Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; in sign language, it is a similarly basic unit of hand shape, motion, position, or facial expression. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... Transliteration in a narrow sense is a mapping from one system of writing into another. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language. ...

• A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage (as demonstrated in the standard spelling of various words and names), which is often ambiguous. Furthermore, transliterations often differ depending on the target language (compare English Omar Khayyám with German Omar Chayyam and Polish Omar Chajjam).
• A desire to represent the language as accurately and directly as possible, which may result in the introduction of various diacritics and unfamiliar symbols.
• A desire to avoid unfamiliar symbols, which results in the usage of digraphs; sometimes tricks are necessary to avoid ambiguity (e.g., inserting a dash to separate two sounds that would be incorrectly perceived as a single digraph).
• A desire to maintain one-to-one, round-trip conversion of symbols (usually only relevant to computer-only transliterations).

Arabic speakers and teachers often assert that any transliteration system is inherently "flawed" or "inaccurate," but from a linguistic standpoint there is no justification for this. Tomb of Omar Khayyám, Neishapur, Iran. ...

Transliteration Standards

It has been suggested that Hans Wehr transliteration be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

• Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (1936): Adopted by the International Convention of Orientalist Scholars in Rome. It is the basis for the very influential Hans Wehr dictionary (ISBN 0879500034). [1]
• ISO/R 233 (1961). Replaced by ISO 233 in 1984 but still encountered.
• BS 4280 (1968): Developed by the British Standards Institute. [2]
• SATTS (1970s): Developed by US military.
• UNGEGN (1972): [3]
• DIN-31635 (1982): Developed by the Deutsches Institut für Normung (German Institute for Standardization).
• ISO 233 (1984).
• Qalam (1985): A system that focuses upon preserving the spelling, rather than the pronunciation, and uses mixed case. [4]
• ISO 233-2(1993). Simplified transliteration.
• Buckwalter Transliteration (1990s): Developed at Xerox by Tim Buckwalter [5]; doesn't require unusual diacritics. [6]
• ALA-LC (1997). [7]
• SAS: Spanish Arabists School (José Antonio Conde and others, early 19th century onwards). [8]

A table comparing romanizations using DIN 31635, ISO 233, ISO/R 233, UN, ALA-LC, and Encyclopaedia of Islam systems is available here: [9]. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Jump to: navigation, search It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Arabic transliteration. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The international standard ISO 233 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin characters of Arabic characters. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... British Standards is the new name of the British Standards Institute and is part of BSI Group which also includes a testing organisation. ... SATTS is the Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System, a US military standard for the mapping of Arabic letters to the Latin alphabet. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... United Nations Statistical Commission or United Nations Statistical Office or UNSCO (also known as the Statistics Division) is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... DIN 31635 is a DIN standard for the transliteration of the Arabic language. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN, the German Institute for Standardization) is a German national organization for standardization. ... The international standard ISO 233 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin characters of Arabic characters. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is about the tool known as a qalam. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... Xerox Corporation NYSE: XRX is the worlds largest document-management company, providing the industrys broadest range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies. ... A diacritical mark or diacritic, sometimes called an accent mark, is a mark added to a letter to alter a words pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ... Library of Congress, Jefferson building The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Comparison table

SATTS is the Standard Arabic Technical Transliteration System, a US military standard for the mapping of Arabic letters to the Latin alphabet. ... United Nations Statistical Commission or United Nations Statistical Office or UNSCO (also known as the Statistics Division) is a Functional Commission of the UN Economic and Social Council. ... Library of Congress, Jefferson building The Library of Congress is the unofficial national library of the United States. ... DIN 31635 is a DIN standard for the transliteration of the Arabic language. ... The international standard ISO 233 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin characters of Arabic characters. ... This is about the tool known as a qalam. ... The three-letter acronym IPA can stand for any of the following (listed in alphabetical order): Independent Pilots Association India Pale Ale Institute of Public Affairs Institute for Propaganda Analysis International Phonetic Alphabet. ...

Online

Main article: Arabic Chat Alphabet

Online communication is often restricted to an ASCII environment in which not only the Arabic letters themselves but also Roman characters when diacritics are unavailable. This problem is faced by most speakers of languages that use non-Roman alphabets, or heavily modifed ones. An ad hoc solution constists of using Arabic numerals which mirror or resemble the relevant Arabic. The Arabic Chat Alphabet is used for communication over the Internet or for sending messages via cellular phones when the actual Arabic alphabet is unavailible for technical reasons. ... Online means being connected to the Internet or another similar electronic network, like a bulletin board system. ... Jump to: navigation, search Communication is the process of exchanging information usually via a common system of symbols. ... Jump to: navigation, search There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world. ... A diacritical mark or diacritic, sometimes called an accent mark, is a mark added to a letter to alter a words pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ... Ad hoc is a Latin phrase which means for this [purpose]. It generally signifies a solution that has been tailored to a specific purpose, such as a tailor-made suit, a handcrafted network protocol, and specific-purpose equation and things like that. ...

See also

• Arabic language
• Arabic alphabet
• Romanization
• Arabic Chat Alphabet

Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing the Arabic language. ... In linguistics, romanization or latinization is a system for representing a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, where the original word or language used a different writing system. ... The Arabic Chat Alphabet is used for communication over the Internet or for sending messages via cellular phones when the actual Arabic alphabet is unavailible for technical reasons. ...

External links

• SATTS: Roman-to-Arabic mappings
• Omniglot: Arabic alphabet, pronunciation and language
• J'raxis·Com: The Arabic Script
• Table comparing Romanization systems
• Learn the Arabic Script Online