille when attention is necessary for understanding.
If I have to read a novel for school, I would rather use Braille, but if it's for leisure reading, I'll read using a book on tape or CD, depending on the narrator. For example, if I'm reading the Harry Potter books, I like reading along with the audio book.
i like using the audio books.
it's such an advantage, insted of reading pages and pages of material, i can just sit back and enjoy the show. lol
It's a shame what the user in post 15 said about not really needing Braille now because of all the fancy scanners and things that are available to deal with printed text. I totally disagree. I am more inclined to go towards Preciosa's thinking in post 13. Maybe there are some blind people who aren't really good at spelling because they're dyslexic or have some type of learning disability, but I really believe that the lack of Braille is a huge contributing factor to the atrocious grammatical and phonetic errors I've encountered on here. It's understandable. How are you expected to know how anything is spelled if all you're going to rely on is audio? The narrators don't spell out any of the words. English is a complicated language. In my opinion, it's easier for the average Joe to speak than write it because there are many words you can't spell by sounding them out.
Maybe you haven't been blind all your life, or maybe you didn't start reading Braille at a young age. That explains why you would think it was cumbersome and unnecessary. I am hoping, though, that those who want to use that excuse have some way of keeping up with their spelling and grammar so as not to appear stupid when writing out important documents. Yes, people, there is a spell checker function on your oh-so-advanced-and-fancy computers these days, but it doesn't often work for grammar.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the whole thing for now. I have a lot more to say, but it would be too long for this post, so maybe I'll continue some other time.
-- Allie
I agree with the last post. I don't use braille for the last few years since i came to university and my spelling doesn't improove lol. I agree English spelling is difficult because words are not spelled how they sound like. I miss my braille and perkins sometimes. But to answer the original question i think if i had the option between audio and braille possibly i would go with audio because i am lazy lol. This is for reading long books. If i have got a presentation or a song to sing i like braille because it is easier to carry it etc.
There's no contest at all, it's Braille all the way for me. I will even go so far as to say that I strongly dislike audio books, and will only listen to them if I can't get something I really want or need in Braille. For academic purposes I feel even more strongly that Braille is the way to go, because I get much more from what I'm reading if I'm actually, well, reading it. I do have quite a collection of audio books, but that's because for the most part they're much easier to get hold of than Braille books. For me, nothing is gained by listening to a good book with a good reader. I mean, it doesn't make the book any more exciting or interesting than it would be if I were reading it. And I have the attention span of a four-year-old where most things are concerned, so I tend to lose interest in listening to someone read to me fairly quickly. It's not just audio books--I never liked being read to by my mother as a child.
As for the spelling and grammar issue, that's something I could rant about all day. It is true that by relying so much on audio as opposed to reading things yourself, you're putting yourself at more of a disadvantage because you can't actually see how words are spelled and the narrator doesn't spell them out. But, I feel that if you're going to make the choice to use audio over text, you should also make the choice to educate yourself and find out how to spell words you don't know. I get very irritated with people who defend their poor spelling by saying that it's the result of having used audio for so many things, or having a reader in school because things weren't available in Braille. There are these nifty little things called dictionaries, and if you're using a computer you can very easily check the spelling of any given word, so as far as I'm concerned that's not much of an excuse.
But anyway, that's a different issue for a different topic. I do think it's a shame that so many blind people choose audio over Braille, because for me, actually reading things adds an element missing from hearing them read. But that's just me, and everyone has their preferences.
I've always loved to read braille. I enjoy certain audio books but if I have the choice, I'd like to read the book. However a few of my buttons on the braille display broke so... I guess it'll be listening from now on.
I agree with OrangeDolphinSpirit and DancingAfterDark. I've been a Braille reader ever since I was three, and I can't imagine ever not having it. I, too, think that it's a shame that so many people out there push Braille aside, and turn toward audio and other electronic devices to do their reading for them. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'd definitely prefer Braille over audio, especially when it comes to academics. If there's something that I can't get in Braille, then I'll get it in audio, but I usually check to see if it's in Braille first. I understand the opinions on how much more portable audio is, but...I dunno. I still prefer to read the materials myself.
I love braille!
Audio also has its place, but I prefer listening to audio using Jaws rather than on tape.
I alos think that reading in braille helps someone get a sense of how sentences and paragraphs are laid out and how words are spelled. You don't get htis on tape.
I prefer audio, unless it's something I need to know the lay out of, like math.
I prefer Audio over Reading anyday.
Ganondorf - Chris
For me, the medium is very dependent on the material of the book, as others have said.
For pleasure reading, I usually go to audio first because it's so much easier to get the books. Web braille helps a lot though, and refreshable braille is awsome if you have access to it.
For math and science, I prefer braille, and that's even true of tutorials and computer manuals. i understand better when i can feel it. . i love my braille note and its display.
I have often heard this arguement of braille as a dying medium. In a sense I understand it, because paper braille is costly to produce and bulky to manipulate. However, you miss spellings and layout in the audible alternatives.
Some textbooks for my college come to me from the publisher as text, and this is great because I can load it to the braille note , or the bookport, or whatever. Some material is so long that reading it in braille, though good for the brain, slows me down.
