The Braille System Trivia Quiz

Answer: A worldwide system used by blind/visually impaired people to read/write

Braille is a series of 6 dots arranged in 2 parallel lines side by side and numbered 1-6 starting from the left with 1-3 and 4-6 on the right. There are characters for all 26 letters of the print alphabet, as well as characters for numbers and punctuation.

The provided braille clue reads "system".

Answer: Louis

Louis Braille devised and adapted braille in 1821 after meeting former soldier Charles Barbier. Barbier had invented a 12-dot system for sending messages at night to his soldiers without enemy interference. Most people, including soldiers, deemed the system too hard to understand; Braille, on the other hand, picked up on it very easily and shortened it down to just six dots. Not only did Braille invent a system for the print alphabet, numbers, and punctuation, but his legacy also paved the way to braille codes for mathematics, music, and computers.

The provided braille clue reads "Louis". The first symbol (dot 6) indicates a capital letter to follow.

Answer: True

There are three grades of braille, but only two grades are most commonly used:

Grade 1 braille, which is known as uncontracted braille, is used as an introductory tool to learning braille.

Grade 2 braille, which is known as contracted braille, is considered the standard version of braille.

Grade 3 braille, which is not commonly taught because it is not really used in an active role for most people who are blind/visually impaired - primarily used as a shorthand for increasing writing speed.

The provided braille clue reads "True!"

Answer: three

Louis Braille went blind at the very young age of three by accident in his father's harness/saddlemaking workshop. He picked up a sharp awl, which is a tool for making holes, and it slipped out of his hand and wounded his left eye. The left eye got infected, causing him to go blind in that eye. It is said that sympathetic opthalmia is what caused Louis Braille to go blind in his right eye.

The provided braille clue reads "three".

Answer: stylus

A braille slate and stylus are the most commonly used ways to produce braille. The braille slate consists of two metal templates on hinges. On one template, you have four rows of 28 depressed full braille cells; on the other template, you have four rows of 28 small ovals in which you would use to make braille. The stylus is a wooden handled, metal-pointed tool used to make depressions in the paper.

Louis Braille's first stylus (it is said) was a stitching awl.

The provided braille clue reads "stylus".

Answer: A machine used to mass produce braille

A braille writer is the equivalent of a typewriter, but unlike a typewriter, it only has nine keys. They are: a spacebar, a tab key, a paper release key, and the six keys that correspond to the six dots of a full braille cell. Keys 1-3 are on the left side of the spacebar, while keys 4-6 are on the right side. Keys 1-3 are equal to dots 1-3 of the left side of a braille cell and keys 4-6 are equal to dots 4-6 on the right side.

While there are computer programs and apps that emulate a braille writer, the term itself still refers to the physical machine.

The provided braille clue reads "machine".

Answer: 180 - 189

There are between 180 and 189 different letter contractions in Grade 2 braille. For example, the print version of the contraction "can't" would be shorter in braille form. Here's how:

The letter "c" in braille would be dots 1 and 4. Letter "a" would just be dot 1 by its self. Letter "n" would be dots 1, 3, 4, and 5. The apostrophe would just be dot 3. Finally, letter "t" would be dots 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Note: This is the grade 1 (uncontracted) braille version of the contraction "can't", meaning that it is still fully spelled out as it would be in regular English.

The provided braille clue reads "#180-189". The opening symbol (dots 3, 4, 5, and 6) indicates that what follows are numbers. And the fifth symbol (dots 3 and 6) is the hyphen.

Answer: False

This is most definitely false.

Individual letters can be used to represent a longer word, but only when a visually impaired/blind person has learned grade 2 (contracted) braille. Example: In grade 1 braille, the word "you" would be fully spelled out with three separate symbol patterns. In grade 2 braille, however, the entire word would just be the letter "y" (dots 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6).

Abbreviations, meanwhile, are known as short-form words. For example, the word "about" as a short-form word would be represented by the symbol patterns for "a" and "b".

There are 76 short-form words in braille as well as 64 combinations that the six dots can be arranged in to make either the alphabet, numbers, or punctuation marks.

The provided braille clue reads "False".

Answer: Grade 2

Grade 1 braille is most commonly used by adult persons who are blind/visually impaired for means of labeling clothes or items in the kitchen. Grade 2 braille is the standard version of braille and, therefore, is the most commonly used. Grade 3 braille is scarcely taught and is primarily used for taking notes in college. There is no such thing as a grade 4 braille.

The provided braille clue reads "Grade 2".

Answer: Happy Birthday to You

Outside of the basic solfege letters, additional symbol patterns can be added to alter the note sharp or flat (or natural, if canceling out the previous), and a suffix symbol pattern can follow the note to extend the basic note length (that can be shown with the two bottom dots in the pattern) to make it a "dotted" musical rhythm.

The braille script represents "Happy Birthday to You":

Dot 5 - represents which octave (middle of the keyboard 4th octave) to play...

Then the notes are So, So, La, So, Do, Ti (or musical pitches G, G, A, G, C, B).

Using the symbols for D through J as Do through Ti, the "Happy Birthday to You" melody uses the symbols for the letters H, H, I, H, D, J while adding in the required indication of note length in dots 3 and 6. No dots mean eighth notes, Dot 6 alone means a quarter note length, and dot 3 alone means a half note length.