Romanization: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Transliteration or transcription to Latin charactersletters}}

{{Other uses|RomanizationRomanisation (disambiguation)|Latinisation (disambiguation)}}

[[File:Gwoyu.svg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]], like many languages, can be romanized in a number of ways; abпЦидabove: [[Traditional Chinese characters|Traditional]] and [[Simplified Chinese characters|Simplified Chinese]] characters meaning Chinese, and romanization systems[[Hanyu pinyin|Hanyu Pinyin]], [[Gwoyeu Romatzyh]], [[Wade-Giles]] and [[Yale romanization of Mandarin|Yale]] for those characters.]]

'''Romanization'''In or[[linguistics]], '''romanisationromanization''', in [[linguistics]], is the conversion of text from a different [[writing system]] to the [[Latin script|Roman (Latin) script]], or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include [[transliteration]], for representing written text, and [[transcription (linguistics)|transcription]], for representing the spoken word, and combinations of both. Transcription methods can be subdivided into ''[[phonemic orthography|phonemic]] transcription'', which records the [[phoneme]]s or units of [[semantic]] meaning in speech, and more strict ''[[phonetic transcription]]'', which records speech sounds with precision.

There are many consistent or [[standardized]] romanization systems. They can be classified by their characteristics. A particular system’ssystem's characteristics may make it better-suited for various, sometimes contradictory applications, including document retrieval, linguistic analysis, easy readability, faithful representation of pronunciation.

===Trade-offs===

For most language pairs, building a usable romanization involves trade-offs between the two extremes. Pure transcriptions are generally not possible, as the source language usually contains sounds and distinctions not found in the target language, but which must be shown for the romanized form to be comprehensible. Furthermore, due to [[wikt:diachronic|diachronic]] and [[wikt:synchronic|synchronic]] variance no [[written language]] represents any [[spoken language]] with perfect accuracy and the vocal interpretation of a [[Writing system|script]] may vary by a great degree among languages. In modern times the chain of transcription is usually spoken foreign language, written foreign language, written native language, spoken (read) native language. Reducing the number of those processes, i.e. removing one or both steps of writing, usually leads to more accurate oral articulations. In general, outside a limited audience of scholars, romanizations tend to lean more towards transcription. As an example, consider the Japanese martial art 柔術: the Nihon-shiki romanization ''zyûzyutu'' may allow someone who knows Japanese to reconstruct the kana syllables {{nowrap|じゅうじゅつ}}, but most native English speakers, or rather readers, would find it easier to guess the pronunciation from the Hepburn version, ''[[jujutsu|jūjutsu]]''.

{{incomplete list|date=May 2021}}

{{Main|Romanization of Arabic|Maltese alphabet}}

* {{Lang|de|[[Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft]]|italic=no}} (1936): Adopted by the International Convention of Orientalist Scholars in Rome. It is the basis for the very influential [[Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic|Hans Wehr dictionary]] ({{ISBN|0-87950-003-4}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dmg-web.de/ |title=Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft |publisherwork=Dmg-web.de |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[BS 4280]] (1968): Developed by the [[British Standards Institution]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bsi-global.com/index.xalter |title=Standards, Training, Testing, Assessment and Certification &#124; |publisher=[[BSI Group]] |publisherwork=BsiBSI-globalGlobal.com |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>

* [[UNGEGN]] (1972)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_ar.pdf |title=Arabic |publisherwork=Eki.ee |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[DIN 31635]] (1982): Developed by the {{lang|de|[[Deutsches Institut für Normung]]|italic=no}} (German Institute for Standardization)

* [[Qalam]] (1985): A system that focuses upon preserving the spelling, rather than the pronunciation, and uses mixed case<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eserver.org/langs/qalam.txt |format=TXT |title=Qalam: A Convention for Morphological rabicArabic-Latin-Arabic Transliteration |publisherwork=EserverEServer.org |access-date=2015-07-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208143407/http://eserver.org/langs/qalam.txt |archive-date=2009-02-08 }}</ref>

