[Athen] Advice Sought for Student Learning Arabic

[Asha Kinney]

Greetings Athen List: 

We have a student with a visual impairment who reads in braille and will be taking a course in Arabic this fall.

Has anyone ever dealt with a student learning another language which uses a special character set and/or has its own unique braille code? Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, etc??

I would appreciate any and all advice. This extremely motivated student has volunteered learn the Arabic braille code over the summer but I am trying to wrap my head around the translation process. 

I'm also wondering what the most useful approach would actually be, and if it's even braille-based at all. This student does have limited vision so we could also make use of enlarged graphics, as well as tactile ones, etc.

Any other thoughts, stories, advice, or referrals welcome! Feel free to reply off-list and I am happy to compile responses and share.

Thanks!

Asha Kinney 
Assistant Director of IT - Instructional and Assistive Technology
Hampshire College 
Amherst, MA 01002 
akinney at hampshire.edu