#transliteration

[oobertscoobert]

recently I’ve been amusing myself by thinking about the new frankenstein movie in toki pona (because of how incredibly neurotypical I am /sar), a constructed language with a very restricted set of phonemes and the word ‘jan’ placed before personal names. Anyway in transliterating stuff to fit with toki pona’s word rules I’ve come up with one phrase that has been making me giggle for days on end. Here it is

[etrogjam]

Transliteration

Spreadsheet of English-Hebrew transliterations of siddurim, machzorim, tehillim, and benchers. Includes denomination/egal/non-egal, nusach, pronunciation, and other notes.

The link gives commenting privileges in case any additions or edits are needed.

[sahisan]

no idea whats going on it genshin and who are these ppl but its just funny personally for me the way the localization is for flins' name. like i have no idea who translated that and what language structure they used as the original source but if it was supposed to be thrown russian transliteration they've fucked up ngl lmao.

so just. a word from me.

you cannot put "kyryll" and "chudomirovich" in one sentence like. what. first of all, the name "kyryll" doesn't even exist. it's either A. Kyrylo, which is an english transliteration of the ukrainian name Кирило, or B. Kirill, which is an english transliteration of the russian name Кирилл. in official ukrainian transliteration, ukrainian letter И is transliterated as Y because it makes an according sound, while russian И makes an english I (i) sound. basically, this does not make any sense if they'd tried making it a russian way—it ended up sounding like a ukrainian name and like a nonexistent name. comedic imo. or it is an attempt at mocking ukrainian language because i genuinely cant put any more explanation to this.

second, "chudomirovich" is a patronymic (it's like a middle name, but it's always derived from the father's name) and is obviously taken from russian with rules that i mentioned previously and like. no?? it does not work like that. you don't put two names from two different languages after letting the playes assume for years that a region was based on only russia. you dont put two names from two different nations currently at war after letting half the characters from the said region have only russia-related names and symbolism.

honestly lowkey peak comedy. the attempt to play at both sides has been recorded. word end. russia is a terrorist state. thank you.

[russenoire]

fun with devoicing: 米津玄師, 'tomaremiyo' ('stop, look both ways')

[verse 1]

なあ今どれくらい？ 「5000マイル過ぎたくらい」 灰皿にしたスムージー 椅子に溢れたチェダーチーズ なあどこへ行きたい？ 「あと少しだけ走りたい」 バックシートに空元気 気付けにしがむペパーミント

naa imad're* k'rai? "gosen mairu s'gita k'rai" haiza ra nishi ta sumuujii is'ni koboreta chedaa chiiz' naa dokoe ik'tai? "ato s_kosh'dake'ashiritai" bakk_shiito nika ra genki kits'ke nishigamu** pepaamint'

[pre-chorus]

思えばあの時はどうかしていて 笑える方を取って 目的地を(don't stop) 遥か通り過ぎた (don't stop, look) 思いがけやしない出会いの先に トラウマのような夢を ただ見たくて走っていた 「進め 先へ 進め」 何処へ？

omoeba an'tok'wa douka sh'teite waraeru hou wototte mok'te kichiwo (don't stop) ha r_ka to oris'gita (don't stop, look) omoiga k'yash'nai deaino sak'ni torauma no youna yumewo tadami tak'te hashi tteita 'susume sakie susume' doko e?

tagging @robin-teddybear 'cause i know you enjoy these too.

and a loose translation, because i find this song hilarious.

hey, how much farther now? 'about 5000 miles to go.' my smoothie has become an ashtray. there's cheddar cheese spilled all over the seats. come on, where are you trying to go? 'i just wanna go a little farther.' i'm in the backseat, faking a smile gnashing peppermint gum to settle my stomach.

thinking back on it, i knew you were insane, but going along with you was the funniest option. we've lost (don't stop) sight of civilization out here (don't stop, look) beyond [this] meeting i couldn't have foreseen only visions of trauma running through my head 'onward, to our destination! onward!!' where, you fool?!

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*in yonezu-san's voice, this comes out more like 'zhweh' than 'dore'. hearing devoicing on this word and to this level is a first for me; the first couple lines of this song don't even sound like japanese to me (affectionate). **the word 噛む (しがむ), for a forceful kind of chewing and grinding, is obscure enough that my IME choked on it. 'gnashing', a similarly-rare english descriptor for the same and primarily found in references to the christian bible, seemed the most appropriate translation. literary words are not uncommon in japanese lyrics, but yonezu-san seems to take a particular pleasure in using words even his compatriots need to look up.

