Japanese Braille

[dminer]

I've been wanting to learn japanese for quite some time and I'm finally doing it. I really enjoy how japanesepod101 has done things on the site.

Unlike most of the learners I've encountered so far, I am visually impaired (or legally blind). So, I've found it impossible to learn the "traditional" ways especially when the emphases is on reading and writing.

I have enough trouble with plain old English because I just can't see the detail. So, I hope you can imagine the fun kana and kanji have been for me. I truly envy people who can see that much detail in a tiny space.

Anyway, that brings me to my question. One of the only writing system alternatives available to a blind person is braille (aka tenji 点字 ? ). There is a surprising amount of material available if you know where to look for it in the US. However in daily life, it is quite rare except in the most basic of needs (e.g. elevators).

I am curious if any has noticed braille usage in Japan? Where? For what uses? I am trying to decide if learning Japanese braille is worth the time.

I'll unfortunately likely never be literate in Japanese (I'm trying hiragana but it has to magnified extremely). Someday I would love to visit Japan and I'm curious if braille would be a useful tool to have there as well (like reading a braille menu).


For those curious, google for "japanese braille tutorial" if you want to see it.

[Belton]

I'm in Japan at the moment and remembered your post.

What I have noticed is braille on all public transport. toilet controls, beer cans.
Much more than in the UK, where I can't say I've noticed any.

As far as these things go, the streets seem more "visually impaired friendly" there are lots of textured surfaces to indicate crossings, steps, etc. The traffic lights all ping, in train stations and some other areas there are audible guides pinging locations. (but Japan streets are quite noisey. Especially shopping locations) On trains and buses there are constant audio annoucements, even in English on more popular routes.

I'll keep an eye out, finger?, for any more braille while I'm here.

[dminer]

Thank you very much for thinking of me!

I am curious if menus are available in braille as well. When I do finally visit Japan, this is likely to be largest use I would have for such a skill.

Also, you might be lucky and get to see how Japan does Christmas (for the percentage that does .

Enjoy!
Domo arigatou

[jkid]

dminer-san,
I have been in Japan for four months and I have not seen any menu here that has braille.

[dminer]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, they are rarely just sitting out and usually have to be requested/inquired specially in the US. So, I would not find it surprising this would be the case in Japan as well.

[zongoku]

Hello everyone,
I am new here.
I have also problems with my eyes. But I am not blind.
Perhaps I can help you to learn japanese or english by listening your text. With a Text to Speech Tool

http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/

So with this tool, you can let read all your texts.
Vocubulary, Newspaper and so on.
With copy and paste you put text to the read box and then, you need only to change the language and hit Say it.
If it is too fast, you can change the speech also.

[Taurus]

I saw some Braille in Japan in a station elevator and in the Shinkansen toilet. I even took a picture of the latter (the Braille, not the toilet).

[Belton]

Thank you very much for thinking of me!

I am curious if menus are available in braille as well. When I do finally visit Japan, this is likely to be largest use I would have for such a skill.

Also, you might be lucky and get to see how Japan does Christmas (for the percentage that does :).

I've never come across braille menus anywhere before.
I somehow doubt that many restaurants would have a braille menu tucked away. Braille seems to be more part of publicly funded areas than private enterprises. City Bus but not the private bus company for instance.

Christmas in Japan. well it's commercial. the decorations are nice but strawberry cream sponge cake and fried chicken aren't my idea of Christmas fare.

New Year is a much bigger deal.

[dminer]

Thank you for the pointer and I will check it out. This isn't really what I'm trying to understand. It really is about should I bother to *learn* Japanese braille at all so I can still be literate in some fashion.

Unless I manage to visit Japan *way* sooner than I expect, it doesn't seem like the best use of my time. Right now, I'm just trying to build a vocab, some clues how to construct sentences and learn hiragana. I do have to enlarge it quite a bit right now but I think once I stop looking at the "strokes" and see more of a picture.. like I do for English.. I will be able to reduce the size.

I also finally got my computer system (I run Linux, not Windows) to display the PDFs properly and to actually (via romanji spelling) type Japanese characters. This has been a major step forward.

ありがと

Hello everyone,
I am new here.
I have also problems with my eyes. But I am not blind.
Perhaps I can help you to learn japanese or english by listening your text. With a Text to Speech Tool

http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/

So with this tool, you can let read all your texts.
Vocubulary, Newspaper and so on.
With copy and paste you put text to the read box and then, you need only to change the language and hit Say it.
If it is too fast, you can change the speech also.