Introduction
Welcome all, to this installment of Brailliance! Here, we’re going to talk about how to customize the actual braille portion to your liking, such as changing braille tables and voice language! We discussed how at start-up, you are asked what default language you want to use, but now, we want to change even more about it, so let’s get started!
language Profiles
Think of language profiles as different configurations for different languages on your display. These can be useful if you know you plan to, let’s say, take a Spanish class. You need to be able to write Spanish correctly. You could in theory, write Spanish in apps such as the braille editor, but if you also need to pronounce words, you want to have the actual profile. Here, we’ll talk about how to get those settings. Note that settings are the exact same whether you add a new profile, or modify an existing one. We’ll start with adding a profile, by going into the “Language Profile” option in the settings app. Navigate using your “Thumb Keys” until you find, “Add Profile.” From here, let’s look at each option in detail.
Profile Name
This is where you, well, name your profile. For instance, let’s call this example one, “Spanish.” It’s recommended you name each profile after a language, depending on what you need.
Braille Grade
Here is the dafault grade you want to use to read your content. You can choose between contracted, uncontracted, or computer braille. Remember, you can always switch grades from anywhere by pressing “Backspace+G” (Control+Alt+G.”)
Braille Tables
This is where you pick your braille language you want to use. Each language has different rules of how braille is written and displayed. The next three items involve you picking each rule set for contracted, uncontracted, and computer braille. In this case, let’s find Spanish for our example profile for each option.
Content Voice
If using a braille keyboard model of these displays, the next option is where you can pick what voice you wish to use as your “reader.” You definitely don’t want to use an English speaking voice as the content one for this Spanish example. We’ll take a look on setting up voices later in this article.
Configuring and Deleting Profiles
Now that we created a new profile, let’s say you want to modify settings because you are not happy with them. From the “Language Profile Settings,” you will be presented with a list of profiles you can control. On this list, find the profile you want to change or delete, and prress an “M Chord (Control+m” to open the context menu. In here, select “Configure Profile” or “Delete Profile,” depending on what you wish to do. When you open “Configure,” the settings are ALL, the same. When you’re done modifying things in these settings, find “Save Configuration.”
)## Voice Settings
Now it’s time to customize your display’s voice. From here forward, there are no QWERTY keyboard commands, so Mantis users, that’s it. Thank you for reading! If you’re a braille keyboard user, stay tuned! So, let’s get onto it! Start from the “Speech Settings” option in your settings/options menu.
Speech On or Off
This controls whether you want to hear your braille display talk, or simply use braille. You can either control this through this option, or you can press a “Previous Chord” to toggle the voice on or off.
Speak Menu
This option controls whether you want the voice you have to read all of your display’s functions, or simply read the content such as books or documents. Again, this is another toggle option. You can read any kind of text by pressing a “G Chord” in the respective application such as the editor, and library/victor reader app.
Speak Word Under Cursor
When editing a file, you can always press a cursor router key to put your cursor on a letter. If this option is on, your braille display would speak the word where the cursor is located. For instance, if you put your cursor on the letter L of the word, “Braille,” your display would say “Braille,” if the option is enabled.
Speak Display Content After Panning
this option sounds quite complicated, but essentially, it is asking you, “Do you want the voice to rread each time you use your inner thumb keys (Left and Right) to navigate?” By default the option is turned off, but if you also want speech feedback as you read, turn this on.
Echo Delete
This is yet again another toggle, which is basically asking you if you want to hear each time you erase a character by pressing “Backspace.” You can also delete a word by pressing “Backspace+Dot 2.”
Keyboard Echo
When typing, you can control what you hear with this option. You can only hear the letters, (Characters) as you type, or you can turn it completely off. “Characters and Words” basically will read the letters as you type, and when you press “Space” or “Enter,” it will say the last word you ttyped. Words only will talk after you prress either “Space” or “Enter.”
Voice Selection
Here is where you can really make your braille display have a personality by switching voices. Your display now has quite a few voices to choose from, and here, we will show you how to use them. We will start from the “Download Language and Voices” option on your braille display’s speech settings.
Change Menu Voice
We’re still using the example of a Spanish class, for simplicity. This menu voice is what you hear when you are navvigating through your braille display. You can only choose between the voices in your default braille display language. For instance, let’s say I wanted an English voice, but from the UK as my menu voice. In this menu, you would locate “English, United Kingdom,” and find a voice you want to use. Follow the instructions on downloading and installing the voice. Your braille display should then restart, with the new voice installed.
Aditional Voice
This controls the second voice you have on your braille display. The exact same procedure applies to this menu item, except for in here, you can choose between ALL the languages your braille display supports. In this scenario, I want to find “Spanish,” and find “Rosa” as my voice. Remember, in order for this second voice to work, you want to set it under “Content Voice” in your language profile as described earlier in this article.
Voice Swap
Let’s change scenarios for a second. Let’s pretend you have two English voices downloaded; a female, and a male voice. Let’s say you woke up one morning and said, I want my menu voice to be the female instead of the male one. If you select this option, you will first be asked, “Confirm voice swap?” Find, “OK,” and after your device restarts, rather than hearing the original male voice, you will hear your aditional female voice be the reader of all your menus of your display. This may sound a bit complicated, but once you practice changing voices, and downloading another one to use, it will get a bit easier. The caveat to this is you cannot, for instance have Ryan and Rosa on your display, and you attempt to swap those voices. This is because those are two different languages. However, if you have Sharona and Ryan as the two voices on your display, then the swap will be possible, since they both are English voices.
Changing Voice Speed
From anywhere on the braille display, you can use “Enter+Dot 5” to increase the speed of the voice. Use “Enter+Dot 2” to decrease the voice speed. Keep in mind that at higher speeds, the voices seem to start sounding choppy and may “eat” some words when speaking. The minimum value is -4 and the highest speed value is 10.
Conclusion
We have successfully coverred how to customize different language profiles for your braille display! These can be handy if you are taking different language classes if you are in school. It can also be used to just create documents in different languages. If you EVER need to switch between these profiles, you can press “Enter+l (Control+Alt+L)” or on Brailliant 40’s, use “C4” on the command keys area. Find the profile you need and press “Enter.” This will NOT change the system language. If you need to switch the primary system language, use “Change Language” in the settings/options menu. We hope this article was helpful in changing all these settings! Thank you for reading, and we will see you on the next one!