by Samuel Chong (schong2@go.pasadena.edu), Pasadena City College
Romanization, also known as Latinization, is the conversion of writing from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script. Transliteration is a method of Romanization, and it is the conversion of a text from a non-Latin script to a Latin script. It is not concerned with representing the sounds of the original, only the characters, ideally accurately and unambiguously.
Guidelines for Romanization and transliteration have progressed over the years. Currently, almost all non-Latin script languages have adopted an official guideline for transliteration and Romanization. These guidelines have been adopted by the United Nations as well as the Library of Congress of the United States. Below is a complete list of the official guidelines of transliteration and Romanization of non-Latin script languages. Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments.
Credits and References: Thomas T. Pedersen, Transliteration of Non-Roman Scripts and Library of Congress (Romanization Tables)
| Language | Language Description | Guidelines of Transliteration and Romanization |
| Abaza |
Abaza is written in Cyrillic alphabet in Russian
and in Latin script in Turkey. Spoken by 45,000 people, Abaza has two dialects in which T'ap'anta is the literary standard. |
Abaza Transliteration & Romanization |
| Abkhaz |
Abkhaz uses its own adaption of the Cyrillic
script, and its literary form has been around
for about one century. Spoken by 100,000 people, Abkhaz is the official language of Abkhazia. |
Abkhaz Transliteration & Romanization |
| Adyghe (Adyghian) |
Before Adyghe adapted Cyrillic in the 1900's, it
used Arabic-based alphabet together with Latin. Adyghe has about half a million native speakers and is one of the two official languages of Republic of Adygea alongside with Russian. |
Adyghe Transliteration & Romanization |
| Altay (Altai) |
Altay uses Cyrillic script currently. It was
once called Oyrot and used Latin script before
1950's. With approximately 57,000 native speakers, Altay is the official language of Altai Republic, Russia. |
Altay Transliteration & Romanization |
| Amharic |
Amharic uses the Ge'ez script and it is an
abugida. Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language with 22 million native speakers mostly in Ethiopia. |
Amharic Transliteration & Romanization |
| Arabic |
Arabic alphabet has 28 unicameral letters which
do not have definition between upper and lower
cases. Arabic is spoken by 175 million people and it is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
Arabic Transliteration & Romanization |
| Armenian |
Armenian has its own script, and its alphabet
consists of 36 letters. Armenian has 10 million speakers and it is the native language for the Armenian highlands. |
Armenian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Assamese |
The Assamese script is an abugida system. Assamese is official language of the state of Assam with 15 million native speakers. |
Assamese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Avar |
Avar has had several different scripts, and it
currently uses the Cyrillic script. It is spoken by 760,000 people mainly in Russian Caucasus republic of Dagestan, and Balaken, Zagata regions of northwest Azerbaijan. |
Avar Transliteration & Romanization |
| Azerbaijani |
Azerbaijani uses various scripts in different
regions―Azerbaijani
alphabet in Azerbaijani, Cyrillic in Russia, and
Perso-Arabic alphabet in Iran. Azerbaijani has 45 million native speakers, and is the official language of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. |
Azerbaijani Transliteration & Romanization |
| Balinese |
Balinese first used the Balinese script, and
current uses the Latin script. Balinese is an Austronesian language with 3.3 million native speakers. |
Balinese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Bashkir |
Bashkir originally used Chagatai as its written
language, later it was replaced with a variety of Turki,
a literary Turkic language. Spoken by approximately 1,200,000 people, Bashkir is one of the two official languages of Republic of Bashkortostan alongside Russian. |
Bashkir Transliteration & Romanization |
| Batak |
Batak historically used the Batak script but
most of the writing uses the Latin script. Batak is an Austronesian language mostly spoken in Sumatra, Indonesia. |
Batak Transliteration & Romanization |
| Belarusian |
First written in Belarusian Latin and Belarusian
Arabic alphabet, Belarusian alphabet is now a
variant of Cyrillic script. With 3 million native speakers, Belarusian is the one of the official languages of Belarus alongside with Russian. |
Belarusian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Bengali |
The Bengali script is an abugida. Its alphabet
is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India.
