CyrillictoLatin

CyrillictoLatin is the process of rendering text written in Cyrillic scripts into the Latin alphabet. It covers transliteration, a reversible mapping of Cyrillic letters to Latin equivalents, and transcription, which focuses on approximating pronunciation. The term is used in linguistics, cartography, publishing, and information technology to enable reading, searching, and indexing by readers who use Latin scripts.

Standards and schemes include ISO 9, a scholarly transliteration system designed to be one-to-one and reversible, and widely used for linguistic work. National and regional schemes include GOST 7.79 for Russian, and the BGN/PCGN and ALA-LC systems used in geographic naming and library cataloging, respectively. Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and other Cyrillic alphabets have their own conventions or derive from ISO 9 or BGN/PCGN. In practice, different contexts such as maps, passports, and academic works may employ different standards, or mix elements from several schemes.

Applications and challenges: CyrillictoLatin is essential for indexing, searchability, and international communication. It can influence identity and interpretation when names are transliterated differently across systems—for example Moscow can appear as Moskva in some schemes, while Kyiv is used in modern Ukrainian transliteration. Limitations arise from language-specific letters, digraph conventions (such as zh, ts, kh, ch, sh), diacritics, and the need to balance reversibility with readability in the target language and context.