How Braille was invented | Moments of Vision 9 - Jessica Oreck

A invención do braille | Momentos visionarios 9 - Jessica Oreck

Translator: Alicia Ferreiro Reviewer: Xusto Rodriguez

In a Moment of Vision...

[Nun momento visionario...]

Early 1800s.

Comezos do século XIX.

It's the middle of the Napoleonic Wars in the middle of Europe,

No medio das guerras napoleónicas, no medio de Europa

and it's the middle of the night.

e no medio da noite

One Captain Charles Barbier of Napoleon's army

Charles Barbier, capitán do exército de Napoleón

is trying to relay a message to one of his troops.

intenta enviar unha mensaxe a unha das súas tropas.

But sending written communications to the front lines

Pero enviar á fronte de batalla comunicacións escritas

can be deadly for the recipient.

pode ser letal para quen as recibe.

Lighting a candle to read the missive can give away their positions to the enemy.

Prender unha vela para lelas podía revelarlle a posición ao inimigo.

In a moment of vision,

Nun momento visionario,

Barbier pokes a series of holes into a sheet of a paper with his blade,

Barbier fai varios buratos nunha folla de papel coa súa espada

creating a coded message that can be deciphered by fingertip,

creando unha mensaxe codificada que se pode descifrar cos dedos

even in the pitch black.

incluso en total escuridade.

The merits of his so-called night writing are never acknowledged by the military,

Os méritos desta escritura nocturna nunca foron recoñecidos polo exército,

but in 1821, Barbier approaches the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris

pero en 1821, Barbier achegouse ao Real Instituto para a Mocidade Cega de París

in the hopes that they might find a use

coa esperanza de que atopasen un uso

for his innovative, new communication method.

para o seu innovador método de comunicación.

There, a precocious teen by the name of Louis Braille does just that.

E alí, un adolescente precoz, chamado Louis Braille, fíxoo.

Louis spends the next several years improving on Barbier's idea,

Louis estivo os anos seguintes mellorando a idea de Barbier,

creating an organized alphabet fitting into a six dot standardized cell.

creando un alfabeto organizado nunha cela estandarizada de 6 puntos.

The system catches on.

O sistema popularizouse.

Today, Braille is the universally accepted system of writing for the blind,

Hoxe, o Braille é o sistema de escritura universalmente aceptado para cegos,

adapted for more than 130 languages.

adaptado a máis de 130 linguas.