Translation - art & business » Linguistic diversity »
Off topic: 7 incredible alphabets from around the world
Thread poster: Mark Hemming
Mark Hemming
Mark Hemming  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:29
Slovenian to English
+ ...
Jan 7, 2020

Hi all,

I recently compiled a blog post covering 7 unusual alphabets from around the world here and hope you'll find it interesting. Any comments or corrections welcome.

Best wishes,

Mark

P.L.F. Persio
 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 06:29
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
I love alphabets Jan 7, 2020

When I was on holiday in Armenia and Georgia I managed to read them quite well, without understanding of course.
In the 80's on my job a cleaning woman was watching me writing something and wondered, that I use the same alphabet as in Finnish. She hardly believed it when I told her that that is Latin. She had thought Finns have their own alphabet.

P.L.F. Persio
 
Mark Hemming
Mark Hemming  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:29
Slovenian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Funny story! Jan 8, 2020

Hi Heinrich,

That's a pretty funny story regarding the Finnish alphabet! Glad you also have an eye for Georgian and Armenian - I've also had the opportunity to travel to both countries and hope I'll get to do so again at some point in the future.
 
Lidija Klemencic
Lidija Klemencic
Serbia
Local time: 05:29
English to Serbian
+ ...
Kudoz Jan 9, 2020

Thanks for this lovely article. Such a refreshment after reading all those posts about CAT tools problems and scams.

Laura Kingdon
 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:29
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
Matter of opinion Jan 9, 2020

7 incredible alphabets indeed, but how would the users of those alphabets look at our alphabet? Wouldn't our way of writing be incredible for them? Its all in the eyes of the beholder.
 
Mark Hemming
Mark Hemming  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:29
Slovenian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Fair point Robert Jan 10, 2020

Robert, I guess you're right - I'm sure the Latin alphabet could be seen as exciting by a person viewing it for the first time, but I think the examples chosen are fairly unusual, and if one of the seven scripts mentioned is your native language then at least the remaining six should hold some interest.

P.L.F. Persio
 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 05:29
French to English
+ ...
Two more interesting systems Jan 10, 2020

From the standpoint of clarity and self-consistency, two more writing systems definitely worth mentioning are Korean (Hangul) and Canadian Aboriginal (Cree) syllabics. The latter one is also remarkable by its extremely rapid adoption in everyday life. Both are described fairly well in Wikipedia.

A personal story: at the age of 10 or so, I read about reconstruction of dead languages from parallel texts and undertook a small project of my own. I was spending my summer vacations in Geo... See more
From the standpoint of clarity and self-consistency, two more writing systems definitely worth mentioning are Korean (Hangul) and Canadian Aboriginal (Cree) syllabics. The latter one is also remarkable by its extremely rapid adoption in everyday life. Both are described fairly well in Wikipedia.

A personal story: at the age of 10 or so, I read about reconstruction of dead languages from parallel texts and undertook a small project of my own. I was spending my summer vacations in Georgia and reconstructed the Georgian alphabet from bilingual signs and posters. I even managed to put it to use without knowing the language: when writing something not intended for other people's eyes, I would write it in Russian, but using the Georgian alphabet. Many years later, a girlfriend of mine, a Georgia-born Russian, admitted she did exactly the same. ▲ Collapse


P.L.F. Persio
 
Mark Hemming
Mark Hemming  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:29
Slovenian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Will check them out Jan 11, 2020

Anton, thanks for the additional alphabet tips, I'll check both of them out.
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Fernanda Rocha[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

7 incredible alphabets from around the world






Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »
TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »