How to Use the Text Transliteration Tool
Digital alphabets, written in Unicode characters, can be transliterated automatically with specialised software. With the help of our text transliterator tool, you can convert various scripts, including Cyrillic, Chinese and Arabic, into Latin. Here’s how:
- Step #1: Copy and paste your script in Cyrillic, Chinese, Arabic, Hangul or Greek into the empty field.
- Step #2: Click on the ‘Transliterate Text’ button. The tool will generate a transliteration of the original text.
- Step #3: The Unicode text converter will transliterate your text into Latin characters.
Why you should use the text transliterator
Many English speakers have trouble recognising characters from a different alphabet. For example, an individual might not recognise the word “party” written in Cyrillic (“партия”), but they may understand it when it is written in Latin characters, "partiya".
In addition, many smartphones and cell phones do not support certain alphabets and sending a text message in a foreign format may result in a negative experience for the user.
With the text transliterator tool, whole sentences can be transformed into Latin format in a matter of seconds, making it extremely easy for you to send intelligible messages to customers.
Why we built this tool
We created the text transliterator tool for international clients who are struggling with the Latinisation of non-Latin scripts. With this tool, you can use the full capacity of text messages without having to send Unicode characters.
Transliterating other alphabets into the Latin alphabet will make it easier for you to reach out to your international audience as well, because certain alphabets are not supported by some Android devices or cell phones.
What is Unicode?
Unicode is the international encoding standard for scripts and characters of different languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Unlike ASCII, which uses 8 bits for characters and is capable of representing 256 unique characters, Unicode uses 16 bits to represent 65,536 unique characters.
What does transliteration mean?
Transliteration refers to the process of converting text in one script into another. For example, through transliteration you can transform a phrase written in the Greek alphabet into the Latin alphabet. Keep in mind that the phrase will not be translated, only converted to the Latin alphabet.
Is Unicode transliteration reversible?
Although, theoretically, transliteration is supposed to be reversible and lossless, Unicode transliteration is not completely reversible. That’s because the same text can be transliterated in different ways to preserve its meaning. The guidelines for Unicode text transliteration are rarely satisfied simultaneously, and balancing different requirements may result in text variants.
How accurate is Unicode transliteration?
This tool uses the ICU library to convert Unicode to GSM characters. Transliteration cannot preserve the form of the words all the time, but the meaning of the words and sentences is very accurately retained.