Romanisaatio

Romanisaatio is a process of transcribing or transliterating texts from one writing system into the Latin alphabet. This is commonly done when a language uses a different script, such as Cyrillic, Greek, or Arabic, and a Latin-based representation is needed for international communication, ease of input on keyboards, or integration into digital systems.

The methods of romanisation vary, and different standards exist for different languages. Transliteration aims to represent the letters of the original script as closely as possible with Latin letters and diacritics, preserving the original spelling structure. Transcription, on the other hand, aims to represent the pronunciation of the language, often simplifying or adapting the sounds to be more familiar to speakers of languages that use the Latin alphabet.

For example, the Russian word "Москва" (Moscow) can be transliterated as "Moskva" or "Maskva" depending on the system used, and transcribed as "Mosk-vah" to indicate pronunciation. Similarly, Greek names like "Ελλάδα" (Hellas) are commonly romanised as "Ellada" or "Hellas".

Romanisation is crucial for various applications, including library cataloging, geographical naming conventions, personal name representation in international contexts, and the processing of multilingual data. Standardisation efforts, such as ISO 9, aim to provide consistent and unambiguous methods for romanising different languages, although variations and historical systems often persist. The choice of romanisation system can impact how a language is perceived and accessed globally.