FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!

Pardon Me, Mr. Braille Trivia Quiz

One on one interview with Mr. Louis Braille, the inventor of Braille writing for the blind.

A multiple-choice quiz by pennie1478. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
pennie1478

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
379,495

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
238

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Me: "Pardon me, Mr. Braille, but may I ask you a few questions? Ten to be exact."
Mr. Braille: "Of course you can. What would you like to know?"
Me: "In what country were you born?"
Mr. Braille: Hint

"I was born in Italy."

"I was born in America."

"I was born in France."

"I was born in Germany."

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Me: "Mr. Braille, if you don't mind my asking, how did you lose your sight?"
Mr. Braille: "I don't mind you asking at all. It was ... Hint

An accident with a leather working tool."

A defect I was born with."

A bad case of German measles."

In a fight with a school friend."

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Mr. Braille: "You are asking very good questions, my dear. Please continue."
Me: "All right, Mr. Braille, where was the blind school you attended?"
Mr. Braille: "I attended ... Hint

the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris."

the Institute for Blind Youth in Rome."

the Institute for Blind Youth in New York."

the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Barcelona."

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Before I could ask my next question, the waitress brought our tea to the table. I waited until she left to ask the question.

Me: "Mr. Braille, how old were you when you developed your system of reading and writing for the blind?"
(taking a sip of his cup of tea that I ordered him)
Mr. Braille: "I believe I was. . . Hint

fourteen."

fifteen."

thirteen."

sixteen."

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. Me (checking my notes and clearing my throat): "Mr. Braille, I see in my notes that you left out a letter when creating your writing for the blind. Would you mind telling my readers what letter you accidentally left out of your alphabet?
Mr. Braille (laughing): "No, I wouldn't mind at all. It was completely by accident that ... Hint

I left out the letter W."

I left out the letter V."

I left out the letter X."

I left out the letter E."

NEXT>

Question 6 of 10

6. We ordered more tea and I turned the page of my notebook for more questions.
Me: "Mr. Braille, after you graduated the blind school, what did you do?"
(Mr. Braille cleared his throat and smiled.)
Mr. Braille: "I graduated in 1828 and then ... Hint

I went back to work with my father at his leather workshop."

I became a teacher at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth."

I worked in a cafe in Paris until I had enough money to go home."

I visited the United States with my family."

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Me: "You sound like a very accomplished teacher, Mr. Braille, and very well loved by your students. I have in my notes that you are also a writer?"
Mr. Braille:

Yes

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. (Mr. Braille wanted dessert so he ordered us a chocolate croissant and after the waitress left I opened my notebook once again and asked another question.)
Me: "Mr. Braille, you designed a machine that would help the blind write letters. What do you name it?"
Mr. Braille: "I didn't design the machine by myself, but ... Hint

We called it the raphigraphe."

We called it the Braigraph."

We called it the pointgraph."

We called it the Foucalgraph."

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. (I finished half of my croissant before returning to my questions.)
Me: "Mr. Braille, it was always the intention of the Royal Institute for Blind Youth to move into a newer building for the health and safety of the blind students. However, that never came about, did it?"
Mr. Braille:

True

False

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. (A waitress took our dessert dishes. We thanked her and I closed my notebook. I only had one question left.)
Me: "One final question, Mr. Braille. Why did you leave the Royal Institute for Blind Youth?"
Mr. Braille (puting a handkerchief to his mouth and wiping his lips.) "Madam, I left the school because I had a worsening case of .... Hint

Tuberculosis."

Spanish Flu."

German Measles."

Palsy."

(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

Select a User ID:

Choose a Password:

Your Email:

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Me: "Pardon me, Mr. Braille, but may I ask you a few questions? Ten to be exact." Mr. Braille: "Of course you can. What would you like to know?" Me: "In what country were you born?" Mr. Braille:

Answer: "I was born in France."

Louis Braille was born in the village of Coupvray, France on January 4, 1809. Coupvray is twenty-five miles away from Paris. Louis was born to Monique and Simon-Rene Braille. Monique was a homemaker while Simon-Rene worked with leather.

2. Me: "Mr. Braille, if you don't mind my asking, how did you lose your sight?" Mr. Braille: "I don't mind you asking at all. It was ...

Answer: An accident with a leather working tool."

Louis was working in his father's workshop when a leather piercing tool slipped from the piece of leather he was working on and pierced his eye. A female healer in the village bathed his eye, but Louis lost his sight in the injured eye and eventually an infection in his sightless eye moved to his good eye and damaged it. Louise Braille was blind by the age of four.