[friendrat]

So apparently, Christianity is having a bit of a "subs vs. dubs" debate at the moment, so look... If I am talking about Digimon, it doesn't matter if I say Tai or Taichi. People know what character I am talking about. If I am talking about Sailor Moon, it doesn't matter if I say Serena or Usagi. People know who I am talking about. If I am talking about Detective Conan, it doesn't matter if I say Shinichi or Jimmy. It's the same character. If fact, I may switch between names every other sentence. It doesn't matter. I'm talking about the same person. So... it doesn't matter if I say Jesus or Yeshua... HE KNOWS WHO I AM TALKING TO!!! To say God is limited by the name we call him... are we trying to say God is stupid? That he's stubborn? Are we trying to put him in a box? I don't think that's what people are going for, but that's how it comes off. Look at it this way... I have seen God work. Miraculous healing, people who walked away from addiction overnight, things that *could not have happened on their own,* all in the name of JESUS. But! There are those who now would say that's not God's power at work in our lives? That that is the devil trying to trick people? That is giving the devil a whole lot of credit he doesn't deserve if you ask me.

[zenosanalytic]

I love the idea that the Homestuck Multiverse has a built in autotranslate that's just really super-lazy, making it simultaneously both Really Good and Really Shitty? Like:

ala This Comic you say a human name to a troll and its completely incomprehensible to them, because names refer to particular individuals and their meanings(or lack of) are very culturally and historically contingent and your language is utterly alien to them, but if you say "Troll![Name]", you've provided the translator with a Context, so it just searches for some person in Their culture who is contextually similar to YOUR person, and gives them that name instead XD

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

Palladius System

I recently learned about the Cyrillic transliteration system for transliterating Chinese to Cyrillic based languages, such as Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and other Cyrillic-based languages. The Palladius system (Cистема Палла́дия) was created by Russian Orthodox monk and sinologist Palladius Kafarov in the 19th Century.

A transilteration system is a way of converting text from one writing system into another, like the pinyin in Chinese or romaji in Japanese. In this case its Chinese to a cyrillic based language, such as Russian. This however does not mean that russian speakers learn Chinese using the Palladius system, they actually also use the pinyin tones in the textbooks.

An interesting fact is that this system does not have tones in transliteration. Zhōngguó would be Чжунго, which as you can see doesn't have the tones represented. Instead, it's a context based system, which relies on the context to help determine the meaning. Some may be easy e.g. Шанхай for Shanghai or Пекин for Beijing, but some other words may be a bit more tricky.

This system also does not use "hui" for 会 and other words that sound similar, and instead uses хуэй, which sounds kind of like who-ey, because the russian pronunciation of "hui" is not a very polite word.

Here's how the system works down below:

[hyperpotamianarch]

Hebrew-to-English transliteration rules

As a blog that talks a lot about Judaism and tries to be accessible to non-Hebrew speakers, I often find the need to transliterate words. Since I don't know much of pre-existing rules for this type of transliteration, I'm using a personal variation. For your comfort, I have decided to make a comprehensive guide. While this guide is based on the system I have already been using, it's important to note that I have not been completely consistent in the past. This is an attempt to remedy that.

I am yet to decide what to do with common transliterations that do not fit my rules. When reblogging or replying to someone, I intend to use the transliteration they used.

My transliteration rules vary between whether I use my phone or computer, because there are certain letters I can properly type only from my PC. Thus, if you wish to follow my footsteps on that, you'll probably find that the system for my phone to be the easiest to use. Full overview of the laws below the cut.

Vowels:

Modern Hebrew uses five vowels. However, there are 8 different vowel indicators - 9 if you include Schwa - and three slightly altered forms that affect pronunciation slightly. Some Hebrew accents, such as the Yemenite and Ashkenazi ones, differentiate between vowel indicators that modern Hebrew considers to sound the same. I'm a Modern Hebrew speaker, and thus will transliterate those without any indicator of the difference. I might choose to do otherwise on accasions.

Due to this amount of vowels, though, I can simply use the five Latin vowel letters to indicate them. The system for that is as follows: (Note: א is used as the default letter to show the vowel indicators. It's a consonant when used usually, though - you should pay more attention to the dots around it than to it, as those are the actual vowel indicators.)

A for אָ and אַ. They make a sound akin to the U in run, sun or umbrella. I'm choosing to use A because 1. U also makes the sound of another Hebrew vowel and 2. A makes a sound somewhat close to that. When I was taught English that was the sound I was told A makes, which might make my accent somewhat odd sometimes.

