BULGARIAN (Uncontracted)   Bulgarian Flag

TABLE DESIGNATOR

bul

(The initial translation table for a translation is determined by the selected template, and may be changed using the Document / Translation Tables menu. Using those menus does not involve explicit use of the table designator. However, in cases where it is necessary to switch to a different translation table partway through a file, the designator for the table being switched to is required; see the general description of the [lnb~...] command for further details.)

FUNCTIONAL SUMMARY

The Bulgarian Uncontracted tables support print-to-braille translation of Bulgarian-language literary text written in the Cyrillic alphabet. English text may also be processed as a sub-language, and converted to contracted or uncontracted English braille (generally following British conventions in those minor instances where they differ from American or Unified English Braille).

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS

True braille-to-print translation is supported only within any embedded English text, not in the Bulgarian/Cyrillic text. This means that it is not generally useful to translate the Bulgarian braille file to print. It also means that the "translated line" will typically contain gibberish when viewing the braille file -you may prefer to turn off the "translated line" under the View menu, or even under Global/Default if you wish it to be off by default.

SECONDARY LANGUAGES SUPPORTED

English text may be entered as a secondary language, and converted to contracted or uncontracted English braille. That is, the grade switches affect the translation of the English text even though the Bulgarian text is always translated in grade 1 regardless of the grade setting in effect. In literary text, British conventions are generally followed, to the extent that they sometimes differ slightly from American or Unified English Braille.

French language text may be entered; it is brailled as uncontracted French braille, including the dots 46 capital indicator.

Russian or Ukrainian language may also be entered; they are brailled in the same way as Bulgarian.

Note that in addition to the above-listed "secondary languages" supported within the Bulgarian table itself, it is also possible to switch to any of the available translation tables listed in DBT. (See the [lnb~...] code below.)

TECHNICAL BRAILLE CODES SUPPORTED

No technical codes are supported.

However, it is possible to switch to any of the available translation tables listed in DBT (see the [lnb~...]code below), many of which do support various technical codes, such as for mathematics or computer notation, or which support “unified” treatment of technical notation as well as literary text in the base language associated with the table.

SUPPORTED DBT TRANSLATION CODES

The following DBT translation codes are available when using the Bulgarian table. Any other translation codes used will be ignored, or indeed may cause unexpected results. If using an alternative translation table, i.e when switching to another base language table by means of the[lnb~...] code, please refer to the relevant topic and available codes for that table.

[/] may be embedded within letter-groups that would normally be contracted, to prevent the contraction.

[ab] is equivalent to[g2]

[cz]

[fte~b]

[fte~i]

[fte~u]

[fts~b]

[fts~i]

[fts~u]

[g1] switches to "grade 1" (uncontracted) braille. This does not affect the Bulgarian text, which is uncontracted anyway, but does affect any embedded English text.

[g2] switches to "grade 2" (contracted) braille. This is the normal mode, but actually applies only to any embedded English text as the Bulgarian text is always uncontracted.

[in] is equivalent to [g1]

[lnb]

[lnb~...] (for switching to another base [primary] language table)

[lng~bg] or [lng] switches to Bulgarian language.

[lng~en] switches to English language.

[lng~fr] switches to French language.

[lng~ru] switches to Russian language.

[lng~uk] switches to Ukrainian language.

[tx] resumes normal translation, ending "direct braille."

CHARACTERS SUPPORTED

The table is designed to work with the following groups of characters:

All ASCII printable characters

Accented characters and punctuation marks typical of French, German, Italian, and Spanish

British pound sign (£)

Cyrillic unaccented characters (internal DUSCI codes D+b631 through D+b681; see also Unicode codes U+0400 through U+047f)

The above is a general guide only (see "General Notes" section at the beginning of this document).

REFERENCES, HISTORY AND CREDITS

These tables are based upon the information given for Bulgarian in "World Braille Usage," a joint publication of UNESCO and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Washington, D.C. (1990). According to that publication, contractions are not used in Bulgarian braille and so these tables should produce braille that is normal for that country.

The tables were originally developed in June 2000 by Duxbury Systems, Inc.

(Documentation reviewed: July 2010.)