Re: Arabize 0.1

[Youcef Rabah Rahal <rahal at arabeyes dot org>]

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Salam,

On Tuesday 16 March 2004 21:16, Ahmad Kamal wrote:
> Dear all
>
>       I have a written a new c++ program to join the Arabic programs
> arsenal helping Linux users. The program is called "Arabize", it helps u
> type Arabic quickly by using English keys (Transliteration for those
> familiar with the term), and converts them to true Arabic typing. The
> attached picture should be clearer.

I'm not a big fan of the concept but I somehow I like it :-) I think it may be 
useful in some cases.

However, looking at the screenshot, I think you _really_ need to review the 
conversion tables and introduce some rules. I suppose that you do a simple 
conversion English letter/Arabic letter ? That gives a bad translatiteration 
of Arabic words and the pronunciation is totally false. Think for example 
about language learners or children. They will start to pronounce Arabic 
awkwardly.

I think you might consider the way ArabTex does it. For example, يقوم should 
become 'yaqumu' and not 'yKom'... In other words, taking into account the 
vowels, even if they're not explicitly written, is _very_ important.

Regards,

- -- 
Youcef R. Rahal
Arabeyes.org
http://www.arabeyes.org/~rahal
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