Template:Transliteration

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"Template:Transl" redirects here. For the template for translated text, see Template:Translation.

This template is used to mark up text transliterated or romanised from a non-Latin alphabet script to Latin alphabet script.

This template should only be used for the transliterations of non-Latin scripts; for non-English language text displayed in its native script (such as Greek, Cyrillic and Arabic), {{lang}} should be used, which tags non-transliterated text (written in original script). Transl often used alongside that template, to allow non-readers of the script to interpret the text.

This template adds a tooltip label naming the transliteration scheme, and renders text in italics by default. This template is important for MOS:ACCESSIBILITY, as it invisibly tags text with the correct language, allowing for screenreaders to the correct style of pronunciation.

It also displays text in an appropriate font; romanisations marked up in {{lang}} may display in fonts designed for that language's native text, whereas the transl template displays text in the same font as the rest of the article.

Some languages, such as Chinese, have more than one style of transliteration (such as Wade-Giles, pinyin, etc). This template can be used for these different transliteration schemes, though Wikipedia has a number of language-specific templates, some of which support more than one transliteration styles in their parameters, that may be better suited for marking up transliterations.

Example

The following code tags a Ukrainian name and its transliteration according to the Ukrainian National scheme.

Markup	Renders as
{{lang|uk|Ярослав Рудницький}} ({{transliteration|uk|ukrainian|Yaroslav Rudnytskyi}})	Ярослав Рудницький ([Yaroslav Rudnytskyi] )

Rationale

This template is intended to unify all "transliteration" templates, such as {{IAST}} and {{ISOtranslit}}. These templates are still usable, but they just transclude or are redirected back to {{transl}}. For example, (e.g. {{IAST|saṃskṛtam}} is a shortcut for {{transliteration|sa|IAST|saṃskṛtam}}. Other transliteration templates that once existed, such as {{ArabDIN}}, are now handled natively by this template: {{transliteration|ar|DIN|...}}).

This template is kept separate from {{lang}} to address formatting issues (via CSS classes) and identification of transliteration schemes used. Ultimately, if these concerns are smartly addressed in the CSS file and/or in {{lang}}, using {{transliteration|xx|...}} should be equivalent to using {{lang|xx-Latn|...}}.

Usage

There are two ways of using this template: with or without specifying the transliteration scheme used:

• two parameters, with ISO 639 language code: {{transliteration|ar|al-Khwarizmi}} means that "al-Khwarizmi" is a transliteration from the Arabic in a loose or unspecified scheme.
• two parameters, with ISO 15924 script code: {{transliteration|Ogam|MAQI}} means that "MAQI" transliterates an Ogham inscription without specifying the language. Potentially useful when writing systems themselves are under discussion, e.g. {{transliteration|Cyrl|š}}, not {{transliteration|cu|š}} or {{transliteration|ru|š}} when discussing the letter Ш.
• three parameters, with ISO 639 language code: {{transliteration|ar|DIN|al-Ḫawārizmī}} / {{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-Khawārizmī}} the second parameter specifies the scheme used (DIN vs. ALA).
• three parameters, with ISO 15924 script code: {{transliteration|Arab|DIN|Ḫ}} vs {{transliteration|Arab|ALA|Kh}} for ﺥ‎.

|italic=no can be added to suppress the default italicization of Latin scripts; however, proper nouns – the names of people and places – are typically not italicized, and as such, generally do not require the use of a transliteration template. Note that there is no need to add italic markup ('') to transliteration templates.

Note that the language code is ISO 639, not the IETF BCP 47 language tags that allow variants.

Transliteration scheme codes

Codes for supported transliteration schemes can be seen by viewing the source of Module:Lang/data – the translit_title_table data-structure lists for each such code the corresponding transliteration schemes. These may vary by language – e.g. code "ISO" means scheme ISO 233 for Arabic but ISO 11940 for Thai.

Examples

Inputting:

• {{transliteration|ar|[[al-Khwarizmi]]}} / [[DIN 31635]]: {{transliteration|ar|DIN|al-Ḫawārizmī}} / [[ISO 233]]: {{transliteration|ar|ISO|al-H̱awārizmī}} / [[ALA-LC Romanization|ALA]]: {{transliteration|ar|ALA|al-Khawārizmī}}
• [[Royal Thai General System of Transcription|RTGS]]: {{transliteration|th|phasa thai}} / [[ISO 11940]]: {{transliteration|th|ISO|p̣hās̄ʹāthịy}}
• {{cuneiform|[[Sumerian language|𒅴𒂠]]}} {{transliteration|sux|EME.GIR<sub>15</sub>}} / {{cuneiform|6|[[Hittite language|𒉈𒅆𒇷]]}} {{transliteration|hit|ne-ši-li}}

Results in:

• al-Khwarizmi / DIN 31635: al-Ḫawārizmī / ISO 233: al-H̱awārizmī / ALA: al-Khawārizmī
• RTGS: phasa thai / ISO 11940: p̣hās̄ʹāthịy
• 𒅴𒂠 EME.GIR₁₅ / 𒉈𒅆𒇷 ne-ši-li

ISO:

• русский {{transliteration|ru|ISO|russkij}}: russkij
• Аҧсуа {{transliteration|ab|ISO|aṗsua}}: aṗsua
• عربي {{transliteration|ar|ISO|ʿarabī}}: ʿarabī

  ISO has huge issues transliterating alif, so it's better to use the Library of Congress transliteration, the German Institute for Standardization or Hans Wehr transliteration; see Arabic transliteration and MOS:APOSTROPHE

• தமிழ் {{transliteration|ta|ISO|tamiḻ}}: tamiḻ
• বাংলা {{transliteration|bn|ISO|baṅla}}: baṅla
• ελληνικά {{transliteration|el|ISO|ellēniká}}: ellēniká
• ქართული {{transliteration|ka|ISO|k'art'uli}}: k'art'uli
• 漢語拼音 {{transliteration|zh|ISO|hànyǔ pīnyīn}}: hànyǔ pīnyīn
• ภาษาไทย {{transliteration|th|ISO|p̣hās̄ʹāthịy}}: p̣hās̄ʹāthịy

CSS

In order to apply a style to all text marked as transliteration, use a CSS selector that chooses all text with transliteration in the title attribute (tooltip). For instance, if you add the following to your common.css, all transliterations will be colored teal:

[title~=transliteration] { color: teal; }

Tracking category

• Category:Transl template errors (0)

TemplateData

Marks a text span transliterated from a particular language or writing system, and, optionally, according to a specific transliteration system.

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Language or script code	1	ISO 639 language code (e.g., uk) or ISO 15924 script code (e.g., Cyrl)	Line	required
Text or transliteration scheme	2	Source text to be transliterated, or, optionally, transliteration scheme (e.g., bgn/pcgn)	String	required
Text	3	Source text to be transliterated (required if a transliteration scheme is entered above)	String	suggested

See also

• {{lang}}, {{language}}
• {{script}}
• {{trans}}, {{translation}}
• Romanization
• List of ISO transliterations

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Transliteration/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
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