Braille, properly explained
Braille chart, alphabet and translator
The full braille alphabet as real dots with dot numbers, plus a printable chart and a translator that works in Grade 1 or Grade 2.
The braille alphabet chart
All 26 letters. Each cell is drawn as real dots, sized the way they appear under a fingertip, with its dot numbers underneath. Follow any letter for how that cell is built and which letters it is confused with.
Start here
Text to braille
Grade 1 or Grade 2, shown as dots, Unicode characters or dot numbers.
Braille to text
Paste braille characters or type dot numbers and read it back as plain text.
Printable chart
The full alphabet, numbers and punctuation on one page, laid out to print cleanly.
Grade 2 contractions
Every wordsign and groupsign, with the rules about where each one may be used.
Your name in braille
Any name rendered as dots, with each letter broken down.
Practice
Drill the cells until you recognise them whole instead of counting dots.
How the code is built
The alphabet is not arbitrary. It is three groups of ten, and once you see the pattern there are really only ten shapes to learn.
Decade 1
The ten base shapes, built from dots 1, 2, 4 and 5 only.
Decade 2
Decade 1 with dot 3 added to every cell.
Decade 3
Decade 2 with dots 3 and 6 added.
w breaks the pattern. Louis Braille built the code for French, which had no letter w, so w was added later and does not follow decade 3. It is dots 2-4-5-6.
Common phrases
hello
The usual first word people ask to see in braille, and a good length for practising Grade 1.
I love you
Easily the most requested phrase, mostly for jewellery, cards and tattoos. Note the capital I takes a capital sign.
thank you
In Grade 2 the 'th' becomes one cell and 'you' contracts to a single y, so the contracted form is much shorter.
yes
Three letters, no contractions in either grade — useful for comparing Grade 1 and Grade 2 side by side.
no
Two cells in Grade 1. Watch out: a standalone n in Grade 2 means 'not', not 'no'.
please
Contains 'ea' and a doubled e, which makes it a good test of letter-by-letter accuracy.