( á
! é
/ í
+ ó
) ú
> ae diphthong
$ ë
\ ü
= ll
] ñ
The capital sign is dots 4-6. All initial capitals should be shown, except where a word with an initial capital is preceded by an italic sign, in which case the capital sign is omitted.
The double capital sign does not exist in Spanish code. If the title of a book is shown in print in BLOCK CAPITALS either use italics, if for emphasis, or simply show initial capitals.
The italic sign is dots 4-5-6. The double italic sign is dots 4-5-6 twice.
There is no letter sign in Spanish, so single letters of the alphabet are not preceded by any sign unless they are italicized or capitalized. Roman figures do not have the letter sign before them. No letter signs are needed before accented words when using the Spanish code. These are only required before accented foreign words in an English context.
The comma, semi-colon, colon and full stop are the same as in Standard English Braille.
The abbreviation point is dot 3 (the same as the apostrophe). It is used where a stop is used to indicate an abbreviation. If an abbreviation point is at the end of a sentence, a full stop should be added after the dot 3. In Spanish abbreviations (eg O.N.C.E.) the capital sign must precede each capital letter. This applies whether or not the abbreviation point is used in print.
In large figures, such as 20,000, the comma separating the thousands is shown by dot 3. The decimal is dot 2, as in other codes.
Dot 3 should also be used after the numeral, before ordinal endings -o, -a as in 'primero', 'segunda': 1o, 2a, etc.
The question mark (both before and after the question) is dots 2-6.
The exclamation mark (both before and after the exclamation) is dots 2-3-5.
Quotation marks, brackets, the hyphen, numeral sign and poetry sign are the same as in Standard English Braille.
The asterisk is the single cell sign dots 3-5.
The 'guión' (shown in print as a dash) may be used in print both to indicate speech within normal text, or conversely, normal text within speech. In either case, the opening guión is brailled as dot 6 dots 3-6, unspaced from the following word; and the closing guión as dots 3-6 dot 3, unspaced from the preceding word. The closing guión may be absent: it should only be brailled at the end of the relevant text if shown in print. Where in print a guión is spaced from the preceding word, and unspaced from the following word, it should normally be brailled as an opening guión. Similarly, where a guión is unspaced from the preceding word and spaced from the following word, it should normally be brailled as a closing guión.
The guión and the normal dash need to be distinguished in Spanish. Where a dash appears with a similar sense to English usage (e.g. a conjunctive dash), the normal dash sign, dots 3-6 3-6, should be used.
In Spanish print the accents are often omitted over capital letters, but we are obliged to use the proper braille sign for the accented letter.
1. In English context in a bilingual text, Spanish code (including Spanish italics where necessary) should be used for the following:
(a) Spanish words in quotes or italics.
(b) Spanish words which form a centred heading.
(c) Spanish passages which are inset.
(d) Spanish words which form a source at the end of a sentence or passage in Spanish.
(e) Spanish words which are separated by a colon from an English interpretation, as in Notes or Vocabulary.
2. Any Spanish words in an English context which are in the same type as the surrounding text and which do not fall into any of the above categories, may be considered to be Anglicized and English contractions may be used, with care, when these would not distort the pronunciation. However, if any of these words contain accents, they should be uncontracted, preceded by a letter sign and the special accent sign should be used.
3. Any foreign words other than Spanish which are in quotes or italics in this English context, should be uncontracted and dot 4 should be used for any accent signs.
4. Foreign words other than Spanish which are not in quotes or italics, should be regarded as Anglicized and English contractions should be used, with care, when these would not distort the pronunciation. The dot 4 method should be used for any accent signs.
5. In Spanish context, all foreign (including English) words which are not in quotes or italics, may be considered as Hispanisized and brailled using Spanish code. However, the dot 4 method should be used for any accent signs.
SJP/DF/AM/28.3.00