Non-Romanization

Non-Romanization refers to the process of representing words or sounds from a language using a writing system that is *not* the Roman alphabet (also known as the Latin alphabet). This encompasses a vast array of scripts including Cyrillic, Hangul, Devanagari, Arabic, and many others. It involves transliteration, transcription, and the adaptation of foreign language phonemes to a different set of graphemes. Non-Romanization systems are crucial for preserving linguistic diversity and facilitating communication across language barriers, particularly for languages that have their own established writing systems. The specifics of Non-Romanization vary greatly based on the source and target languages, as well as the intended purpose, such as academic study, internationalization, or general accessibility.

Non-Romanization meaning with examples

• When translating Japanese names for English readers, Non-Romanization is frequently employed to use the original Kanji or Kana characters. This lets the reader experience a feeling and sense of its roots, even if they cannot read the original symbols. Many software and websites make such conversions readily available, as the original symbol is usually written beside the Roman equivalent.
• The library collection contains numerous historical texts written in Cyrillic, which presents a Non-Romanization challenge. Translators must often transliterate these texts to a chosen romanization system, and this choice can affect how the work can be interpreted. Some academic articles provide both the Non-Romanization and the romanization for the original work.
• Mandarin Chinese pinyin is a form of romanization, but Chinese characters themselves require Non-Romanization to represent the original language. This includes the conversion from Mandarin into another character set, and then into another language. Even though this is a Roman form of transliteration, the process can be complex and may obscure the original meaning.
• Using the Arabic script for Persian represents a form of non-Romanization. A significant hurdle involves accounting for sounds unique to Persian but not available in Arabic. This process involves creating new forms of the characters or assigning a different meaning to those that are known. This process is often a source of frustration for translators.