[Athen] Advice Sought for Student Learning Arabic

[Jeffrey Dell]

We setup accommodations for Japanese for a blind student.  Arabic is
quite different from Japanese but some of the ideas may work.
The student was a JAWS user so we purchase the Japanese localized
version of JAWS for the student to use.  It would read all characters
and IME typing dialogs as well as present Tenji Japanese Braille on a
standard refreshable braille display.  This was much cheaper than
transcribing the book into braille.  It also helped with learning the
characters used in Japanese Tenji braille that we could not find
online.  For many courses where you learn a language you are also
expected to use a translation dictionary to help with your writing.
We tested some online translation dictionaries to find some that would
work well with JAWS.
We prepared a document that showed the Japanese characters and their
braille equivalent.    This document was created in Word using the IME
Japanese keyboard and the braille fonts from Duxbury for the braille
symbols.  This was then printed onto thermoform paper.  We also used
that document as a reference to manually transcribe some handouts that
were more appropriate for printed form.
Because of the nature of language learning textbooks we found OCR to
not be accurate enough with structure to save time in document
creation.  We hired a student from Japan to type out the book and
recreate the tables of vocabulary.
We also had a student with low vision in the same class.  This student
just used a CCTV for reading the materials.  That student used
electronic texts occasionally but was not interested in them for this
course.
Hopefully that helps.  If you have any questions you can reach me off
list at j.dell at csuohio.edu
Cath in Colorado has a lot of experience with these types of languages too.
Jeff

On 5/13/14, Stores, Mary A. <mstores at indiana.edu> wrote:

> Hello Asha,

>

> We have done some Arabic braille transcription at IU. We found a person who

> could speak Arabic fluently and had her edit the scanned documents to make

> sure they were accurate. The Arabic-speaking editor then saved the files as

> Word files, where they could be imported into Duxbury. Then, because the

> student we produced Arabic braille for was blind and from a country where

> Arabic is spoken, we asked the student to come and read the documents.

> Duxbury has two translation tables for Arabic, and we wanted to make sure we

> were using the correct one for him. Our student said that the Arabic

> Pre-2002 Rules translation table worked the best for him, versus the Arabic

> translation table. So that is what we used.

>

> If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to write me off list

> or call.

>

> Mary

>

>

> Mary Stores, Senior Alternate Format Specialist UITS Adaptive Technology and

> Accessibility Centers Indiana University, Indianapolis and Bloomington

> 1320 E. 10th St. Wells Library, Room 305 Bloomington, IN  47405

> (812) 856-2760

> mstores at indiana.edu

> http://iuadapts.indiana.edu

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On

> Behalf Of Sean J Keegan

> Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 2:04 PM

> To: Access Technology Higher Education Network

> Subject: Re: [Athen] Advice Sought for Student Learning Arabic

>

> Hi Asha,

>

> We did production work for Chinese braille a few years ago and it was a very

> educational experience (particularly around costs!). In short, we did the

> following:

>

> 1) We began by outsourcing the initial production work with contractor

> (starting at $400 per print page - ugh!) so we could have some materials

> ready at the start of the academic quarter for the student.

>

> 2) At the same time, we had an alt format staff member knowledgable in

> braille and, separately, literate in Mandarin. Luckily, the student was

> taking Mandarin, so our alt format staff member began learning the Chinese

> braille format. This was not easy as there were a number of different

> websites with conflicting information, but once we found accurate

> information, the process began to go more smoothly.

>

> 3) When our internal production was running, we shifted the majority of

> production from the contractor to in-house. We still did contract out some

> work, but that content was not time-sensitive.

>

> 4) For braille production, we converted Chinese characters (hanzi) into

> pinyin and did basic formatting in MS Word. With the pinyin in MS Word, we

> then imported into Duxbury. We did some extra work to include the tones back

> into the braille version of the document (there are four tones in Mandarin

> Chinese used to clarify the word). Normally, the tones are omitted in

> Chinese braille, but as the student was learning the language he preferred

> to include these elements.

>

> 5) As several of the books we converted were both English and Chinese, we

> did have to come up with basic formatting rules with the student. The

> Chinese braille was in grade 1, whereas English parts of the textbook were

> done in grade 2. We could not find a braille manual we could read regarding

> how to format academic materials and so we used some BANA formatting. The

> catch was that some of the formatting overlapped at times with the Chinese

> braille characters, so we worked with the student to standardize the

> formatting (e.g., line overruns, language changes, etc.).

>

> Due to the differences in the language, there may or may not be some

> overlap. In our experience, it was MUCH easier to have a transcriber

> literate in the language and then for that person to learn the braille

> equivalent. If you do not have access to a transcriber on staff that is

> familiar with Arabic and/or braille, then outsourcing may be the best

> option. Another consideration may be to hire a person as a contract staff

> member - it could be much cheaper in the long run than trying out outsource

> everything. While Duxbury does make the conversion process simpler, do not

> expect Duxbury to get everything perfect. It does a good job, but we felt it

> was necessary to have a person reviewing the content for accuracy.

>

> Hope this helps.

>

> Take care,

> Sean

>

>

> Sean Keegan

> Associate Director, Assistive Technology Office of Accessible Education -

> Stanford University

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: "Asha Kinney" <akinney at hampshire.edu>

> To: athen-list at u.washington.edu

> Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 8:49:32 AM

> Subject: [Athen] Advice Sought for Student Learning Arabic

>

> 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

>

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