Transliteration Project
November 9th, 2007(Warning: I am way tired right now, but I wanted to get this down…)
I have long been interested in transliteration:
mundotype was my first stab at all that, and it kind of works, for a few languages. But let me tell you, building that transliteration map for Amharic was no walk in the park (and it was mostly thanks to my pals Daniel Yacob and Ephrem Menji that I got anywhere!)
My goal remains the same: I want to create (or see someone else create, whatevarr) a Javascript-based transliteration input system that covers a WHOLE BUNCH of languages. With a consistent, easy-to-understand format for writing and editing rules.
But even better than all that would be coming up with an automated way to infer the rules in the first place.
That’s what I’ve been playing with.
Eventually this should end up on my “serious” blog, over at Blogamundo, but I’ve become a little self-conscious about just rambling there ever since Planet I18n came into being; I’d really rather post there when I have something that’s distributable.
It’s late right now but let me give you the 5-minute rundown of where I am:
What’s a transliteration?
Ask Wikipedia. For example: Epictetus is a transliteration of the Greek name Επίκτητος into the Roman alphabet.
I have some code that goes through Wikipedia dumps and extracts all the interwiki links and article titles, and spits out gigantic “lexicons.”
Here’s an example where I grepped out a Greek/English lexicon (the original has a bazillion languages):
http://ruphus.com/svn/translit/en2el.txt
Which has 2432 lines, with stuff like this:
Archaeology Αρχαιολογία
Austria Αυστρία
Australia Αυστραλία
ASCII ASCII
Africa Αφρική
Now, some of these are “transliterations” and some are “translations” — and in the case of ASCII (oh, the irony), straight out borrowing in the original script.
(By the way, the definition between “translation” and “transliteration” is kind of blurry if you start thinking too hard… fortunately, I don’t.)
Having hacked thru the first few chapters of “Teach Yourself Greek,” I can surmise that the pairs Austria/Αυστρία and Australia/Αυστραλία look like “perfect” transliterations.
And by “perfect,” I mean:
- Each word in the pair is the same length
- Each word in the pair has the same “letter pattern”
(”Perfect” is just an arbitrary designation.)
It’s #2 that I’ve been thinking about, and getting some results with. It involves “patternizing” a word, and you do that like this:
Replace each letter in the word with the numeric index of the first occurrence of the letter in the word.
Examples:
cat → 012
asia → 0120
Ασία → 0123
Ωκεανός → 0123456
Βιόσφαιρα → 012345175
Get it?
Interestingly, this simple trick is very good at helping to find transliterated words. All I do is go through the word pairs in that file at the top, and check to see if both words produce the same pattern.
Check out some results:
http://ruphus.com/svn/translit/matches-en2el.txt
Croatia
0123453
Κροατία
Cyclades
01234567
Κυκλάδες
Dance
01234
Χορός
Kilo
0123
Κιλό
Keflavík
01234567
Κεφλαβίκ
Methanol
01234567
Μεθανόλη
Montreal
01234567
Μόντρεαλ
For one thing, there are some mistakes. “Χορός” is no transliteration of “Dance,” it’s a translation. But mostly transliterated things come up — notice all the place and personal names?
So from there, I zip up these pairs of words into pairs of letters, like this:
T Τ
r ρ
o ό
f φ
a α
And
K Κ
e ε
f φ
l λ
a α
v β
í ί
k κ
Rinse and repeat for every pair in the list, do a bit of frequency-based manipulatin’, and you get something that looks like this:
http://ruphus.com/svn/translit/schema-en2el.txt
Which is incomplete and imperfect, but pretty damn good for zero linguistic knowledge before hand, aside from the lexicon.
More soon.
(digraphs are a thorny problem, for one thing…)
does anyone knows if there is any other information about this subject in other languages?
- Dil Okulu @ 2 April 2008Hello! Please forgive me if this post is inappropriate, but I couldn’t find a direct email address on your blog. I’m Anton and I’m launching my new blog dealing with language translation issues and would appreciate the opportunity to discuss mutual collaboration. You can contact me if you like at anton [at] icanlocalize {dot} com. Thanks!
- Anton @ 11 July 2008Often people struggle performing the custom sociology essays, but, there’s no reason to waste efforts for term papers, just because the business writing services can to do any task.
- Elliewf33 @ 28 January 2010I couldn’t find a direct email address on your blog. I’m Anton and I’m launching my new blog dealing with language translation issues and would appreciate the opportunity to discuss mutual collaboration.
- ClubPenguinCheats @ 6 July 2010Aishika Chakraborty spends Christian Louboutin Pumps in the enchanting environs of Santiniketan and says its christian louboutin remain undiminished ‘Besides the winter fair and spring festival, there is nothing much to see there. Palash and simul trees have just shed their blooms, and the monsoon cloud is nowhere near the christian louboutin sale. Blazing winds will greet you at Jhapater Dhal as the terrain onwards turns parched christian shoes and arid.’
