Travel Phrases using Tactile Writing Systems

This page presents the Four Essential Travel Phrases using two tactile writing systems: Braille and Moon Type.

Also see the regular pages for English, German, and Welsh.

English using Braille

Louis Braille created his writing system for the blind in 1830.

Grade 1 Braille simply uses a character-by-character substitution and is used only by beginners:

Grade 2 Braille uses contractions to increase reading speed:

Braille information at Omniglot and Wikipedia

Handwritten Braille is a personal shorthand created by Frederico Martins to aid sighted people in reading and learning braille:

Handwritten Braille information at Omniglot

German using Braille (Brailleschrift)

Basisschrift (basic script) simply uses a character-by-character substitution:

Vollschrift (full script) introduces several contractions for frequently used multi-letter sequences, such as st, ei, ie, and ch:

Kurzschrift (short script) adds many word and partial word contractions to further shorten transcription:

German Braille information at Wikipedia (in German)

Welsh using Braille

Grade 1 Braille simply uses a character-by-character substitution:

Grade 2 Braille uses contractions to increase reading speed, some of which are Welsh-specific:

Guide to Welsh Braille Code at the UK Association for Accessible Formats

Welsh Braille information at Omniglot and Wikipedia

English using Moon Type

Dr. William Moon created his writing system for the blind in 1845.
While Braille is more widely used, Moon Type is often preferred by those who lose their sight later in life.

It is written/embossed in boustrophedon style (alternating between left to right and right to left).

Writing system information at Wikipedia, Omniglot and the Royal National Institute of the Blind

A Moon font is available at Dino Manzella's website

The four essential travel phrases in English: 1) Where is my room? 2) Where is the beach? 3) Where is the bar? 4) Don't touch me there!

Do you have a language or dialect to add? Did I get something wrong? Please let me know...