With 230 million speakers, Bengali is the national language of Bangladesh and second most spoken language in India. |
Bengali, Assamese, and Manipuri Transliteration & Romanization |
| Bulgarian |
Bulgarian first used Glagolitic alphabet and
later adapted the Cyrillic script. Bulgarian has 9 million native speakers, and it became one of the official languages of the European Union in 2007. |
Bulgarian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Burmese |
Burmese, written in Burmese alphabet, is the
fifth Sino-Tibetan language to develop a writing
system. Spoken by 40 million people, Burmese is the official language of Myanmar where the English name of the language is officially Myanmar language. |
Burmese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Buryat |
Buryat uses Cyrillic script, Mongolian script,
and Vagindra script which was only used briefly
in the 20th century. Buryat is considered a variant of Mongolic language or a major dialect group of Mongolian. |
Buryat Transliteration & Romanization |
| Cham |
Cham uses Cham alphabet in Vietnam and Arabic
script in Cambodia. Cham is an Austronesian language with 320,000 native speakers mostly in Cambodia and Vietnam. |
Cham Transliteration & Romanization |
| Chechen |
Chechen first used Georgian script and later
adapted the Arabic script. Chechen is spoken by 1.4 million people, and it is one of the official languages of Chechen Republic alongside with Russian. |
Chechen Transliteration & Romanization |
| Chinese (Mandarin) |
Mandarin uses logosyllabic characters that
represent words without the presence of vowels
or consonants. Mandarin is one of the most spoken languages with 845 million speakers. |
Chinese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Cherokee |
Before the Cherokee syllabary was developed in
the 1820s, it was a spoken language. Cherokee is an Iroquoian language with about 15.000 native speakers. |
Cherokee Transliteration & Romanization |
| Church Slavic |
Also known as New Church Slavonic, Church Slavic
uses the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts. Church Slavic is an Indo-European language with no native speakers. |
Church Slavic Transliteration & Romanization |
| Chuvash |
Chuvash was first written in the Old Turkic
alphabet and later adapted the Arabic script. In 2007, many variants of Chuvash transliterations were brought to one Latin script. |
Chuvash Transliteration & Romanization |
| Coptic |
Also known as Coptic Egyptian, it uses the
Coptic alphabet. Coptic is an Afro-Asiatic language that is considered extinct and has no native speakers. |
Coptic Transliteration & Romanization |
| Crimean Tatar |
Crimean Tatar can be written in either Cyrillic
or Latin script, but Cyrillic script became the
official script after the Russian annexation. Crimean Tatar is a indigenous language of Crimea with about half a million native speakers. |
Crimean Tatar Transliteration & Romanization |
| Dargwa (Dargin) |
Dargwa uses Cyrillic script. It is spoken by about half a million people in the Russian republic of Dagestan. |
Dargwa Transliteration & Romanization |
| Divehi |
Divehi used the Dhives Akuru script until the
18th century, and it is currently using the
Thaana script. Divehi is an Indo-European language with 340,000 native speakers. |
Divehi Transliteration & Romanization |
| Dungan |
Dungan is the only variety of Chinese that uses
Cyrillic script instead of Chinese characters. It is a Sino-Tibetan language natively spoken by 110,000 people in Central Asia. |
Dungan Transliteration & Romanization |
| Erzya Mordvin |
Erzya Mordvin uses the Cyrillic script, and it
is closely related to Moksha Mordvin. Together with Moksha Mordvin, this language has about 400,000 native speakers. |
Erzya Mordvin Transliteration & Romanization |
| Eskimo-Yupik |
Eskimo-Yupik uses the Cyrillic script. With only 60 native speakers recorded in 2010, it is one of the four Yupik languages. |
Eskimo-Yupik Transliteration & Romanization |
| Even |
The Even language is a Tungusic language spoken
by the Evens in Siberia. It has about 5,700 native speakers and uses Latin and Cyrillic scripts. |
Even Transliteration & Romanization |