* [[Buckwalter transliteration]] (1990s): Developed at [[Xerox]] by [[Tim Buckwalter]];<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.qamus.org/transliteration.htm |title=Buckwalter Arabic Transliteration |publisherwork=Qamus.org |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref> doesn'tdoes not require unusual [[diacritic]]s<ref>{{cite web |first=Ken |last=Beesley |url=http://www.xrce.xerox.com/competencies/content-analysis/arabic/info/buckwalter-about.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020424194140/http://www.xrce.xerox.com/competencies/content-analysis/arabic/info/buckwalter-about.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-04-24 |title=OpenThe Xerox:Buckwalter arabic-morphologyTransliteration Service Home Page|work= |publisher=Xrce.xerox.com[[Xerox Research Centre Europe]] |date=2010-11-22 |access-date=2013-04-25 }}</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]] (1997)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/arabic.pdf |title=Arabic |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/greek.pdf |title=Greek |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[Beta Code]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tlg.uci.edu/BCM2004.pdf |title=The TLG^® Beta Code Manual 2004 |date=June 23, 2004 |website=tlg.uci.eduThesaurus Linguae Graecae |publisher=[[University of California, Irvine|UCI]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060129172716/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/BCM2004.pdf |archive-date=January 29, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

* [[ISO 843]] (1997)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biology.uoc.gr/gvd/contents/databases/01c.htm |title=Transliteration scheme ISO 843 |website=biology.uoc.gr |publisher=[[University of Crete|UoC]] |last1=Lefort |first1=Francois |last2=Roubelakis-Angelakis |first2=Kalliopi A. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041210021506/http://www.biology.uoc.gr/gvd/contents/databases/01c.htm |archive-date=December 10, 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

* [[UNGEGN]] (1977)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_he.pdf |title=Hebrew |publisherwork=Eki.ee |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/hebrew.pdf |title=Hebrew and Yiddish |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

{{See also|Devanagari transliteration|Romanization of Bengali|RomanizationRomanisation of Malayalam}}

The [[Brahmic family]] of [[abugida]]s is used for languages of the Indian subcontinent and south-east Asia. There is a long tradition in the west to study [[Sanskrit]] and other Indic texts in Latin transliteration. Various transliteration conventions have been used for Indic scripts since the time of Sir William Jones.<ref>{{cite web |author=Gabriel Pradīpaka |url=http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/english/sanskrit/sanskrit3part2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040315080622/http://www.sanskrit-sanscrito.com.ar/english/sanskrit/sanskrit3part2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-03-15 |title=ASanskrit comparison3: ofcomparing sometransliteration of themsystems |publisherwork=Sanskrit-sanscritoSanscrito.com.ar |access-date=2013-04-25 }}</ref>

* [[ISO 15919]] (2001): A standard [[transliteration]] convention was codified in the ISO 15919 standard. It uses [[diacritic]]s to map the much larger set of Brahmic [[consonant]]s and [[vowel]]s to the Latin script. The Devanagari-specific portion is very similar to the academic standard, [[IAST]]: "International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration", and to the United States Library of Congress standard, [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/hindi.pdf |title=Hindi |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref> although there are a few differences

* In Pakistan: Standard (Saaf or Khaalis) Urdu is the "high" variety, whereas Hindustani is the "low" variety used by the masses (called Urdu, written in [[nastaʿlīq script]]).

Initiated in 2011, the Hamari Boli Initiative<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hamariboli.com |title=hamariboli.coWhat is HamariBoli? |publisherwork=Hamariboli.comHamariBoli |date=2011-06-15 |access-date=2013-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601231148/http://www.hamariboli.com/ |archive-date=2013-06-01 }}</ref> is a full-scale open-source [[language planning]] initiative aimed at Hindustani script, style, status & lexical reform and modernization. One of primary stated objectives of Hamari Boli is to relieve Hindustani of the crippling devanagari–nastaʿlīq digraphia by way of romanization.<ref>[http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-84689-Hamari-boli-angraizon-ke-rasmul-khat-mein ''The News International'' - Dec 29, 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616173554/http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-84689-Hamari-boli-angraizon-ke-rasmul-khat-mein |date=June 16, 2013 }} --– "Hamari Boli (our language) is perhaps one of the very first serious undertakings to explore, develop and encourage the growth of Roman script in the use of Urdu/Hindi language."</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]: Used to be similar to Wade–Giles,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/chinese.pdf |title=Chinese |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref> but converted to [[Hanyu Pinyin]] in 2000<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/romcover.html |title=New Chinese Romanization Guidelines |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |date=1998-11-03 |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>

* [[French School of the Far East#EFEO romanization system|EFEO]]. Developed by [[École française d'Extrême-Orient]] in the 19th century, used mainly in France.

