Romanization
- romanization is the conversion of a writing system to the Latin Script
- romanization is not the same as translation, as translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalenttarget-language text
Methods of Romanization
- transliteration
- literal one-to-one mapping of characters in the source language to target language
- less emphasis on how the result sounds when pronounced according to the reader’s language
- transcription - for representing the spoken word
- phonemic transcription
- mapping of phonemes (units speech sounds attached to language) from source language to target language
- resulting in greater pronunciation integrity than transliteration
- phonetic transcription (see: International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA))
- mapping of phones (units of speech sounds detached from language) from source language to target language
- resulting in greater pronunciation integrity than phonemic transcription
- phonemic transcription
- hybrid - combinations of both: transliteration and transcription
Translation (Not the Same as Transliteration nor Transcription)
- transliteration is the communication of syntax at the level of individual characters (not words)
- transcription is the communication of speech sounds
- translation is the communication of the semantics of a source-language text by means of an equivalenttarget-language text