Understand that a braille cell can show the symbol for one of the alphabet's 26 letters or represent part of a word (such as -ed). The cells can also represent numbers, depending on the position of the dots. Other dot signs stand for punctuation marks. To learn the braille alphabet, visualize each cell as two columns, each containing three dots. The first column, from top to bottom, is numbered one to three, and the second column is numbered four to six.
Make the first 10 letters of the alphabet using only the dots in positions one, two, four and five. A is represented by one; B, one-two; C, one-four; D, one-four-five; E, one-five; F, one-two-four; G, one-two-four-five; H, one-two-five; I, two-four; and J, two-four-five.
Make the next 10 letters, K through T, by simply adding dot three to each of the first 10 letters. For example, K would be the same as A -- a dot in the "one" position -- plus three. Letter L would be the same as B -- one-two -- plus three. M would be the same as C -- one-four -- plus three. The patter continues through T.
Create five of the final six letters by adding dot six to some of the second 10 letters. For example, add dot six to the dots in letter K -- one-three -- to create the letter U; add six to L -- one-two-three -- to make V; add six to M -- one-three-four -- to create X; add six to N -- one-three-four-five -- to make Y; and add six to O -- one-three-five -- to make Z.
Create the letter W with dots in the positions two-four-five-six. W doesn't follow the logic in the creation of the other letters because at the time Louis Braille created the alphabet, his native French language did not use a W.