If Your Business Growth Relies on English to Braille Translation, Follow These Tips

Providing translated material for those with vision impairment is a top priority for growing organizations around the globe. According to a Quora Report, the number of workers who have visual impairments and who are legally blind has tripled since 2015, and the number continues to grow.

With more companies expanding equal opportunities, the right resources need to be put in place to ensure profitability and efficiency, while keeping your company on the forefront of equal opportunity innovators. This is why English to Braille translation service providers are more in demand than ever before, and finding the right organization to help your company hit its goals is crucial to your own success, and to the growth of your employees.

If you are a member of a quality control, management, efficiency or executive team, you know that having high-quality multilingual translation services for documents, desktop publishing, and other types of content is crucial to running your business at the pinnacle of your industry. And if you have visually impaired employees, finding high-quality English to Braille services is equally important.  

What is English to Braille?

If your organization recently started working with people who have visual impairments, you may not even be familiar with English to Braille in terms of its process, and how Braille actually works.

English to Braille can be extremely difficult to execute. It contains around 250 characters that range from contractions to formatting marks, and from letters to numbers. Abbreviations (logograms) are also used. This means the English to Braille translation must be well-versed in the various forms of Braille and a certified translator to ensure a clean, efficient translation.

More About English Braille

English Braille represents the Braille alphabet of the English language. However, English Braille has more components and therefore presents a higher degree of complexity. While the English alphabet has 26 letters, English Braille has about 250 characters that include numbers, letters also known as phonograms, contractions, punctuations, and abbreviations called logograms.

As you can see, English to Braille translation is complicated and therefore requires an experienced multilingual translation agency with certified English to Braille specialists who can execute flawless translations conveying every fine detail thus ensuring your employees are aligned with the rest of the team.

Tip 1: 24/7 Communication from Your English to Braille Translation Partner

Some agencies that offer English to Braille translation services have strict hours of operations, and some only respond via email with 24-hour turnaround times. But your business is agile, and small changes within your operations can warrant big edits to your English to Braille translation needs, which is why it's important to partner with an agency that can be reached 24/7 through multiple channels.

Tip 2: Make Sure the Agency can Translate Industry Language

If your business exists within an industry that has its own terminology, it is crucial to find an English to Braille service provider that can translate industry-specific terms to ensure a clean comprehension that ensures your team members are on the same page to hit goals.

Tip 3: Your English to Braille Translation Services Should Cover All Grades

There are three grades of Braille. And it’s important that your English to Braille translator is an expert working with each type. They are as follows:

Braille Grade 1 - This type of Braille is practically a one-to-one transcription of printed English within the arena of standard literacy.

Braille Grade 2 - Usually this type of Braille is universal and extends beyond standard literary materials. It abandons one-to-one transcriptions.

Braille Grade 3 - The Braille form that features a variety of shorthand forms for internal and personal uses that is non-existent in published works. Usually Grade 3 Braille shares similarities with its Grade 2 cousins--a hybrid that resembles British Grade 2 Braille.

Partner with an English to Braille Agency that Has Your Best Interests

Ultimately, your English to Braille agency should have an experienced project manager who understands your goals, and ensures that all translated projects are orientated towards ensuring your success. Look at the agency’s portfolio and determine if their scope of work aligns with your needs. And always remember that this is a niche service in the translation world where demanding a quality team is vital for your growth.