| Evenki |
Evenki is written in Cyrillic, Latin and
Mongolian scripts in China. Evenki is a Tungusic language with 17,000 native speakers. |
Evenki Transliteration & Romanization |
| Farsi | Also
known as Persian, Farsi is mostly spoken in
Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. With 60 million native speakers, Farsi has several different written and spoken forms. |
Persian (Farsi) Transliteration & Romanization |
| Gagauz |
In chronological order, Gagauz used Greek,
Cyrillic, and Latin-based alphabet modeled after
the Turkish alphabet. It is the official language of the Autonomous Region of Gagauzia with 140,000 native speakers. |
Gagauz Transliteration & Romanization |
| Georgian | Georgian alphabet is
developed from Asomtavruli alphabet and it has
33 unicameral letters. Spoken by 7 million people, Georgian is the literary language of all regional subgroups of Georgians. |
Georgian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Greek |
Greek, derived from Phoenician language, has
over 3400 years of written record. Despite being one of the oldest alphabets that still exists, Greek is spoken only by 13 million people. |
Greek Transliteration & Romanization |
| Gujarati |
Gujarati originally used the Devanagari script
and is now written in Arabic and Persian
scripts. It is the official language of the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. |
Gujarati Transliteration & Romanization |
| Hebrew | Hebrew alphabet consists 22
letters, and its script is written from right to
left. Spoken by 9 million people, Hebrew is one of the two official languages in Israel. |
Hebrew and Yiddish Transliteration & Romanization |
| Hindi |
Hindi uses
Devanagari
script, and its
modern form of
alphabets
was developed in the
15th century.
With nearly 500 million speakers, Hindi is the fourth most spoken language. |
Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali Transliteration & Romanization |
| Ingush |
The first written form of Ingush was
Arabic-based. It then used Latin alphabet, which
was replaced by Cyrillic. Ingush is spoken by 320,000 people across the Russian republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya. |
Ingush Transliteration & Romanization |
| Inuktitut |
Inuktitut uses script based on Latin script and
Cyrillic script in Siberia. Inuktitut is an Eskimo―Aleut language with 34,000 native speakers. |
Inuktitut Transliteration & Romanization |
| Japanese | Modern Japanese language uses
three scripts, Kanji (Chinese characters),
Hiragana and Katakana. Spoken by 127 million people, its written form was developed in the eighth century. |
Japanese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Javanese | Javanese
uses the Latin, Javanese, and Arabic scripts. Javanese is an Austronesian language with 82 million native speakers mostly in Indonesia. |
Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Jawi-Pegon | n/a | Jawi-Pegon Transliteration & Romanization |
| Judeo-Arabic | The
writing system of Judeo-Arabic uses the Hebrew
alphabet. Judeo-Arabic is an Afro-Asiatic language with 540,000 native speakers. |
Judeo-Arabic Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kabardian |
Kabardian is a language closely related to
Adyghe that uses Cyrillic, Latin, and Arabic
scripts. It has about 1.5 million native speakers across Circassia, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. |
Kabardian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kalmyk |
Kalmyk was first written in Uyghur script
and its official alphabet, Clear script, was
later created in the 17th century. Kalmyk is a Mongolic language with about 80,000 native speakers in Russia. |
Kalmyk Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kannada |
Kannada's writing system evolved from
Proto-Kannada to Pre-Old Kannada, Old Kannada,
and then the current Kannada script. Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken by about 50 million people mostly in south India. |
Kannada Transliteration & Romanization |
| Karachay-Balkar |
Karachay-Balkar is a language closely related to
Kumyk using Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Karachay-Balkar is classified as a Turkic language with 310,000 native speakers. |
