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Thaana script

Thaana script 

Origin

The Thaana script was developed during the 18th century by an unknown inventor. It first appeared in government documents in 1703 and replaced an older alphabet known as Dhives akuru.

Some of the Taana letters were derived from Dhives akuru, while others were modelled on Arabic numerals. Vowel indication is modelled on the Arabic system of diacritics.

Notable features

• Words are written from right to left, but numerals are written from left to right.
• Originally Arabic numerals were used, however nowadays Western numerals (1, 2, 3, etc) are used.
• Vowels are indicated with diacritics which appear above or below the consonants. When vowels are come at the beginning of a word or are pronounced separately, they are attached to the letter alifu.
• When the sukun symbol is combined with the letter alifu it either doubles the following consonant, or if it appears at the end of a word after an "e", it adds and "h" sound.
• A number of letters are used solely for writing Arabic loan words.

Used to write:

Dhivehi (Maldivian), an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 300,000 people in the Maldives and on India's Minicoy Islands.

Thaana consonants

Thaana vowel diacritics

Letters used for transliterating Arabic words (thiki jehi thaana)

Top row: Thaana letters, bottom row: the Arabic letters on which they are modelled

Note

the letter zaa is also used to write the English sound /ʒ/.

Download the script charts (Excel format)

Sample texts

Transliteration

Hurihaa insaanun ves ufanvanee, dharaja'aa'i ḥa'quthakuga'i minivankamaa'i hamahamakan libigenvaa ba'e'ge gothuga'eve. Emeehunnash heyo visnumaa'i, heyo bu'dheege baaru libigenva'ava. Adhi emeehan ekaku anekakaa medhu mu˂aamalaath kuranvaanee, ukhu'vaththeri kamuge rooḥe'ga'ava.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Transliteration

al'la'ufedhey qaanoonu asaaseege himaayaïlibigen siyaaseepaateetha' hingeynegoïtha' hamajehifaïneïnama e'qaanoonuge misaalakee alifaanroavej'jenama salaamaïvaane sidie'neï ethake'bureege imaaraathe'ge misaaleve.

Translation

A newly formed constitution which does not give protection to political parties under it terms, is equivalent to a multi-storey building with no fire exits.

The sample text comes from the Maldivian news paper Sandhaanu, 15th August 2002

GTA 5: Scoperto un nuovo personaggio e un nuovo doppiatore!

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GTA 5: Scoperto un nuovo personaggio e un nuovo doppiatore!

GTA 5: Scoperto un nuovo personaggio e un nuovo doppiatore!

A poco più di due mesi dall'uscita di Grand Theft Auto 5 prevista per il prossimo 17 settembre, continuano ad arrivare indiscrezioni sull'atteso e annunciato capolavoro di Rockstar Games. Sembra infatti che sul profilo Linkedin dell'attore Tony Garcia sia stata inserita come esperienza di lavoro, il doppiaggio di un personaggio di GTA 5 chiamato Mariachi, un personaggio che dal nome dovrebbe rivelarsi messicano. Garcia ha prontamente rimosso dal suo profilo questo elemento, rimozione probabilmente richiesta da R* che continua a voler tenere nascoste ancora tante cose sul suo annunciato best seller.

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Deseret alphabet

Deseret alphabet   

Origin

The Deseret alphabet was devised as an alternative to the Latin alphabet for writing the English language. It was developed during the 1850s at the University of Deseret, now the University of Utah, and was promoted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon or LDS Church, under Church President Brigham Young (1801-1877).

The name Deseret is taken from a word in the Book of Mormon and means "honeybee". It reflects the Mormon use of the beehive as a symbol of co-operative industry.

Brigham Young's secretary, George D. Watt, was among the designers of the Deseret alphabet and is thought to have used the Pitman English Phonotypic Alphabet of 1847 as the model.

The Mormon Church commissioned two typefaces and published four books using the Deseret alphabet. The Church-owned Deseret News also published passages of scripture using the alphabet on occasion. In addition, some historical records, diaries, and other materials were hand-written using this script, and it had limited use on coins and signs. There is also one tombstone in Cedar City, Utah, written in the Deseret alphabet. However, the alphabet failed to gain wide acceptance and was not actively promoted after 1869.

Today, the Deseret alphabet remains of interest primarily to historians and hobbyists. It is also the official alphabet of the fictional (but actual) Republic of Molossia.

Deseret alphabet

Sample text in the Deseret alphabet

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Khazarian Rovas

Khazarian Rovas

Khazarian is thought to be a descendent of the Proto-Rovas script, which was used to the east of the Aral Sea between about the 1st and 6th centuries AD, when the tribes who were using it, including the Avars, Khazars and Ogurs, started to move into the Carpathian Basin. That process took until about 670 AD, after which the Proto-Rovas script became the Carpathian Basin Rovas and the Khazarian Rovas scripts. The Proto-Rovas script was perhaps a descendent of the Aramaic script.

The Khazarian Rovas script was used until the 10th century AD, and possibly until the 13th century. Inscriptions are mainly in Turkic languages, including Ogur, As-Alan and Common Turkic.

Notable features

• Type of writing system: alphabet
• Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines
• Used to write: Ogur, As-Alan and Common Turkic

Khazarian Rovas

Sample text

The Achiktash inscription (from first half of the 8th century), language: Common Turkic

Translation

'He says: the throne of the holy dominus you write
We ... reading the written stick sent by you we all heard it
Ay! Say it: Sogdian vengeance ... avoid [you], [you] k[now]
You, Khazars. Good (=true, credible). End.'

Twitter incorpora il traduttore automatico di Bing: ogni tweet diventa comprensibile

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Twitter incorpora il traduttore automatico di Bing: ogni tweet diventa comprensibile

Twitter incorpora il traduttore automatico di Bing: ogni tweet diventa comprensibile

Già nel mese di febbraio se ne era parlato: Twitter aveva deciso di testare il traduttore per rendere ogni tweet alla portata di tutti gli utenti. L’uccellino azzurro aveva iniziato una collaborazione con Bing di Microsoft, quindi aveva deciso di non utilizzare il famoso Google Traduttore.

L’esperimento aveva toccato solo alcuni profili di utenti thailandesi e giapponesi, ma recentemente la funzione si è diffusa a macchia d’olio. E’ stato il noto AllThingsD ad evidenziare la diffusione del traduttore Bing in ogni tweet. Inoltre, un portavoce del microblogging ha dichiarato al sito web che i test stanno procedendo ed il loro intento è quello di rendere più semplice la connessione tra le persone, anche coloro che non parlano la stessa lingua.

Ci siamo fatti un giro sul social network ed effettivamente abbiamo subito trovato la possibilità di tradurre ogni tweet. Raggiungendo, ad esempio, l’account ufficiale del noto Mashable potrete visualizzare qualsiasi post anche in italiano e non solo in inglese.

La scritta “Visualizza traduzione” non si trova nella prima finestra del tweet, ma compare solo facendo click su “Dettagli”. Nella schermata dedicata esclusivamente all’intervento, sotto il testo potrete visualizzare la scritta cliccabile. Dopo averla selezionata comparirà una traduzione letterale appena sotto il tweet originale.

Inoltre, viene evidenziata anche la lingua originale, in questo caso inglese, e il traduttore utilizzato: Bing Translator.

Quante volte non avete potuto seguire il profilo di un’interessante personalità a causa della lingua? Con questa funzione diventerà, finalmente, possibile. Lo strumento è ancora in fase di test, ma speriamo che presto possa divenire ufficiale.