E for אֵ and אֶ. They make a sound like the E in very or when. Sometimes, in the case of the former vowel indicator, there will be a י after it. In such cases I'll probably ignore it, as most Modern Hebrew speakers don't pronounce it. I might sometimes transliterate it as ei, but it's still read mostly the same as e.

I for אִ or אִי. There is no noticeable difference between them, I believe. It makes the sound of the I in wish or dim. The occasion with a י was shown because in this case it's used as almost a vowel letter. There are four letters that serve that purpose in Hebrew, more on them later.

O for אֹ or אוֹ. Similarly to with I, the ו here does not change the pronunciation. It makes a sound like the o in work or for. ו is another one of the four Hebrew Mothers of Reading, like י - the four letters that sometimes function as semi vowel letters.

U for אֻ or אוּ. This vowel is noted differently between K(e)tiv Male' or Khasser, but there's still no difference in pronunciation - at least in Modern Hebrew. It makes a sound like the U in truth or sure. It also sounds similar to the oo in boot, root or book. However, the way I was taught, there's possibly a difference between the double o sound and that sound, so I preferred to err to the side of caution.

אֳ is one that needs a little explaining, as it makes the sound of the A in call or war. Sometimes אָ will also make this sound. In such cases, it will be transliterated as O, since Modern Hebrew makes those sound the same as אוֹ. The other Ḥatafim - אֲ and אֱ - sound just like their equivalent, if somewhat shorter.

אְ is the Schwa. Usually it makes no sound at all - meaning, the consonant it is under is sounded without a vowel, like the n in under or the f in fright. In plenty of other occasions it does make a sound not unlike that of E - somewhat similar to the vowel that the tt in bottle has. To indicate such occasions, I will use (e) on my phone or ə on my computer.

Mothers of Reading: the letters אהו"י are known as Mothers of Reading, and are occasionally used as vowel indicators even though they all are also consonants unto themselves. On occasions where they serve as Mothers of Reading I might add in their consonant indicator after the vowel - at least, with א and ה, both of which aren't very pronounceable with Schwa. With ו and י I am unlikely to indicate that they appear as Mothers of Reading.

Consonants:

Most Hebrew consonants have direct English equivalent. Those will be listed in the end with proper examples. However, there are a couple that do require further explanation - mostly הא"ח ר"ע and בג"ד כפ"ת, or at the very least בכ"פ.

Guttural sounds (הא"ח ר"ע):

ה is the easiest to deal with out of those, as this consonant exists in English in h. When used as a Mother of reading at the end of a word, h will appear after the last vowel. It's not really heard too much. It is never like the h in hour - that role belongs to א. On some occasions, there will be a ה with a dot in it at the end of a word - הּ. This is called Mapik, and is pronounces slightly stronger, though not like ח (see below). I don't have yet a way to denote it, if you have an idea do tell.

א exists as a sound in English. However, it rarely ever appears in the middle of a word and there is no standard way to indicate it, as it's the natural sound of a vowel with no other consonant - as in the words on, in, after, effort, or oof. When a word starts with it I might simply leave it with no indication and the word will just start with a vowel. When in the middle of the word, though, I will use ' - a regular apostrophe - as the indicator for this consonant, so, אברהם will be transliterated to Avraham, while ראובן will be transliterated to Re'uven, indicating a break for this consonant between the e and u.

ח marks an actual problem, as this particular type of guttural sound doesn't exist in any European language. Modern Hebrew pronunciation makes it slightly easier, as it sounds a little closer to the J in the Spanish Jorge or the ch in the Scottish Loch. The transliteration I chose for it, however, is ḥ on my computer - since this is a common way to transliterate it, and since it sounds not dissimilar to a particularly strong/guttural h. On my phone, the transliteration used will be Kh - mostly to differentiate it from another letter that makes a similar sound sometimes, for which I want to use ch. there is no relation between ח and the letter corresponding with k, outside of the fact there's one letter that can make both their sounds depending on the situation. I'll get to it later.

I must admit, ר barely belongs here. It makes the sound of r, it's all pretty straight forward. Except for the fact the Hebrew pronunciation is different from the American one and that you'll have a noticeable accent. the Hebrew ר sounds more similar to the Spanish r, or perhaps the French one (though as someone with French relatives, their r sometimes sounds more like a ח). In Modern Hebrew ר isn't considered guttural; however, it was traditionally on the list and the American pronunciation is different enough for me to want to note it.