Karachay-Balkar Transliteration & Romanization |
| Karakalpak |
Karakalpak was first written in Arabic and
Persian scripts, later in Latin and the current
Cyrillic script. Karakalpak is a Turkic language with about 410,000 native speakers. |
Karakalpak Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kazakh |
Kazakh uses Cyrillic, Latin, Perso-Arabic, and
Kazakh Braille scripts. Kazakh is closely related to Nogay and has about 11 million native speakers. |
Kazakh Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kashmiri |
Kashmiri originally used the Perso-Arabic script
and it is currently the Devanagari and Sharada
scripts. Kashmiri is an Indo-European language with 5.6 million native speakers mostly in India. |
Kashmiri Transliteration & Romanization |
| Khakass |
Khakass uses the Cyrillic script. It is a Turkic language with about 43,000 native speakers. |
Khakass Transliteration & Romanization |
| Khanty |
Khanty first used Latin script and later adapted
the Cyrillic alphabet. Khanty is an Uralic language with only 9,600 native speakers. |
Khanty Transliteration & Romanization |
| Khmer |
Khmer uses
Abugida script
which has both
alphabetic
letters and
syllabic
characters in
it. Spoken by 16 million people, Khmer is the second most spoken Austroasiatic language and the official language of Cambodia. |
Khmer Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kirghiz |
Kirghiz first used the Latin and Kyrgyz Braille
scripts before it adapted the current Cyrillic
and Perso-Arabic scripts. Kirghiz is Turkic language with 4 million native speakers mostly in Kyrgyzstan. |
Kirghiz Transliteration & Romanization |
| Komi |
Komi now uses the Cyrillic script after the
original Old Permic script. Komi is an Uralic language with 220,000 native speakers mostly in the Komi Republic. |
Komi Transliteration & Romanization |
| Komi-Permyak |
Komi-Permyak is one of the two variants of Komi
language, the other one being Komi-Zyrian. Komi-Permyak is an Uralic language with 63,000 native speakers mostly in Perm Krai of Russia. |
Komi-Permyak Transliteration & Romanization |
| Korean |
Korean language is written in Hangul script,
which originates from Hanja (Chinese
characters). Spoken by 63 million people, Korean is the official language of North and South Korea. |
Korean Transliteration & Romanization |
| Koryak |
Koryak uses the Koryak alphabet and is closely
related to Chukchi language. It is a Chukotko-Kamchatkan language with 1,700 native speakers mostly in Koryak Okrug. |
Koryak Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kumyk |
Before Kumyk adapted the Cyrillic script, it
used Arabic and Latin scripts. Kumyk has been influenced by Russian and has around 450,000 native speakers in Russia. |
Kumyk Transliteration & Romanization |
| Kurdish |
Kurdish is currently using the Perso-Arabic and
Latin scripts. Kurdish is an Indo-European language with 30 million native speakers. |
Kurdish Transliteration & Romanization |
| Ladino |
Ladino is a Romance language consisting several
dialects. Ladino is an Indo-European language with 31,000 native speakers. |
Ladino Transliteration & Romanization |
| Lakh |
Also known as Lak, its alphabet is based on
Cyrillic script. Lakh is a Northeast Caucasian language with 150,000 native speakers mostly in southern Dagestan. |
Lakh Transliteration & Romanization |
| Lao |
Also known as Laotian, Lao uses Lao script like
many other languages in Laos. Lao is Tai-Kadai language with 25 million native speakers. |
Lao Transliteration & Romanization |
| Lepcha |
Lepcha uses the Lepcha script currently and the
Tibetan script prior to it. Lepcha is a Sino-Tibetan language with 60,000 native speakers Sikkim, India. |
Lepcha Transliteration & Romanization |
| Lezgian |
Lezgian alphabet is based on Arabic, Latin, and
Cyrillic scripts chronologically. Lezgian is a Northeast Caucasian language with one million native speakers mostly in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. |
Lezgian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Limbu |
Limbu uses the Limbu script,
and it is one of the only 3 Sino-Tibetan
