"Translating Alphabets" Topic

How do you transliterate a language that uses a different alphabet (Korean/Urdu/arabic) into Latin?

All Indians called Singh. How do we know there is a silent H?

French-English, Spanish-> German is easy enough, but surely Korean into English is two different sets, even for a bilingual speaker.

Pinyn for Chinese, it's not a phonetic language. Ditto Japanese, for which there are several pronunciation systems.

All Indians called Singh. How do we know there is a silent H?

Presumably someone asked a Mr Singh how he pronounced his name

Generally speaking, it is done phonetically. Which causes some interesting things when translating phonetically into different languages. For example, the Russian 'B' is transliterated into English at 'V', but into German as 'W'. But sometimes it sounds like an 'F', so may be transliterated as 'f' or even 'ff' in English and as 'v' in German. Linguists past and present have spent a lot of time trying to develop the most accurate transliteration schemes for various languages. And some times you get reforms of older systems, which is how Peking becomes Beijing.

And some times you get reforms of older systems, which is how Peking becomes Beijing.

Although I have a suspicion that in some cases the spelling came from some British upper-crust type who couldn't be bothered to listen closely (or more than once) to what some "scruffy savage" told him the name of a place was. Rather like this:

"I say! You there! What is the name of this . . . (wrinkles nose) . . . 'city' of yours? (Aside What was that, Snively? Why, yes, I would enjoy another kumquat, thank you!)"
"Mumbai, sahib."
"What was that? Snively, did you hear him clearly? Oh, never mind. Just put down 'Bombay', that sounds close enough. His Majesty's government really doesn't care, I'm sure. Carry on, lads!"

You may be right Parzival, but in the case of Chinese, I think it is just as likely that the original western listener just heard it in a different dialect.

Pronunciation varies wildly in Chinese from dialect to dialect, hence the usefulness of a non-phonetic written language for managing a large and diverse empire. Native speakers from north and South may have been as unable to communicate with each other as a German and a Russian in Europe, but – if educated – they could communicate perfectly well in writing.

In fact, I do the same today. My pronunciation is still pretty dodgy, and sketching a character on a surface with my finger can bring instant understanding – and correction on pronunciation. Though if outside Beijing I do not take too much notice of the local pronunciation. I am trying to learn Mandarin, not dialect.

I personally feel the imposition of a common, non-phonetic written language by the first Emperor was the key factor in maintaining China as one coherent country (for the most part) for over 2,000 years.

A non-phonetic written language also has some big draw-backs too, notably a certain rigidity in construction and (in my opinion) resultant thought processes.

China is only now effectively imposing a common spoken language (essentially Beijing Mandarin) on the country in the same way a common written language was imposed 2,200 years ago. Phonetic pinyin is essential to that.

How do you transliterate a language that uses a different alphabet (Korean/Urdu/arabic) into Latin?

The only really accurate way to do so is by adhering to common parameters, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. This is impractical for the layman, however, as a quick perusal will show link
Most linguists can't keep track of all 107 letters and 52 diacritics. Happily, the four prosidy marks are dead easy.

As great hall games hints at, one of the perils of transliterating lies in the native tongue of he who is doing the work. German, Czech and Welsh all use a Latin alphabet with few non-standard letters or diacritics. However, the phonetic values assigned to the letters can vary quite widely amongst these languages. Another problem is a deficit in phonemic inventory. The best example for wargamers is the click consonants that exist in Khoisan and certain Bantu languages, such as Zulu. Clicks are effectively limited to these languages and the rest of the world has nothing remotely close to them, so how can we use our various orthographies to accommodate them? Short answer, we can't.

Linguists mix it up, to keep the rest of us confused, and themselves in jobs.
-Kle.