braille square
Learning Braille

Braille - as I see it!

The Braille square

10 patterns of dots

Creating the letters

Developing the invention

Look-alike letters

glindridge@hotmail.com 		This is so simple that it is child's play - almost a game. You must put your finger on the square and not remove it. You will actually trace out the first 10 letters of the braille alphabet in the correct sequence. Here we go:
  1. Put your finger on dot (2) at bottom left corner of the square and say "A". That single dot is A1.
  2. Slide your finger to the top left dot (1) saying "B". The two dots (1 2) are the correct shape for B.
  3. Slide to the top right dot (4) saying "C". The two dots (1 4) are the correct shape for C.
  4. Slide from (4) to (5) saying "D" This completes the top right corner (1 4 5) to make the correct shape for D.
  5. Slide up the diagonal (5 1) saying "E". The two dots are the correct shape for E.
  6. When your finger arrives at (1) say "F" for you are now at the top left corner (4 1 2) which is the correct shape for F.
  7. Slide anticlockwise around the square visiting the four dots (2 5 4 1) saying "G" as this is the correct shape for G.
  8. Slide from (1) to (2) saying "H" for you are now at the bottom left corner (1 2 5) which is the correct shape for H.
  9. Slide up the diagonal (2 4) saying "I". The two dots are the correct shape for I.
  10. Slide from (4) to (5) saying "J" for you are now at the bottom right corner (4 5 2) which is the correct shape for J.
braille patterns

Could this be what young Louis Braille played around with to invent his alphabet? Surprising that the letters, by whatever method he devised them, fit this 'guided tour' around a square.
1 By convention the single dot "A" is placed at (1). In the derivation given here it is at (2). That is not unreasonable. A blind person will merely feel a single dot wherever it is. It could be argued that a square's graphic origin is (0, 0) and therefore the "A" dot ought to be at (2) rather than (1).
Though the position of A is at (2) rather than (1), understand that this is the invention. This is the conceptual, inventive stage, not the finished alphabet. The alphabet is formed from the invention's development.