Transliterating vowels

[jackdaws]

As-salaamu alaykum,

Firstly, I should say that in one sense this question is unimportant, because I want to learn Arabic script, and transliterations of that script are of secondary importance.

However, in the short term a beginner might benefit from using transliterations to remind himself or herself of how a word should sound. Also, transliterations are often used when using Arabic terms on computers and the like. For instance, at the start of this post I used the term "as-salaamu alaykum". So I hope although I recognise that learning the Arabic script is the priority, I have justified why I still feel it necessary to learn how to correctly transliterate Arabic using Roman lettering.

Anyway, my question is as follows:

As we know the long vowels are marked in Arabic script by a fatha, a kasra, or a dumma over a consonant followed respectively by an alif, a yaa, or a waw. I believe that when a consonant (let's say a nuun) is followed by a fatha-alif vowel, it would be transliterated as "naa". I would like to know what is the usual way to transliterate a consonant followed by the kasra-yaa vowel, and also a consonant followed by a dumma-waw vowel. Would it be (using nuun as an example consonant) transliterated as "niy" and "nuw", or would it be "nii" and "nuu"?

Please forgive this beginner for asking what may turn out to be a silly question.

[irf2k]

This link may contain answer to your question.
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/arabic.pdf

[jackdaws]

Thanks for the useful link. If I took the line taken in this document, I would say as-salām alaykum, is that right? It took me quite a while to find out how to insert the "ā" in salām. Most people would just use "aa" instead, wouldn't they. So what would they normally use for the long "i" and "u" vowels - "ii" and "uu" or "iy" and "uw"?

[hassan]

wa alaikumussalam.

i am amongst those person who are not following the roman script. i believe that if i am not following then i am free to choose any format :p
so for long "i" sometimes i use "ee" and sometimes "ii" and sometimes only "i". for example: haazihii, haazihee, haazihi.

[irf2k]

Thanks for the useful link. If I took the line taken in this document, I would say as-salām alaykum, is that right? It took me quite a while to find out how to insert the "ā" in salām. Most people would just use "aa" instead, wouldn't they. So what would they normally use for the long "i" and "u" vowels - "ii" and "uu" or "iy" and "uw"?

You are right. It is not easy to type there 'funny' characters. Can you imagine how to type some letters with a dot under it?

I also do not follow the strict rules like brother Hassan.

Recently I have been busy typing the Madina Books and for the key in English I had to use more formal romanization of Arabic, hence I found this in the web.

Wasalaam

[jackdaws]

It does seem that there is no standard way to transliterate Arabic script. In a way, I'm glad, because it leaves me free to follow whatever system I find most convenient. I suppose it doesn't really matter, as long as it helps me remember how a word is pronounced, since my aim is to get to a point where I can get by with the script alone. Anyway, thanks for your inputs.

[irf2k]

As-Salamu Alaykum
Dr. Abdur Rahim has written a nice booklet to teach how to read Arabic.
The At-Tibyan. This came accompanied by a tape with the reading of the text.
We have put the text + the audio from the tape in a multi media pdf file.
When click in the text it will read the text.
You can download this pdf from our web site www.lqtoronto.com (http://www.lqtoronto.com).
because of the zip of the file almost 140 Meg one must right click the link save the link to your pc.
This is the link:
http://www.lqtoronto.com/downloads.html
You may need acrobat reader ver 6 or better.
Wasalam