- christian louboutin @ 6 July 2010I try to find the best place for you to buy converse shoes. such as Air Jordan 5,
- Air Jordan 11 @ 9 July 2010Air Jordan 6, Air Jordan 11
The prices are good and maybe FREE Shipping.
Brooklyn Hotel
- Brooklyn Hotel @ 12 July 2010Brooklyn Hotel thank you for commenting Lida ve biber hapı Brooklyn Hotel Fx15 zayıflama Hapı and approved thank you admin.
brooklyn,diet,fitness,lida
accept paypal,High quality,competitive price, fast delivery
- goldenseller01 @ 23 July 2010http://www.golden-seller.com
underwear $4.99
caps $6.99
Sunglass $11.99
Purse: $11.99
Necklace $12.99
Bracelet $12.99
Jersey $19.99
handbag $33.99
Bikini $19.99
http://www.golden-seller.com
golden_seller01@hotmail.com
http://www.fromaaa.com
- fromaaa @ 23 July 2010Newest fashion style of Newest fashion style of sport shoes, jackets, underwear,NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA Jerseys. sunglasses,wallets,boots,rings,necklace,bikinis,boots,dress shoes,high heel shoes,jeans,t-shirt,outfit,hot underwear,swimsuit,rings,necklace,belts,purse,handbags,caps,scarf
fromaaa@hotmail.com
http://www.fromaaa.com
Hi,
Thanks for sharing such interesting and informative post. The links you have shared here are a big help for me in completing my transliteration project. Best of luck.
Thesis Papers
- Custom Research Papers @ 25 July 2010Sehen Sie hier die besten gold kaufen wow
- wow @ 26 July 2010Moncler gives functional warming keeping by consumers which is for you in running, sking, skating, hockey, almost all winter sports items are suitable for you to take the Moncler Jackets. It specialized in attention was on the consideration of good air permeability can reduce skin irritation. The Moncler Coats make clothes again warm and won’t feel quite muggy. As you know, the Moncler are famous around the Hollywood stars. Because its environmental protection and comfortable. And Moncler Vest with its new design concept which is fashion and the perfect combination of sport. With soft fabrics make light effect, small volume, and light weight enhanced comfort and warmth. It will be perfect for you to match with the Moncler Boots and Moncler T-shirts.
- moncler @ 26 July 2010Microsoft Office 2007
- Microsoft Office 2007 @ 27 July 2010Office 2007
Microsoft Office
Office 2007 key
Office 2007 download
Office 2007 Professional
Office 2007 home and student
Office Professional 2007
Office Ultimate 2007
Windows 7
Windows 7 Professional
look very complicated…but I’d like to want a translate tool
- dell laptop batteries @ 28 July 2010Let us crazy mbt shoes , mbt shoes sale of our most popular,you can find the best prices MBT shoes for sell from us .
- mbt shoes @ 9 August 2010mbt shoes have been specially designed by physiologists to offer a natural uneven,All mbt shoes wiht big discount were free shipping and not any tax from now on.
Enjoy the lastest discount mbt shoes
mbt women’s shoes
Go into wedding dresses look forward to your choice for wedding dresses.The best and beauty model of dresses:evening dress
The world-famous Camel cigarettes, with its excellent quality, full of mysterious Oriental exoticism camel cigarette brand’s unique design, the tobacco industry renowned, camel Advent has been in operation for more than 80-year history, it has become a world famous cigarette and evergreens.
- camel cigarettes @ 9 August 2010Only a little knowledge on cigarettes should know camel (camel), and Marlboro, Hilton, and other well-known brands, is in the heart of all smokers to high ideals. At the same time,camel is a veteran of the senators, it is a leader in the creation of the American blend cigarettes, and the taste until today also occupies a dominant position in the world.camel cigarettes blog
camel cigarettes news
[url=http://www.nikesshox.com/]nike football shoes[/url]
- nike shox @ 11 August 2010all latest desination and free shipping!
Do you like the mbt,In the summer, why not buy a MBT Fanaka Shoes to spend this summer holiday, the usa mbt is hot.
- venus @ 16 August 2010tiffany jewelry in the net is cheap and discounted. wholesale silver jewelry has the same looks and designs with the authentic tiffany jewelry. If you are interested in the tiffany jewelry,city, you can come to our store and have a look. I am sure you will find what you want.
- tiffany jewelry @ 19 August 2010Thank you for your article,It’s well written, in depth posts like these that have aided me in becoming a good forex trader.
- ugg Australia @ 19 August 2010wholesale new era hats
Wholesale baseball hats
wholesale new era caps
wholesale new hats
- Wholesale baseball hats @ 26 August 2010The credit loans are useful for guys, which are willing to ground their own company. In fact, that is easy to get a collateral loan.
- mortgage loans @ 27 August 2010I really enjoyed reading this post, thanks for sharing. The Christian Louboutin are nice,I really enjoyed the christian louboutin shoes here you are,Good quality Discount Christian Louboutin Shoes I bought.Christian Louboutin Boots Good! Thank you very much Christian Louboutin Booties,its really very awesome!I hope that you keep updating the blog.
- Christian Louboutin @ 30 August 2010