Transliteration

Transliteration is the attempt to represent the text of one language in the writing system of another. For instance, for the Greek term ⟨Ελληνική Δημοκρατία⟩, which is usually translated as 'Hellenic Republic', the usual transliteration into the Latin script (romanization) is ⟨Hellēnikḗ Dēmokratía⟩; and the Russian term ⟨Российская Республика⟩, which is usually translated as 'Russian Republic', can be transliterated either as ⟨Rossiyskaya Respublika⟩ or alternatively as ⟨Rossijskaja Respublika⟩.

Transliteration is the process of representing or intending to represent a word, phrase, or text in a different script or writing system. Transliterations are designed to convey the pronunciation of the original word in a different script, allowing readers or speakers of that script to approximate the sounds and pronunciation of the original word. Transliterations do not change the pronunciation of the word. Thus, in the Greek example above, ⟨λλ⟩ is transliterated as ⟨ll⟩, though it is pronounced exactly the same way as ⟨l⟩, i.e. [l]; likewise, ⟨Δ⟩ is transliterated as ⟨D⟩, though pronounced as [ð] rather than [d], and ⟨η⟩ is transliterated ⟨ē⟩, though pronounced as [i] (exactly like ⟨ι⟩) rather than [e] or [ɛ], and is not a long vowel.

Transcription, conversely, seeks to capture sound, but phonetically approximate it into the new script; ⟨Ελληνική Δημοκρατία⟩ corresponds to [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia] in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Here, ⟨ή⟩ palatalizes the preceding ⟨κ⟩, and thus is represented in IPA with the palatal allophone of /k/, that being [c]. Likewise, the tonos diacritic ⟨΄⟩ to denote stress of a syllable is transcribed as ⟨ˈ⟩ in IPA.

Angle brackets ⟨ ⟩ may be used to set off transliteration, as opposed to slashes / / for phonemic transcription and square brackets for phonetic transcription. Angle brackets may also be used to set off characters in the original script. Conventions and author preferences vary.