Hi Kuenga,
This may be rather a long tale, but I hope you will understand where I am
coming from.
I make no apologies for being biased towards UEB. That said, my personal
views have developed over what might appear to be unusual circumstances.
When Duxbury began working with MathType and Scientific Notebook to produce
math braille, I have to admit that my own knowledge of mathematics was very
limited. I did not leave school with any math certificates. However, when
I became an apprentice Mining Mechanical Engineer, one day at college was
mandatory. Moreover, "Applied Mathematics" was also mandatory, and just the
very thought, scared me.
However, I very soon found that I actually began to understand much of the
theoretical math, when it was applied to a real life situation. How can a
80 kilo man raise an object which is 10 times his own weight? The theory is
in the "Principal of Moments". In practice, you would use a tool such as a
crow-bar.
Many years later, and after I became involved in the braille world, I met a
sighted English Dominican Nun, Sister Catherine Jackson, who was to change
much of my thinking, although not in a religious sense. "Sister Kate" as we
affectionately called her, began the Dorothy Duncan Braille Library in
Harare, Zimbabwe. One of the questions Sr. Kate raised was whether or not
mathematics could in fact be taught to braille users. Blind students in
Zimbabwe were only taught simple arithmetic, not actual mathematics.
Enter Duxbury, MathType and some willing young students who were already
proficient in contracted braille. With some personal tuition, the students
began to learn math braille, and to our absolute amazement most of them
loved it and understood it, some even better than their sighted peers. One
of the reasons was that braille math is "linear", virtually as it is spoken.
However, braille allows the reader to review an equation far better than
have it read with speech.
And so now Mathematics with braille students is on the curriculum in
Zimbabwe. And I have to say that I found a similar pattern in many other
African countries which I have visited over the years, and they too are
beginning to do what Sr. Kare has achieved.
So back to UEB, and what math code to use. One deciding factor relates to
braille acquired from abroad. If you get material from the UK and you use
British Exam Boards, you will find that UEB will usually be the literary
standard, and it would be logical to use UEB Math.
With every major English speaking country having now adopted UEB, I believe
all but the USA have adopted UEB math as well. America (excluding Canada)
is the exception, but I am reliably informed that some States are in fact
choosing to use UEB Math.
In conclusion, the main purpose of UEB is to have one common English braille
standard world-wide. It doesn't change spelling, so words like "colour" and
"color" stay as they are. Formatting of braille is not covered by UEB, and
therefore no changes there to worry about. It's all about standardisation
and trying to keep braille production costs down.
All the best,
George
From: duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:duxuser-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Kuenga Chhoegyel
Sent: 12 July 2017 06:24
To: duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [duxuser] Future of Nemeth.
Importance: High
Dear George and the rest of the friends,
It is just a couple of years since Bhutan introduced Nemeth Braille. Till
then, we were using British Mathematics and Science Braille symbols.
Recently, we have come across yet another structure of Braille Codes of
Unified English Braille. There are some who believes that it would take
some more time for EUB to be implemented in all the nations of the world
using Braille. While others say that in a couple of years from now, all may
adopt using UEB. We are still in the early stage, a situation where we can
easily adopt. What would you suggest:
1. Continue using Nemeth Braille
2. Start using UEB with BANA Nemeth.
We earnestly look forward for your practical suggestion and advise for long
term Braille users.
Looking forward to hearing soon.
Kuenga Chhoegyel,
Muenselling Institute,
Khaling, Bhutan.
P.O. box 4203
Email: kuengachhoegyel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
kuengachhoegyel@xxxxxxxxx
Mobile: +(975)-17684860
Skype me: kuenga.chhoegyel
Follow me on facebook: Kuenga Chhoegyel.
Follow Muenselling facebook: Muenselling Khaling
e-mail: muensellinginstitute@xxxxxxxxx
Visit us at:http://www.muensellinginstitute.edu.bt/ ;