# [[Tongyong Pinyin]] (2002–2008),<ref name="taipei_times_2002-07-11">{{cite news |publisherwork=Taipei Times |date=2002-07-11 |title=Tongyong Pinyin the new system for romanization |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2002/07/11/147813}}</ref><ref name="peoples_daily_2002-07-12">{{cite news |work=People's Daily Online |date=2002-07-12 |title=Taiwan Authority Concerned Passes Tongyong Pinyin Scheme |url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200207/12/print20020712_99598.html}}</ref> and

# [[Hanyu Pinyin]] (since January 1, 2009).<ref name="taipei_times_2008-09-18">{{cite news |publisherwork=Taipei Times |date=2008-09-18 |title=Hanyu Pinyin to be standard system in 2009 |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/09/18/2003423528}}</ref><ref name="china_post_2008-09-18">{{cite news |work=The China Post |date=2008-09-18 |title=Gov't to improve English-friendly environment |url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/09/18/175155/Gov%27t-to.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919054355/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national%20news/2008/09/18/175155/Gov%27t%2Dto.htm |archive-date=2008-09-19 }}</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]: Similar to Modified Hepburn<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/japanese.pdf |title=Japanese |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2014-09-28}}</ref>

** There is, for example, the [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]] / U.S. Library of Congress system, based on MR but with some deviations. Word division is addressed in detail, with a generous use of spaces to separate word endings from stems that is not seen in MR. Syllables of given names are always separated with a hyphen, which is expressly never done by MR. Sound changes are ignored more often than in MR. Distinguishes between '''‘''' and '''’'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/korean.pdf |title=Korean |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[Yale romanization of Korean|Yale]] (1942): This system has become the established standard romanization for Korean among [[linguistics|linguists]]. Vowel length in old or dialectal pronunciation is indicated by a [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]]. In cases that would otherwise be ambiguous, orthographic syllable boundaries are indicated with a period. This system also indicates consonants that have disappeared from a word's [[Hangul orthography|South Korean orthography]] and standard pronunciation.

* [[ISO/TR 11941]] (1996): This actually is two different standards under one name: one for North Korea (DPRK) and the other for South Korea (ROK). The initial submission to the ISO was based heavily on Yale and was a joint effort between both states, but they could not agree on the final draft.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sori.org/hangul/romanizations.html#Roman_Intro |title=A superficial comparison between the two |publisherwork=Sori.org |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/thai.pdf |title=Thai |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

The [[Nuosu language]], spoken in southern China, is written with its own script, the [[Yi script]]. The only existing romanisation system is [[Nuosu language#Phonology|YYPY]] (Yi Yu Pin Yin), which represents tone with letters attached to the end of syllables, as Nuosu forbids codas. It does not use diacritics, and as such due to the large phonemic inventory of Nuosu, it requires frequent use of digraphs, including for monophthong vowels.

* [[ALA-LC romanization]], 1997 (American Library Association and Library of Congress):<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/beloruss.pdf |title=Belarusian |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

The new Bulgarian system was endorsed for official use also by UN in 2012,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_bg.htm |title=UN Romanization of Bulgarian for Geographical Names (1977) |work=Eki.ee |access-date=2015-06-27}}</ref> and by [[United States Board on Geographic Names|BGN]] and [[Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use|PCGN]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/Romanization/Romanization_Bulgarian.pdf |title=Romanization System for Bulgarian, BGN/PCGN 1952 System |website=earth-info.nga.mil |publisher=[[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency|NGA]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219024011/http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/Romanization/Romanization_Bulgarian.pdf |archive-date=December 19, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

* [[BGN/PCGN romanization|BGN/PCGN]] (1947): Transliteration system (United States Board on Geographic Names & Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/cyrillic.htm |title=Cyrillic Translations |publisherwork=DspaceDSpace.dialDial.pipexPipex.com |access-date=2013-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716180905/http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/cyrillic.htm |archive-date=2012-07-16 }}</ref>

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]] (1997)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/russian.pdf |title=Russian |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* [[Volapuk encoding|"Volapuk" encoding]] (1990s): Slang term (it's is not really [[Volapük]]) for a writing method that's is not truly a transliteration, but used for similar goals (see article).

