I have been working as a braille transcriber since 2009, putting biblical language texts into braille for seminary students. When I began working, some of the languages needed for graduate study did not have braille code representation because there was no braille in biblical times. So in 2014, I began working with a group of graduate scholars and two employees from Duxbury Systems, Inc. to do two things: create some new braille codes and make them work with the Duxbury braille translation software so that they could be used to transcribe text.
Creating new braille codes for Syriac and transliterated languages required us to think about how we want to read braille as well as how characters are represented in print. Do we want the braille we read to be exactly like print? Or do we want it to be as easy as possible to read? Where could we make sacrifices and still have comprehension? We learned that sometimes we each had different goals in our reading processes; and our goals influenced the suggestions we made.
Eventually we learned to compromise, and today we have new codes to represent Syriac, transliteration, and Coptic. The biblical languages table also incorporates existing codes for Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Ethiopic, and other languages.
This means that for the first time it is possible for a Ph.D. student to undertake a degree without devising strange solutions to manage language study. It means that a student can undertake a degree with language requirements without requesting an exemption based on blindness. In fact, they can choose language study because they want it! I am witnessing it happen! This year, I am providing transcription support for students from undergraduate through the Ph.D. level who have all chosen to study their languages. This year, I have transcribed Syriac, Hebrew, Greek and Coptic.
It is beautiful to me to see the language access door opening wide for so many people. Never let fear of language hold you back!
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God bless you, Sarah! It’s so wonderful to see how the Lord is using you to help so many others. Are you still playing keyboards and writing songs?
God bless you Jeff. My songwriting is sort of on sabbatical, though I do still play and I purchased a beautiful baby grand piano recently. It is 90 years old and I am enjoying loving it back to life.
Congratulations Sarah, you are an incredible amazing woman. May God continue to guide you in your incredible journey!
Sarah, I just recently came across your blog. I am simply fascinated by this post! Thank you for your work and for sharing this with us.
Thank you. I am glad that people are still enjoying my posts!