Braille is the method of reading and "feeling" text using touch rather than sight. It is mainly used by those with limited vision; however, even people who have no vision problems can learn to read it. And the reasons are many, especially for people who have a blind or visually impaired person in their family. There are various types of Braille, including musical, mathematical, and different types of literary Braille. The most used and taught is Grade 2 Literary Braille, which is what we're talking about here.
Steps
Method 1 of 1: Read Braille
Step 1. Learn the positions of the 6 dots in the Braille grid
The individual boxes have no intrinsic meaning; the meaning changes according to the Braille system you are reading. However, to learn to read Braille it is important to learn to recognize where the dots are and where the blanks are. Printed Braille for the sighted can also have dot patterns instead of white spaces (the one for the blind obviously does not).
Step 2. Learn the first 10 letters (A-J) of the alphabet
These letters only use the top 4 dots in the grid.
Step 3. Learn the next 10 letters (K-T)
These are identical to letters A to J, except they have an extra dot in position 3.
Step 4. Learn the combinations for U, V, X, Y, and Z
They are the same as letters A to E, but with an extra dot in boxes 1, 3 and 6.
Step 5. Learn the W, which doesn't follow the pattern
W is not included in the basic diagram because the original Braille was written in French, which at the time did not use W.
Step 6. Learn Braille punctuation
Pay close attention to special Braille symbols, which are not found in traditional printing. They are used to indicate uppercase and other formatting options that are not highlighted in the Braille boxes.
Step 7. Learn the most common abbreviations
The Braille Through Remote Learning site has a great listing and a useful search tool.
Step 8. Practice
Learning Braille is just like learning any other alphabet. You won't learn it in an instant, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to do it.