I have a friend who lost his vision at 18 do to brain injuries, and now almost nine years later, his spelling has worsened dramatically, and he wants to learn braille to help with that.
i appreciate the ease that audio provides in the short-term while you're listening, but you should make up for that lack of effort after you read by making sure you learn spellings of unfamiliar words, and also how to translate them from contracted braille into full letters that can be typed on a computer. Sighted people won't understand why you typed "qk" instead of "quick." I honestly saw one of my peers do that, and I was apalled. The teachers at the blind school surely would have understood if she had asked for the spelling.
In some ways, the audio is a crutch for people that don't want to take the time to learn to spell correctly.
Sorry for the rambling, i haven't gotten much sleep.
Shawn
hello all I like what Allie said. yes I have to read books on type because I had a bad wrist problem some time ago. so yes for school I read inbraille. but forfun I read on tape.
Personally I'd rather listen to a book on CD as long as the reader makes it sound interesting. Sometimes if the reader is really inexpressive I wish I had it in large print or Braille (I can read both), but usually I prefer the audio versions. I find that I don't concentrate on what I'm reading, which is importnat when you like crime stories like I do. I can concentrate on fitting the story together if I listen, whereas I'm concentrating on accurate reading if I read it myself, which is good practice but not for leisure reading!
I read in Braille all the way, whether it's for pleasure or school, or whatever. When it comes to pleasure reading, my imagination pictures the story better when I'm reading it on my own, when I can picture how a word would be pronounced, not how someone else interprets the book. When it comes to school stuff, I just retain the info better if I read it myself. I was told once that I'd have a visual learning style if I could see, and for me, Braille is the closest thing I'll get to visualizing while reading.
I am a lifelong braille user and think I'm pretty good with it. However, I don't like reading braille books. They are still too slow. Plus, there's nothing like trying to read braille in the winter with cold hands.
I don't particularly like reading narrated books either. You are at the mercy of the narrator. They pick the speed and you are limited to the amount of interest they put into their reading.
I do most of my reading on a computer with synthesized speech. Many people hate it, but once you get used to it, I think it's great. You can read as fast or as slow as you want to. You can detect most misspellings and many punctuation errors because computerized speech tells it like it is.
Reading material on a computer with a refreshable braille display is heaven for me. Then you can easily check the spelling of unfamiliar words, but keep your hands pretty warm most of the time. <lol>
Bob
I confess that I'm a spelling Nazi. I can adjust easily between Braille and audio. (There are many little mistakes that can easily be corrected on these message boards, but hey, noone's perfect.)
If I am learning something I like braille but if it is for pleasure I love audio.
Yes Bob, reading Braille with cold hands sucks. So does reading Braille with dry hands. But I keep my house on the warm side during winter, so it's not usually a problem for me.
It all depends on who's narrating, but I like doing either reading or listening.
Well I prefer audo when I have to read for pleasure, but I rather do computer for my school work, and I hate brill inevery sense of the thing. I was forced to learn the stuff at three years old, but I had my sight until I was 21 . and I only use brill if I need personal thing labed or I need to see maps and charts or tables. or music. that is the only time I use the stuff.
For me, it's audio/E-text all the way, and I was first exposed to braille at the age of five. I learned it well enough to use it during my high school days, but, like Dan, I would quickly pall of reading an entire braille book due to lack of reading speed...and that's putting it diplomatically.
I totally agree with Bob in regards to E-text versus audio--it's your book, after all; read it when you want to, and as fast as you want to.
Oh, and before I hit 'reply,' I've a question: do you think it's actually possible to keep up with your grammar if you hardly ever use braille? Notice I didn't take the, Possible-To-Actually, way out of that sentence? The best split infinitive can be found in Star Trek; but that isn't germane to this topic.
That's perfectly fine to use Braille to label things. whatever floats your boat
Note to Jim: you really need to watch those split infinitives.
To answer your question, sure I think it's possible to keep up with your grammar if you aren't using braille,. A gramatical error sounds just as bad audibly as it appears textually.
However, I don't think the same is true with narrated books, as the reader is likely to automatically correct spelling and gramatical errors.
Bob
Yeah, reading it is a lot better for me. I tend to pick up a lot more, but if it's something I have read a million times, listening to it won't hurt.
I love Braille! I, too, absorb things better if I read, rather than listen . There's so little choice of reading material in braille, though. But there's nothing like the happy experience of curling up in a rocking chair with a real book! I miss that. Seems like I read more braille when I was a kid. I'd like to change that, and I hope to get an Empower as soon as I can, so I'll at least have the choice to read in Braille, even if it isn't an actual book.
I like reading and listening. Both works well for me, but If I was to study for a test, I would rather read the book than listen to it because I retain the information more when I read it. Listening is good too, but If your mind wonders somewhere, it can also shift your concentration from listening to the material to thinking about other things, so I read books more than listen to it.
I like braille more than audio because when somebody is just droning on and on I tend to lose focus. I'll make an exception for this like in school whare all my text books are on cd