Anyone who has clicked on a webpage in a language that has an entirely different alphabet of its own and wonders how to pronounce such words knows how necessary online transliteration is.
Transliteration is the term used to define the process of conversion of characters from one system to another, based on similar pronunciation, that is, phonetic similarity.
You convert Latin letters (a, b, c, etc.) to the corresponding characters with a similar pronunciation in the target language.
With a few tools, you can take a website from Greek to Latin language or the other way around.
For instance, using Hindi transliteration, you can write "namaste" to get "नमस्ते" in the output, which sounds the same as "namaste."
An interesting fact is that transliteration supports imprecise phonetic mapping.
You just entered your best guess for the word you mean using Latin letters and the transliteration will match it to the best suggestion.
For instance, "namaste" and "nemaste" (phonetically pronounced in Portuguese) will be two of our candidates to "नमस्ते", both representing the sound of “namaste/nemaste” in Hindi.
Artificial intelligence has enabled the rapid rise of numerous tools on the web, which makes transliteration so much easier.
Here comes our 5 choices of some free tools which can help you with this task.
What is the difference between Translation and Transliteration?
Transliteration is by pronunciation, translation is by meaning. It varies in how it is performed.
Transliteration deals with a different alphabet and script, making sound the priority and not meaning.
How Transliteration Online Works?
Although it does permit imprecise pronunciation assumptions, transliteration is not done randomly.
Different writing rules and conventions are applied to make the transliterated text as close to the original text and as readable as possible.
Its use is simple. The user inputs a word or a phrase in the Latin alphabet first.
The program matches the sounds of the input letters with the letters of the destination language according to phonetic rules.
Some websites offer more than one possibility of transliteration so that the user can choose the most appropriate one.
Then the text appears in the new alphabet, keeping the original pronunciation.
Transliteration changes the visual and audio shape of words.
The following is a summary of the steps of how transliteration works in most tools:
1. Input in Latin letters - You type a word or a sentence in the Latin alphabet.
2. Phonetic conversion - The program equates the sounds to letters in the target language.
3. Transliteration suggestions - Some software offers multiple options to choose the most appropriate one.
4. Output in the new alphabet - The text appears in the alphabet of the target language, maintaining the pronunciation as close as possible.
Why is Transliteration Useful?
Transliteration is convenient because it allows people who are not used to a certain alphabet to read, write, and pronounce words with more ease.
It facilitates communication, learning of languages, and use of other writing systems.
This makes it accessible without requiring a lot of information regarding the language.
It is especially helpful to language learners, travelers, and researchers.
Professionals who handle foreign-language texts also find it helpful.
Libraries or text data processing also make use of transliteration.
Anyone who needs to handle a foreign script can use it.
Also, this tool can be relied upon by individuals who need to type in a language for which they lack the keyboard.
It also helps in the correct pronunciation of foreign words.
Transliteration software is especially useful for reading and writing languages with non-Latin scripts, such as Russian, Arabic, Chinese, and Hindi, without the need to learn the local script.
Consequently, it is useful to facilitate greater access to information in these languages, although some programs transliterate between such non-latin scripts.
AI-based transliteration software has the following advantages:
Accuracy: They use advanced algorithms to ensure that pronunciation is maintained.
Speed: These software programs have conversion speeds of a few seconds.
Accessibility: Several programs are free and easy to use.
5 Best Free Online Transliteration Tools
1. Translitteration.com
Translitteration.com is an easy and useful tool that provides Latin-script transliteration of many non-Latin alphabets like Russian (Cyrillic), Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Sanskrit.
It is particularly handy for scholars, students, and linguists who need immediate and accurate script conversion.
Translitteration.com offers several transliteration standards, so the user can choose one or more scholarly or functional systems based on their needs.
Due to its clean interface and straightforward functionality, Translitteration.com is handy for text conversion in seconds for research, travel, or business needs.
- Supports Latin transliteration for other scripts (Russian, Greek, Sanskrit, etc.)
- Simple to use and fast processing.
Look at the test below. First I translated the sentence “Can I get a discount?” in another tool, then I copy and paste the content in Greek to the Translitteration.com.
See how you can choose “to greek script” or “to latin script”, both results are shown below.
2. Google Translate
Even though it's primarily used for translation, it also possesses good transliteration capabilities. Its transliteration feature supports more than 20 languages.
- How to Use Google Translate for Transliteration:
Access Google Translate: Go to Google Translate.
Choose the Language: Choose the source's language (e.g., Russian) on the left.
Type or paste the text to be transliterated into the text box.
Enable Transliteration: You will have a transliteration option below the text box if the language is supported.
Click on it to enable it.
Copy the Transliterated Text: You can copy the output after transliteration for your use.
Look at this photo below, the red box shows the transliteration from Russian to the sentence "What is your name?
3. Translit.net
Translit.net is a clean and straightforward tool that was specifically designed for transliteration.
Says the editor: "With the help of the Translit.net from the Latin alphabet letters you can get the Cyrillic, Hebrew, Belarusian, Ukrainian and other alphabets' letters.
The transliterator was created as a service for residents of the former USSR countries, being abroad and wishing to communicate in their native language on their computer."
- How to Use Translit.net:
Go to Translit.net: Open Translit.net.
Select Your Language Pair: Choose the source and target languages from the dropdown menus. Choose see the output in original script or latin script.
Input Your Text: Paste the text that you wish to transliterate.
View the Result: The program will display the transliterated text instantly, and you can copy it as needed.
4. Aksharamukha
This is a great tool to transliterate between scripts like Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Arabic, Balinesi, Urdu, Japanese and more.
- It is specialized in Indic script conversion.
But the meaning is really not safe in the conversion.
I’ve tried to first translate the sentence “What is the future of translation with artificial intelligence?” to Hindi (Devanagari alphabet).
Using the tool Aksharamukha to convert to the Arabic alphabet the meaning is not keeped, but the fidelity of the sound probably is. The meaning, when you translate back to english is something definitely out of the context like “How are you going to spend the night here?”
That’s proof of how transliteration and translation are not the same thing.
5. Omniglot Online Transliteration
Omniglot itself is not an interactive transliteration application but contains valuable resources on writing systems and pronunciation guides.
However, you can find out from Omniglot how transliteration works for different alphabets and then use that to other applications.See the example below with a sample text in Bengali.
This is just one of the numerous tools available on the Omniglot language resource site, offering extensive details on writing systems around the world. It’s not very practical, I have to say, but it is a nice tool to explore the beauty and diversity of alphabets around the world.
- Supports multiple scripts of languages.
- Script guide educational tool.
Tips to Improve Your Experience in Transliteration
Verify Pronunciation: Use the audio function of Google Translate to hear the correct pronunciation.
Experiment with Different Languages: Experiment with multiple languages to see how each tool modifies and certifies the credibility of it.
Combine with Other Tools: Use transliteration tools along with online dictionaries to better understand the text.
Good luck navigating the world's diversity of alphabets and language families!
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