languages to have its own script. Limbu is the official language of Nepal and Sikkim, India with 380,000 native speakers. |
Limbu Transliteration & Romanization |
| Macedonian |
Macedonian was previously written in Early
Cyrillic alphabet and later Cyrillic script
with adaptation of Serbian or Bulgarian. Macedonian is an Indo-European language with about 2 million native speakers mostly in the transnational region of Macedonia. |
Macedonian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Madurese |
Madurese is traditionally written in Javanese
script but is more commonly written in Latin and
Pegon scripts. Madurese is an Austronesian language with 15 million native speakers. |
Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Malayalam |
Malayalam first used the Vatteluttu script, and
later the Kolezhuthu script. Malayalam is a Dravidian language with 38 million native speakers mostly in the state of Kerala, India. |
Malayalam Transliteration & Romanization |
| Manchu |
Manchu uses the Manchu
alphabet based on the Mongolian script. There are only 10 recorded native speakers out of the 10 million ethnic Manchus. |
Manchu Transliteration & Romanization |
| Mande languages(N'ko) |
Mande languages are
classified as Niger-Congo languages. These languages are spoken mostly in West Africa. |
Mande languages (N'ko script) Transliteration & Romanization |
| Mansi |
Mansi's former Latin alphabet was replaced by
Cyrillic in 1937. Mansi is an Uralic language with less than 1,000 native speakers in the Khanty-Mansi region of Russia. |
Mansi Transliteration & Romanization |
| Marathi |
Marathi uses the Devanagari script. Marathi is a Indo-European language with 73 million native speakers. |
Marathi Transliteration & Romanization |
| Mari |
Mari is an Uralic language using the Cyrillic
script. It has about 500,000 native speakers in the Mari Republic. |
Mari Transliteration & Romanization |
| Moksha Mordvin |
Moksha Mordvin uses the Cyrillic script, and it
is closely related to Erzya Mordvin. Together with Erzya Mordvin, this language has about 400,000 native speakers. |
Moksha Mordvin Transliteration & Romanization |
| Mongolian |
Mongolian is the only vertically written
language that writes from left to right. Mongolian is spoken by 6 million people in central Asian and is the official language of Mongolia. |
Mongolian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Moplah |
Moplah is a Mappila dialect mostly spoken
Mappila Muslim community. It uses the Arabic script. |
Moplah Transliteration & Romanization |
| Moroccan Tamazight |
Also known as Central Atlas Tamazight, Moroccan
Tamazight uses the Tifinagh, Latin, and Arabic
scripts. Moroccan Tamazight is an Afro-Asiatic language with 2.5 million native speakers. |
Moroccan Tamazight Transliteration & Romanization |
| Nanai |
Nanai language used the Cyrillic script and now
uses the exact same alphabet as Russian. Nanai is a Tungusic language with 1,400 native speakers mostly in Siberia. |
Nanai Transliteration & Romanization |
| Nenets | Nenets is an Uralic language with about 22,000 native speakers. | Nenets Transliteration & Romanization |
| Nepali |
Nepali is written in Devanagari script which has
around 100 basic letter forms. Spoken by 40 million people worldwide, it is the official language of Nepal. |
Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali Transliteration & Romanization |
| Nivkh |
Nivkh uses the Cyrillic script and is native to
Russia and Japan. Nivkh has only about 200 native speakers. |
Nivkh Transliteration & Romanization |
| Nogay |
Also known as Nogai, Nogay is closely related to
Kazakh language. Nogay is a Turkic language with 87,000 native speakers. |
Nogay Transliteration & Romanization |
| Oriya |
Also known as Odia, Oriya uses the Odia alphabet
and Odia Braille. Oriya is an Indo-European language with 33 million native speakers mostly in the state of Odisha, India. |
Oriya Transliteration & Romanization |
| Ossetian |
Ossetian first used the Georgian and Latin
scripts and later adapted the Cyrillic script. Ossetian is an Indo-European language with 570,000 native speakers mostly in the northern parts of the Caucasus Mountains. |
Ossetian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Ottoman Turkish |
Ottoman Turkish's former Perso-Arabic script was
later replaced by the extended Latin alphabet in
1928. Ottoman Turkish is a Turkic language in which words with Arabic origin greatly outnumbers native Turkish words. |
Ottoman Turkish Transliteration & Romanization |
| Pali |
In Sri Lanka, Pali is recorded in Sinhala
scripts. Pali is an Indo-European language with no surviving native speakers. |
Pali Transliteration & Romanization |
| Panjabi |
Also known as Punjabi, Panjabi uses Shahmukhi
Gurmukhi scripts. Panjabi is a Indo-European language with 100 million native speakers. |
Panjabi Transliteration & Romanization |
| Pashto |
Pashto is written in Naskh script which is
derived from Arabic. Spoken by 60 million people, Pashto is the main language used in Afghanistan. |
Pashto Transliteration & Romanization |
| Romanian (Cyrillic) |
Romanian uses Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Romanian is an Indo-European language with 24 million native speakers mostly in Romania and Moldova. |
Romanian (Cyrillic) Transliteration & Romanization |
| Russian |
Russian language uses Cyrillic script that
originated from Greek. Spoken by 144 million people, Russian is one of the official languages of the United Nations. |
Russian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Rusyn |
Rusyn uses the Carpatho-Rusyn alphabet. Based on different dialects, various orthographies have been developed for Rusyn. |
Rusyn Transliteration & Romanization |
| Sanskrit |
Sanskrit uses modern Devanagari script and most
written forms of Indian languages are derived
from it. Sanskrit was the lingua franca of Greater India and is the primary sacred language in Hinduism. |
Sanskrit and Prakrit Transliteration & Romanization |
| Santali |
Santali was a spoken language until the 19th
century, and it started to use the Ol Chiki
script since then. Santali is an Austroasiatic language with 6 million native speakers. |
Santali Transliteration & Romanization |
| Selkup | Selkup is an Uralic language with 1,000 native speakers mostly in the Ob and Yenisei Rivers region in Siberia. | Selkup Transliteration & Romanization |
| Serbian |
Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Serbian is a Indo-European language with 9 million native speakers in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
Serbian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Shan |
Shan language uses the Mon script. Shan is a Tai-Kadai language with 3 million native speakers mostly in Burma, Thailand, and China. |
Shan Transliteration & Romanization |
| Sindhi |
Sindhi uses many scripts such as Arabic,
Devanagari, Gujarati, and Landa scripts. Sindhi is the official language of Pakistan province of Sindhi with 75 million native speakers. |
Sindhi Transliteration & Romanization |
| Sinhalese |
The Sinhala alphabet is based on the Brahmi
script. It is a Indo-European language with 16 million native speakers mostly in Sri Lanka. |
Sinhalese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Sundanese |
Sundanese us currently written in Latin and
modern Sundanese scripts. Sundanese is an Austronesian language with 38 million native speakers mostly in Indonesia. |
Javanese, Sundanese, and Madruese Transliteration & Romanization |
| Syriac |
Also known as Syriac Aramaic, Syriac uses the
Esṭrangelā script. Syriac is an Afro-Asiatic language that declined as a vernacular language after the 14th century. |
Syriac Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tamashek |
Tamashek has two dialect, the Timbuktu and
Tadghaq. It is a Afro-Asiatic language with 300,000 recorded native speakers. |
Tamashek Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tamil |
Tamil is the longest surviving classical
language that maintains its original form. Spoken by 85 million people, Tamil is the national language of Sri Lanka and one of the official languages of Singapore. |
Tamil Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tabasaran |
Tabasaran uses the the Cyrillic script. Tabasaran is a Northeast Caucasian language with 130,000 native speakers mostly in the southern parts of the Russian Republic of Dagestan. |
