A reciprocal translocation is denoted for example: t(4;12)(q32;q24) indicating that q32 on chromosome 4 being swapped with q24 on chromosome 12 if I understand this correctly.
My question is: How do I know whether this is a balanced or an unbalanced translocation?
This translocation is balanced: if it was not there was a specific sign for specific unbalanced event, for example "del" for deletion or "+" and "-" signs etc.
Chromosomal aberrations have defined notations you can find here.
The notation rule for multiple genetic abnormalities is to concatenate them. In the presence of an unbalanced translocation two abnormalities will be indicated as you have both a translocation and another event (e.g. deletion, duplication, ...).
In your example, as no other abnormalities/events are indicated, this is a balanced translocation.
