Armenian Transliterator

How to Use the Armenian Transliterator

1. 1. Choose a direction. Armenian → Latin shows ISO 9985 and ALA-LC side by side. Latin → Armenian reads one system, which you pick.
2. 2. Paste your text. Names, titles or whole sentences, in lower case, capitals or both. The Armenian question mark, exclamation mark, full stop and guillemets are converted; the emphasis mark is dropped, as the Library of Congress asks.
3. 3. Set the ALA-LC options. Tick Western Armenian to swap the voiced and voiceless pairs, and Classical orthography for the initial y and ḥ and the ew of և. ISO 9985 does not change.
4. 4. Copy the card you need. Each says which system it is and what it is for.

ISO 9985 or ALA-LC?

ISO 9985 (1996) is the international standard. It writes every Armenian letter as one Latin letter, with a caron, dot or apostrophe where English has no letter, so the result can be turned back into Armenian without loss. ALA-LC, the table the Library of Congress and the American Library Association publish, is easier to read in English because it uses digraphs (kh, sh, ts) and so needs a prime to keep letters apart. Library records use ALA-LC, so a bibliography that follows it will match the catalog.

The Rules the Tool Applies

• Eastern and Western. The Library of Congress table writes Eastern and Classical Armenian by default and gives the Western values for the voiced and voiceless pairs in brackets: բ b [p], գ g [k], դ d [t], ծ ts [dz], կ k [g], ձ dz [ts], ճ ch [j], պ p [b], ջ j [ch], տ t [d]. The Western option uses the bracketed values for every letter. Use it only for names whose language is Western Armenian.
• The prime. Where two letters would together look like a digraph, ALA-LC puts ʹ between them: patʹsparan (տ + ս), Dʹznuni (դ + զ), kʹhal (կ + հ). The tool checks every neighbouring pair.
• Եվ. A lower-case եվ inside a word is eʹv (dpreʹvankʻ), because it is two letters and not the letter և. The ligature և is ev, or ew in the Classical orthography.
• Classical orthography. At the start of a word, ե before a vowel is y and յ is ḥ. The tool applies this to the start of a word only; the Library of Congress also applies it to the start of a stem, which a program cannot see.
• Punctuation. The verjaket (։) becomes a full stop. The Armenian question and exclamation marks sit on a word in the sentence but are written at its end in Latin.
• Ligatures. The single-character ligatures ﬓ ﬔ ﬕ ﬖ ﬗ are romanized as the letters they stand for.

Going Back to Armenian

Latin → Armenian is exact for ISO 9985 text, because each Latin symbol has one reading. ALA-LC is a best guess: a prime or the absence of one is read as written, and ts and dz mean different letters in Eastern and Western Armenian, so the choice of variant matters. The ligature և and the pair ե + ւ are both ew in ISO 9985, and the tool picks the ligature. The question mark cannot be put back on the right word, so it stays at the end.

Armenian Names in Citations

References to Armenian books and articles give the title in Armenian script plus a romanization, and often an English translation. Pick one system and keep it for the whole list; library catalogs use ALA-LC. How to Cite a Source in Another Language shows where each part goes in APA, MLA and Chicago, and the Book Citation Generator formats the finished entry.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Eastern and Western Armenian transliteration?

The letters are the same but the sounds differ: Western Armenian pronounces բ as p, գ as k, դ as t, ծ as dz, ձ as ts, ճ as j, ջ as ch, պ as b, կ as g and տ as d. ALA-LC romanizes by Eastern values by default and offers the Western ones for names from Western Armenian. ISO 9985 does not depend on pronunciation.

Why does ALA-LC use a prime in some words?

Because its digraphs would otherwise be ambiguous. տ followed by ս could be read as ts (ծ), so the Library of Congress writes tʹs. The same applies to դզ (dʹz), կհ (kʹh), գհ (gʹh) and սհ (sʹh). ISO 9985 uses no digraphs, so it never needs a prime.

How do I type ʻ, ʼ and ʹ?

Copy them from the converter's output or letter table. The converter also reads a backtick or a left single quotation mark for the ALA-LC aspirate, an apostrophe or a right single quotation mark for the ISO aspirate, and an apostrophe for the prime.

Is Երևան spelled Yerevan or Erevan?

The Library of Congress gives Erevan, the Board on Geographic Names gives Yerevan, and ISO 9985 gives Erewan. All three are romanizations of the same name; Yerevan is the form most English readers know. Use the one your style guide or catalog names.

What is the Armenian letter և?

It began as a ligature of ե and ւ, read ew. In the reformed orthography it also stands for the sound ev in the middle and end of words, in place of եվ, and it is the word for "and". ALA-LC writes it ev, or ew with the Classical option; ISO 9985 writes it ew.

Does it handle Armenian numerals?

No. Armenian numerals are letters followed by a full stop (Ա․ is 1), and the tool romanizes the letter, not the number. The Library of Congress table lists the numeral values separately.

Does the tool work offline?

Yes, once the page has loaded. The conversion runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.