ע is the actually most problematic letter. While all other ones have some degree of European equivalent, ע does not have one at all. It's a consonant that exists in Semitic languages, and if it exists in any Indo-European languages it's on ones from the Indo side. It's a more guttural equivalent of א, in a way - comes from deeper in the throat - hope that helps understanding how it's pronounced, because I don't know of a word that uses that consonant and is widely known in it's true pronunciation outside of the MENA region. If you know of one please do inform me. For this letter, I intend to use ` as an indicator. The backtick (as this note is apparently called) isn't commonly used and to my knowledge doesn't have a significant meaning that will mess up with my usage. I wanted to use a different sign than with א, so I chose that. In the past I used ' interchangeably for both letters, with every use at the beginning of the word being clearly ע, but this is bound to create confusion - as it did in one of my posts. Thus, I prefer using a different mark.

One more note about ח and ע: there's a phenomenon where, in certain occasions, a word will end with one of those letters with a Pataḥ under it, like this: חַ, עַ. It matters because this usually indicates a case of what's called Pataḥ Gənuvah. in such a case, you will see two concequential vowels without a consonant, with one of those after them, such as sameaḥ or shavua`. In such a case, both vowels are pronounced one after the other without break, and the noted consonant is pronounced at the end. I'm saying that so that you won't pronounce sameaḥ with the sound of ea as in real or smear. This is not the sound it makes. (Also, it I write sameakh please don't pronounce it as some sort of guttural k or q. It's wrong and this consonant doesn't exist in Modern Hebrew, though some older pronunciations do have it.)

Double-sound letters (בכ"פ):

Those three letters are pronounced differently depending on a couple of variants that cause them to have a Dagesh, a dot in them. You don't need to know what those are, as I will change the transliteration based on how they're pronounced. However, you might want to extrapolate other words from the ones I use, or you may wonder why the common transliteration is different from mine. This is an explanation on those three letters.

There are three more letters that, under certain pronunciations, also have the same quality. However, those letters have consistent pronunciation in Modern Hebrew, which is why I don't denote them. In other words: don't use my transliterations as a guide if you use Yemenite, Moroccan, Iraqi or Ashkenazi pronunciations, as I don't work by their rules. There are more accents that would have similar problems than those I listed, but I don't really know all of them.

בּ will be transliterated to b, while ב (the same without a Dagesh) will be v. This is why I transliterate Avraham and not Abraham, Avner and not Abner, Re'uven and not Ruben. Binyamin, however, will retain the b appearing in Benjamin, as being at the beginning of a word is one of the causes for those letters to have a Dagesh.

כּ (with a Dagesh) will be transliterated to c as in camp or crash. כ (without a Dagesh) will be transliterated to ch as in the Scottish Loch. If it's in a word transliterated, the ch is not like in cheese or charge. Do not read it as such. Please, please don't. This is such an easy mistake to make, and I really don't want to start hearing people saying Shulchan Aruch or Chaim with this ch. At least make the effort to pronounce it correctly. I am considering using ch for a כּ with a Dagesh as well, as in character. For now, however, this is going to be how I transliterate it.

פּ is an easier one, as the same connotation exists in English: with a Dagesh it's P, while פ (without a Dagesh) is F - or ph and in phone. I prefer using F, though, because there is no other Hebrew equivalent of it.

The 14 other letters:

ג is g as in garden. ד is d as in door. ו as a consonant is v. No difference in pronunciation from ב without a Dagesh. ז is z as in zebra. ט is t as in tough. י as a consonant is y as in year or yonder. In some transliteration systems it's transliterated to j, due to the pronunciation in Latin that is also kept in some German languages. However, due to a consonant shift it no longer makes the correct sound, though, so יעקב will be transliterated as Ya`akov nad not Jacob. I also don't transliterate it to Ya'aqov, for my own reasons. ל is l as in learn. מ is m as in mom. נ is n as in name. ס is s as in swift or sun. s as in is or as souns closer to ז, so do take note. צ is one letter that doesn't have one equivalent letter in English, and will be transliterated to tz or ts. It makes the sound of pronouncing those two consonants together, like the z in pizza. ק is k as in kind or king. Yes, it's the same sound as כּ, but you English speakers aren't ones to talk on that. ש is something of a problem. it's most commonly comes with a dot over the right arm - שׁ - which makes is sh as in show or shake. However, one with a dot over the left arm - שׂ - is pronounces the same as ס and no difference will be noted in the transliteration. ת is t in the same way as ט, at least in Modern Hebrew. Again, no difference will be noted.

There are no Hebrew equivalents to j, q, w, or x. Neither there are equivalents to the vowel letters, though there are four Mothers of Reading. The ch and th sounds also don't exist in Hebrew in the way they sound in English. Anyone telling you otherwise is probably thinking of a different pronunciation or borrowed words.