Arabic Flag of Arab World

Multiple Templates for Arabic

The Arabic language has multiple DBT Templates:

Unless otherwise specified, use the newer rules (the first choice). According to the 2013 edition of the UNESCO document Word Braille Usage, the pre-2002 is prefered for Arabic in Bahrain, Iran, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

For the details about the DBT translator used by Arabic (rules written in 2002): click here.

For the details about the DBT translator used by Arabic (pre-2002 rules): click here.

Contracted Braille

Arabic is usually produced in contracted braille. This means that words are not produced in braille on a one-for-one basis. There are abbreviations or contractions in the text. If you have questions about how braille is produced, please contact a member of the relevant braille authority.

Sometimes, you may want to produce uncontracted braille. This is easy to do with DBT. Before translation into braille, go to the top of the document in DBT, and press Alt-1. When you translate into braille, the braille will be uncontracted

Math Issues in Arabic

DBT is starting to support the Arabic braille code for mathematics, approved in 2002. To use this translator, the math material needs to be using the DBT style math. This happens automatically with the import of LaTeX files and some other formats.

Non-Roman Script

Arabic is written in a script other than the Roman alphabet. This may result in problems when importing files into DBT.Your best option is to import files from Microsoft Word or Open Office that are written in a Unicode font.You can contact support at Duxbury Systems if you have a file which does not import properly into DBT. Please send the file which does not import (the original inkprint file), not a screen shot of DBT.

Please contact us if you have any concerns.

Arabic is written in a script that goes from right-to-left.

Duxbury DBT does not yet properly handle scripts that are read from right-to-left for editing purposes. You can open (import) a file, and you can translate into braille. But you cannot edit the inkprint within DBT. We regret this and hope to correct this issue in a later release of DBT.