3. Mr. Braille: "You are asking very good questions, my dear. Please continue." Me: "All right, Mr. Braille, where was the blind school you attended?" Mr. Braille: "I attended ...

Answer: the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris."

The Royal Institute for Blind Youth was the first school of its kind in Paris. The school was started by Valentin Hauy in 1784. Father Palluy, who taught Louis after he became blind, had a letter written to the school for Louis's admittance. Louis was given a full scholarship.

4. Before I could ask my next question, the waitress brought our tea to the table. I waited until she left to ask the question. Me: "Mr. Braille, how old were you when you developed your system of reading and writing for the blind?" (taking a sip of his cup of tea that I ordered him) Mr. Braille: "I believe I was. . .

Answer: fifteen."

Louis used a system of cells with six dots each to represent the alphabet. On the letters A-J, Braille was represented with dots on the first two rows. The letters K-T consisted of dots on rows one and two and one dot on row three. Lastly, U-Z had dots on rows one, two, three.

5. Me (checking my notes and clearing my throat): "Mr. Braille, I see in my notes that you left out a letter when creating your writing for the blind. Would you mind telling my readers what letter you accidentally left out of your alphabet? Mr. Braille (laughing): "No, I wouldn't mind at all. It was completely by accident that ...

Answer: I left out the letter W."

In French, a 'w' is used for foreign proper nouns only. When a friend mentioned to Louis that there was no 'w' in his alphabetic writing for the blind, Louis added a 'w'. After tweaking his system, Louis took it to the new school director Doctor Pignier. The new director was amazed at what Louis had done. Louis would later add math, music, punctuation, and contractions to his code.

6. We ordered more tea and I turned the page of my notebook for more questions. Me: "Mr. Braille, after you graduated the blind school, what did you do?" (Mr. Braille cleared his throat and smiled.) Mr. Braille: "I graduated in 1828 and then ...

Answer: I became a teacher at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth."

Louis Braille graduated from the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in 1828. After graduation, Louis became a part time teacher. With his salary, he purchased a piano for his room. With five years at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth as a part time teacher, Louis Braille became a full time teacher.

7. Me: "You sound like a very accomplished teacher, Mr. Braille, and very well loved by your students. I have in my notes that you are also a writer?" Mr. Braille:

Answer: Yes

Louis Braille's first book was titled "Method of Writing Words, Music and Plainsong by Means of Dots for Use by the Blind and Arranged by Them". His first book was published in 1829. In 1834, Louis took his method of reading and writing for the blind to the Paris Exposition of Industry.

8. (Mr. Braille wanted dessert so he ordered us a chocolate croissant and after the waitress left I opened my notebook once again and asked another question.) Me: "Mr. Braille, you designed a machine that would help the blind write letters. What do you name it?" Mr. Braille: "I didn't design the machine by myself, but ...

Answer: We called it the raphigraphe."

In 1842, Louis Braille and his friend Pierre Foucault built the raphigraphe, a writing machine for the blind. This machine would help blind people write letters to people with sight. Pierre Foucault designed the raphigraphe, but gave Louis all the credit since it was Louis that developed the new writing style for the blind.

9. (I finished half of my croissant before returning to my questions.) Me: "Mr. Braille, it was always the intention of the Royal Institute for Blind Youth to move into a newer building for the health and safety of the blind students. However, that never came about, did it?" Mr. Braille:

Answer: False

Louis Braille moved into the rundown school as a child in 1819. In 1844 as a teacher, Louis moved into the new building. For the grand opening of the school, Louis had the students demonstrate the new way of reading for the blind to the group of people that attended the grand opening. Everyone was amazed.

10. (A waitress took our dessert dishes. We thanked her and I closed my notebook. I only had one question left.) Me: "One final question, Mr. Braille. Why did you leave the Royal Institute for Blind Youth?" Mr. Braille (puting a handkerchief to his mouth and wiping his lips.) "Madam, I left the school because I had a worsening case of ....

Answer: Tuberculosis."

Louis Braille never truly got over the tuberculosis he had as a child while at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth. After leaving the school, he returned home where his health seemed to improve. The improvement was short-lived and Louis died on January 6, 1852, two days after his forty-third birthday. Before his death, he left a note asking that a box in his room be burned without being opened.

The box contained IOU's from the students that Louis had never collected.

Source: Author pennie1478

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.