Braille Translator & Decoder
Translate English to braille and braille back to English using Unified English Braille (UEB), Grade 1 and Grade 2.
Learn the alphabet by its lines
Ten patterns in the top of the cell make a to j. The next two lines reuse them with dots added below.
a to jThe top four dots only.
- adots 1
- bdots 1-2
- cdots 1-4
- ddots 1-4-5
- edots 1-5
- fdots 1-2-4
- gdots 1-2-4-5
- hdots 1-2-5
- idots 2-4
- jdots 2-4-5
k to tThe same ten, plus dot 3.
- kdots 1-3
- ldots 1-2-3
- mdots 1-3-4
- ndots 1-3-4-5
- odots 1-3-5
- pdots 1-2-3-4
- qdots 1-2-3-4-5
- rdots 1-2-3-5
- sdots 2-3-4
- tdots 2-3-4-5
u to za to e plus dots 3 and 6. W was not a French letter when Louis Braille made the code, so it sits outside the pattern.
- udots 1-3-6
- vdots 1-2-3-6
- xdots 1-3-4-6
- ydots 1-3-4-5-6
- zdots 1-3-5-6
- wdots 2-4-5-6
How to read the output
Each form below is “Hello, world!” in Grade 2.
- Cells
Raised dots are filled. Dots are numbered 1, 2, 3 down the left column and 4, 5, 6 down the right.
- Unicode braille
⠠⠓⠑⠇⠇⠕⠂⠀⠸⠺⠖
The same cells as text characters (U+2800 to U+28FF) that you can paste into a document, a message or a braille display. The space between words is the blank cell, U+2800.
- Dot numbers
6 1-2-5 1-5 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-3-5 2 / 4-5-6 2-4-5-6 2-3-5
Each cell as its raised dots. Cells are separated by spaces and the space between words is written
/.- Braille ASCII
,HELLO1 _W6
One keyboard character per cell, the form embossers and notetakers read. Here
Hmeans the cell with dots 1-2-5, not the print letter.- BRF file
Braille ASCII laid out 40 cells to a line and 25 lines to a page, with a form feed between pages. The file has no page numbers or running heads. More about BRF files.
Grade 1 or Grade 2?
Uncontracted (grade 1) braille spells every word letter by letter; contracted (grade 2) braille also uses contractions, signs that stand for whole words or groups of letters. (ICEB 2.5)
“The children know about it.” in each grade:
Grade 1 24 cells
Grade 2 10 cells
Use uncontracted braille for readers who have not learned contractions, for words whose spelling matters, and for foreign words. (ICEB 2.5.4) The contraction lookup names every contraction in a word.
Why other translators give different braille
If another site gives different braille, it may be using EBAE, the code the United States used before UEB, or tables written before the current rules. By 2016 every member country of the International Council on English Braille, the United States among them, had adopted and implemented Unified English Braille. (ICEB Foreword to the Third Edition)
Older forms of English braille, including English Braille American Edition (EBAE), write the words a, and, for, of, the and with joined together, use contractions UEB dropped (such as to, into, by, ble, com and ation), and write brackets, dashes and some quotation marks differently. (ICEB 1.3.1–1.3.3)
Some translators call their output Grade 2 but apply no contractions, or pass characters such as é, % and # through as print. We use liblouis, the open-source engine behind the NVDA and Orca screen readers, with its UEB tables unchanged. When the engine has no braille for a character, the translator lists it under the output. How the translator’s output is tested.
What this does not do
- Its output is not certified transcription. Books, exams, legal documents and signs need a qualified transcriber and proofreader.
- It translates literary English only. Nemeth Code, music braille, technical notation and other languages are out of scope.
- It does not format documents for embossing: no page numbers, running heads or layout rules.
- It does not read braille from photos or scans.
Questions
Is my text sent anywhere?
No. The braille engine runs inside your browser. Google Analytics counts page visits but never receives your text. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and keep translating. How the privacy promise is enforced.
Which braille code does this use?
Unified English Braille (UEB), the code used by the braille authorities of English-speaking countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa.
Can I use it offline?
Once the engine has loaded, translation needs no network connection. Reloading the page needs one.
Why does a single letter get an extra cell in front of it?
A letter on its own could be read as a whole-word contraction, so it takes the grade 1 indicator ⠰. For example, b alone means “but” in Grade 2. More about indicators.
Why do the same cells sometimes decode to different words?
Back-translation can be ambiguous: one group of cells can stand for more than one piece of print. The braille to English decoder translates its answer back and shows where the two differ.
How do I type braille to decode it?
Choose “Braille to text” and paste Unicode braille, Braille ASCII or dot numbers. To enter cells with six keys or by picking dots, use the braille to English decoder.
Rules: Rules of Unified English Braille, Third Edition 2024, cited by section number. Braille examples come from liblouis 3.39.0. All sources and when they were checked