7

I combine many resources when learning a language. One of my best resources is audio-only, but there are many times when I need to look up a transliteration, such as when I can't distinguish if a word begins with a "b" or "v" sound.

I have a paperback English-Hebrew / Hebrew-English dictionary and phrase book, but it's very abbreviated and thus only helps a small % of the time.

Given that Google, Yandex, and MS translation tools don't provide Hebrew transliteration, what's a good strategy to look up transliterations when you need them?

Improve this question
4
  • 1
    It's not the answer you are looking for, but I used memrise.com to study Hebrew alphabet and numbers. It only takes a couple of hours for 2-3 days to learn the alphabet. After that you can use Hebrew keyboard on Google translate and benefit from its auto-completion feature. You can guess and type a word with either 'bet' בּ, 'vet' ב‎, 'waw' ו‎, then see which one is found by Google Translate, or a search engine.
    – Vitaly
    Dec 13, 2017 at 0:36
  • 1
    @Vitaly Thanks, I have finished all 851 words on Memrise ;) It's not quite what I need for this because it's not easy to look up transliterations there. I also use DuoLingo, but Memrise is better (when the mems are good).
    – Hack-R
    Dec 14, 2017 at 19:46
  • What do you think of Hebrew Wiktionary? Transliteration is provided at least for some words.
    – Vitaly
    Dec 23, 2017 at 1:55
  • 1
    Options seem very limited. I decided to use a chain of a niqqud-insertion service (nakdan.dicta.org.il/nikudedit) and a transliteration service (maybe opensiddur.org/help/transliterate as suggested in an answer here) and it worked
    – nikkou
    May 4, 2022 at 1:51

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Here's a transliteration engine for Indian languages.

https://www.cdac.in/index.aspx?id=mlc_gist_trans

Here's a transliteration engine for Hebrew.

http://opensiddur.org/help/transliterate/

(everything is in Google if you know how to ask) :)

Improve this answer
2
  • I added a Hebrew site I found if you are interested. It looks very comprehensive offering different standards of transliteration.
    – Karlomanio
    Jan 31, 2018 at 15:06
  • That is awesome and I will add a +1 for that but it unfortunately doesn't translate English and is a bit particular on what it can handle (All Hebrew text must be in Unicode encoding and all vowels must be written correctly. The transliterator is not tolerant of spelling mistakes. The transliterator is sensitive to the presence of the Unicode qamats qatan: כָּל will transliterate incorrectly, כׇּל will transliterate correctly. The transliterator is sensitive to the presence of the Unicode holam haser for vav: מִצְוֹת will transliterate incorrectly, מִצְוֺת will transliterate correctly.).
    – Hack-R
    Feb 1, 2018 at 3:09
0

In the Google translator [translate.google.com] You will find "Hebrew" in the input and output language detection boxes.

In the Yandex translator [translate.yandex.ru] you will find Иврит ("Hebrew language" in Russian) in the language input-output selection boxes; the output (in Hebrew) will be found in the lower right hand of the output box. Google also provides a Hebrew keyboard; the input language selection toggle is at the lower left hand corner of the Google translator's input selection box; the correct keyboards come up automatically for almost(?) all languages in the translator.

One can create one's own personal language learning 'course' by using cut-and-paste text selection methods with all of the features both of these two translators, most especially those of Google's, e.g., for pronunciation exercises copy and paste the same word or phrase one or more times into Google's input box for "repeat after me" speech repetition exercises.

Improve this answer
3
  • @Hack-R: Google has too many excellent language-learning features to write a complete answer to your question ( i.e., transliteration ).
    – К. Келлогг Смиф
    Jan 24, 2018 at 17:13
  • @Hack-R: I mis-wrote. In Yandex "Hebrew" is "иврт". If you have any interest, "Yiddish" in Yandex is "идиш".
    – К. Келлогг Смиф
    Jan 25, 2018 at 2:53
  • I've been using Google for years. I even used it for a trip to your Russia + Ukraine where I was alone and did not speak the language. :) Unfortunately Google Translate does not have the Hebrew transliterations.
    – Hack-R
    Jan 30, 2018 at 22:02
0

This only answers a small part of your question but if a word begins with a ב, you can count on the sound being b (and never v). Likewise initial כ is always k (never kh) and initial פ is always p (never f).*

But to add a general comment to my specific comment: your project is somewhat doomed from the start because Hebrew is full of heteronyms — words spelled the same but pronounced differently.

*Except in the Bible.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.