This is an old revision of the document!
Transliterative Alphabet
In the interest of consistency, it is our aim to ensure that each Hebrew word is interpreted as a single word with a single spelling and a single pronunciation. Only in this manner can an accurate analysis of any given word occur.
To this end we have developed a bilaterally transliterative alphabet which has a one-to-one correspondence in both Hebrew and English, and is relatively readily pronounceable to an English speaker, without straying too far from the probable Hebrew pronunciation.
We use this alphabet for dictionary entries, so that they are searchable using an English keyboard. It may be helpful to think of these transliterated words as mnemonics rather than being purely translative or representational.
With this bilateral alphabet it is possible to flip back and forth between Hebrew and English with single characters, thus avoiding two common problems with Hebrew transliteration:
- the problem of multiple (non-unique) Hebrew letters that map to a single English sound
- the problem of complex Hebrew sounds that map to character pairs such as “sh”, “ch”, “tz”
Consider an example containing both problems. The Hebrew letter צ is pronounced “tz”. It is a complex sound. On top of this, the “t” sound is used for two Hebrew letters; ת and ט. Therefore, the word pronounced 'itza' does not uniquely map back to Hebrew, but instead can be correctly mapped back three different spellings: יתזא, יטזא, or יצא. Clearly this is problematic for translators as it is impossible to know which Hebrew word is referred to.
Both of these problems can be avoided by utilizing a one-to-one character mapping.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| א | a | a |
| ב | b | b |
| ד | d | d |
| ג | g | g |
| ה | h | h |
| י | i | i |
| כ | k | k |
| ל | l | l |
| מ | m | m |
| נ | n | n |
| ו | o | o |
| פ | p | p |
| ק | q | k |
| ר | r | r |
| ס | c | s |
| שׁ | s | sh |
| ט | f | t |
| ת | t | t |
| צ | x | tz |
| ע | y | y |
| ז | z | z |
We acknowledge that this choice comes with a moderate level of degeneration to the level of pronunciation usability, and consider the increase in written clarity a higher priority.
Most of the transliterated letters are pronounced intuitively for the English speaker, but a few minor caveats should be noted:
- both כ and ק map to a “k” sound. The transliteration of כ is 'k' and of ק is 'q'
- both שׁ and ס map to a “s” sound, although sometimes שׁ tends to shift toward “sh”. The transliteration of שׁ is 's' (based on phonetic /ʃ/) and of ס is 'c'. (think of a soft c as in cycle or cent)
- both ת and ט map to a “t” sound. The transliteration of ת is 't' and of ט is 'f'. The letter f was chosen because it was unused, and vaguely resembles an upside down 't'. It should not me mistaken for פ which sometimes is pronounced “f” in other Hebrew transliteration schemes.
- the letter צ is pronounced “tz”. The chosen transliteration of צ is 'x'