Tabasaran Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tajik |
Tajik uses the Cyrillic, Persian, and Latin
scripts. Tajik is an Indo-Iranian language that is mutually intelligible to Persian spoken in Iran and Dari Persian in Afghanistan. |
Tajik Transliteration & Romanization |
| Talysh |
Talysh first used Latin-based alphabet and later
uses the Perso-Arabic script. Talysh is a Northwestern Iranian language with 900,000 native speakers mostly in Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil. |
Talysh Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tatar |
The Cyrillic and Latin scripts were once the 2
official scripts of Tatar, but Cyrillic later
became the sole official script in 2002. Tatar is a Turkic language with 6.5 million native speakers mostly in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. |
Tatar Transliteration & Romanization |
| Telugu |
The Telugu script is an abugida, and it has one
to one correspondence with Sanskrit script. Telugu is a Dravidian language with 75 million native speakers in India. |
Telugu Transliteration & Romanization |
| Thai |
Written in Thai script, the Thai alphabet has
59 letters. Spoken by 40 million people, Thai is the national and official language of Thailand. |
Thai Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tibetan |
Tibetan is written in Tibetan Braille and
Tibetan alphabet which consist of 35 letters.
The classical Tibetan is a major literary language due to its use in Buddhist literature. |
Tibetan Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tigrinya |
Also known as Tigrigna, Tigrinya uses Tigrinya
alphabet based on Ge'ez script. Tigrinya is an Afro-Asiatic language with 7 million native speakers mostly in Eritrea and Ethiopia. |
Tigrinya Transliteration & Romanization |
| Turkmen |
Turkmen alphabet is based on Latin alphabet, but
the old Soviet Cyrillic alphabet is still
common. Turkmen is the official language Turkmenistan with 8 million native speakers. |
Turkmen Transliteration & Romanization |
| Tuvinian |
Also known as Tuvan, Tuvinian uses Cyrillic
script. Tuvinian is a Turkic language with roughly 300,000 native speakers mostly in south-central Siberia. |
Tuvinian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Udmurt |
Udmurt alphabet is based on the Russian Cyrillic
alphabet. Udmurt is one of the official languages of Russian constituent republic of Udmurtia alongside with Russian. |
Udmurt Transliteration & Romanization |
| Uighur |
Also written as Uyghur, Uighur uses the Arabic,
Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Uighur is a Turkic language with 10 million native speakers mostly in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. |
Uighur Transliteration & Romanization |
| Ukrainian |
Written in a variant of the Cyrillic script,
Ukrainian consists of 33 letters in both upper
and lower cases. Spoken by around 45 million people, it is the official language of Ukraine. |
Ukrainian Transliteration & Romanization |
| Urdu |
Written in the Nasta'liq script, Urdu is a
relatively young language that was developed in the
mid-14th century. Spoken by 70 million people, it is the lingua franca of Pakistan and the official language of 6 states in India. |
Urdu Transliteration & Romanization |
| Uzbek |
Uzbek has been written in Arabic, Latin,
Cyrillic, and currently Latin scripts
chronologically. Uzbek is the official of Uzbekistan with 27 million native speakers. |
Uzbek Transliteration & Romanization |
| Vai |
Also known as Vy or Gallinas, Vai is one of the
few African language not based Latin or Arabic
scripts. Vai is a Niger-Congo language with 120,000 recorded native speakers mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone. |
Vai Transliteration & Romanization |
| Yakut |
Yakut uses Cyrillic script with the usual
Russian characters with 5 additional letters. Yakut is a Turkic language with 450,000 native speakers mostly in the Sakha Republic. |
Yakut Transliteration & Romanization |
| Yiddish |
Yiddish uses Hebrew script. Yiddish is an Indo-European language with 1.5 million native speakers on record. |
Yiddish Transliteration & Romanization Hebrew and Yiddish Transliteration & Romanization |