“Happy birthday” in braille
⠠⠓⠁⠏⠏⠽ ⠃⠊⠗⠞⠓⠙⠁⠽2 wordsUncontracted
Written letter by letter, “Happy birthday” in braille is ⠠⠓⠁⠏⠏⠽ ⠃⠊⠗⠞⠓⠙⠁⠽: one cell for each letter, and an empty cell for each space. The capital sign (dot 6) goes before the capital H.
Now read one yourself
⠠⠓⠁⠏⠏⠽ ⠠⠝⠑⠺ ⠠⠽⠑⠁⠗
Which phrase is this? Happy New Year, Miss you, See you soon.
Word by word
- ⠠⠓⠁⠏⠏⠽Happy
- ⠃⠊⠗⠞⠓⠙⠁⠽birthday
Grade 1 and Grade 2
This is uncontracted (Grade 1) braille, every letter written out, which is where learners start. Cards, signs and books mostly use Grade 2, where common words and letter groups take a single cell, so a phrase is often shorter there. See the Grade 2 contractions, and for anything permanent, such as a sign, an engraving or jewellery, have it checked by a certified braille transcriber.
Remember it, don't just look it up
Reading a phrase is reading its words, so everyday words are where to start. Braille a Day brings it back tomorrow to answer from memory, then again just before you'd forget. Five minutes a day.