* Conventional English transliteration is based to BGN/PCGN, but doesn'tdoes not follow a particular standard. Described in detail at [[Romanization of Russian]].

* Streamlined System<ref>{{cite web|author=Dimiter Dobrev |url=http://www.metodii.com/ru_Russian_Translit.html |title=Транслитерация |publishertrans-title=Transliteration |language=ru |work=Metodii.com |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930163656/http://members.lycos.co.uk/rre/Russian.html Basic] and [http://russian-romanization.weebly.com/ Optimized] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412140953/http://russian-romanization.weebly.com/ |date=2016-04-12 }} Romanization of Russian. 2006–2016.</ref><ref>L. Ivanov. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170707114819/http://russian-romanization.weebly.com/uploads/5/5/3/4/55341127/2017-paper.pdf "Streamlined Romanization of Russian Cyrillic."]. ''Contrastive Linguistics''. XLII (2017) No. 2. pp. 66-73. {{ISSN|0204-8701}}</ref><ref>[https://interscript.org/systems/bas-rus-Cyrl-Latn-2017-bss Interscript.] Streamlined Romanization of Russian Cyrillic (Basic Streamlined System).</ref><ref>[https://interscript.org/systems/bas-rus-Cyrl-Latn-2017-oss Interscript.] Streamlined Romanization of Russian Cyrillic (Optimized Streamlined System).</ref> for the romanization of Russian.

* Comparative transliteration of Russian<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.russki-mat.net/trans.htm |title=Транслитерация русского алфавита |publishertrans-title=Transliteration of the Russian alphabet |language=ru |work=Russki-mat.net |access-date=2013-04-25}}</ref> in different languages (Western European, Arabic, Georgian, Braille, Morse)

* [[ALA-LC romanization|ALA-LC]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/ukrainia.pdf |title=Ukrainian |publisher=Loc.gov[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* Ukrainian National and BGN/PCGN systems, at the UN Working Group on Romanization Systems<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_uk.pdf |title=Ukrainian |publisherwork=Eki.ee |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

* Thomas T. Pedersen's comparison of five systems<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transliteration.eki.ee/pdf/Ukrainian.pdf |title=Ukrainian |publisherwork=Transliteration.ekiEki.ee |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

|e/ɛ|| Ε, ΑΙ || Э || ⴻ || , ֱ, י ֵֶ, ֵ, י ֶ || || || エ, ヱ || ㅔ ||ㄟ

| i/ɪ|| Η, Ι, Υ, ΕΙ, ΟΙ || И, І || ⵉ || ִ, י ִ || دِ || || イ, ヰ || ㅣ ||ㄧ

| we|| || || || || || || ヱ || ㅞ ||

| y/ɥi|| || || || || || || ヰ || ㅟ ||

* [[Transcription_into_Chinese_charactersTranscription into Chinese characters#Transcription_tableTranscription table|Transcription into Chinese]], though standards vary by polity.

* [[Sinicization]], specifically [[Adoption of Chinese literary culture|adoption of Chinese literary culture]]

* [http://www.theelp.org/library.htm IPA for Urdu and Roman Urdu for Mobile and Internet Users (Download)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223115838/http://www.theelp.org/library.htm |date=2008-12-23 }}

* [http://unicode.org/cldr/transliteration_guidelines.html Unicode Transliteration Guidelines] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328043053/http://unicode.org/cldr/transliteration_guidelines.html |date=2009-03-28 }}

* [http://www.eiktub.com eiktub] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025200939/http://www.eiktub.com/ |date=2019-10-25 }}&nbsp;– An Arabic Transliteration Pad

* [http://russianeasy.net/aeRUS1.htm Russianeasy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308102351/http://russianeasy.net/aeRUS1.htm |date=2016-03-08 }}&nbsp;– Russian Transliteration (free chrome extension exists)