Arabic Transliteration / Arabic-to-Latin Converter
Convert Arabic script to readable Latin or Buckwalter. Preserve written vowels, inspect letter mappings, and understand what unvocalized text leaves uncertain.
Paste Arabic text; add vowel marks when known.
Choose readable, simple, or technical transliteration.
Copy the Latin output and review ambiguous vowels.
Runs on your device. Readable Latin is a spelling aid, not IPA or certified ALA-LC romanization. It keeps the article as al-, without phonetic sun-letter assimilation. Names and unmarked text need human interpretation. Buckwalter preserves letters and marks after Unicode normalization; mixed Latin text is passed through.
Letter-by-letter reference
For formal cataloging, consult the Library of Congress romanization tables. Technical users can consult the Buckwalter character mapping.
Make sense of what you’re practicing
Transliteration is not translation
كَتَبَ becomes kataba, which represents the written sounds. Its English meaning is “he wrote.” A converter changes script; it does not replace a dictionary or interpret a sentence.
Short vowels cannot always be recovered
Unvocalized كتب can have different readings and meanings. This converter deliberately leaves absent vowels out. Alif is shown as ā, while waw and ya need context to distinguish consonants from long vowels. Add reliable harakat for a more useful pronunciation aid.
Choose the right notation
Readable Latin distinguishes ح ḥ from ه h, and ع ʿ from hamza ʾ. Simple Latin is easier to type but loses distinctions. Buckwalter maps each supported Arabic character to a technical ASCII symbol; it is not designed to be read aloud.
Connected speech needs context
The readable output keeps al- for the definite article, and shows written case endings. Actual speech can assimilate l before sun letters and omit some endings at a pause. Tāʾ marbūṭa is h when unmarked and t with an ending; possessive constructions and fully phonetic transcription need grammatical analysis.