Semitic Transliterator in Unicode

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for Windows

for Macintosh

What others are saying What others are saying

Easily Transliterate Semitic languages and Greek!

Now you can get Semitic Transliterator fonts
in a Unicode™-encoded version!

Semitic Transliterator™ in Unicode™ is available for both Windows and Macintosh and provides professional-quality, Unicode-encoded transliteration fonts in TrueType® OpenType® format for transliterating Semitic languages, Greek, and Pashto (also called Romanized phonetic transcription). The characters in the fonts include all letters, accents, and other special characters required to cover the following transliteration methods:

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Hebrew--Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), Lambdin, Blau, Greenberg, Harrison, Kautsch & Cowley, LaSor, TWOT, TDOT, Marks & Rogers, and Weingreen

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Arabic--American Library of Congress (ALC), European, ALC with Persian, and European with Persian

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Aramaic--SBL

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Coptic--SBL

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Ugaritic--SBL

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Greek--SBL and Prentice-Hall

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Akkadian

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Pashto

Other methods of transliteration (Romanized phonetic transcription) may also be covered by the fonts.

Now it is easy to add transliterated text, such as this sample of Genesis 1:1-2, to your documents.

Genesis 1:1-2, transliterated using the SBL vocalized method.

The transliteration fonts include separate composite forms of each letter with each diacritic combination so that every letter shape and diacritic is perfectly positioned. (See Samples.) The fonts include the Latin 1 and Extended Latin character sets providing English and other western languages such as French and German. This allows your entire project to be typed in the same typestyle. Semitic Transliterator in Unicode is available in six typestyles: Times®-, Helvetica®-, Garamond-, Courier®-, Palatino®, and Chancery-styles. All typestyles are provided in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic weights, except for TranslitChanU, which is plain only.

In addition to transliterating Semitic languages and Greek, the following languages can be typed with the Semitic Transliterator in Unicode transliteration fonts:
bulletAfrikaans
bulletEnglish
bulletIndonesian
bulletSwedish
bulletBasque
bulletFinnish
bulletItalian
 
bulletCatalan
bulletFrench
bulletNorwegian
  plus additional
bulletDanish
bulletGerman
bulletPortuguese
  languages covered
bulletDutch
bulletIcelandic
bulletSpanish
  by code page 1252

Below is detailed information about the Windows and Macintosh products, followed by pricing information and links to  samples of each of the six typestyles with links to even more samples. Please be sure to read the System Requirements for Windows or Macintosh before ordering.

Semitic Transliterator in Unicode for Windows

Semitic Transliterator in Unicode for Windows includes two keyboard layouts that provide four-characters-per-key input (instead of the normal two-characters-per-key) in Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows NT4. The keyboards are phonetic, based on the US keyboard, and allow easy input of all transliteration characters and symbols covered by the fonts.

The first keyboard layout takes advantage of the OpenType layout features built into the fonts for the most logical, intuitive input possible. Input order is letter, accent, accent. The letter with its associated diacritics is built up automatically as you type, with all diacritics perfectly spaced. This keyboard layout requires Microsoft Word 2003 (see System Requirements).

This demonstrates the input method using the OpenType keyboard layout and Word 2003.

The second keyboard layout works with any Unicode-compatible application and uses dead key input to type letters with their associated diacritics. The user first types the dead key (representing the accent) and nothing happens. Then the user types the letter and the accented letter appears in the file. For example:

This demonstrates Deadkey input in any Unicode-compatible application.

Users can easily switch between keyboard layouts at any time using a keyboard shortcut. Detailed instructions and printable keyboard layout charts showing all keystrokes are included in the product.

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Windows System Requirements:
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Operating Systems
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Fonts and keyboards: Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0.

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Fonts alone: Windows Me, Windows 98, or Windows 95.

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Please read the notes below to be sure you understand the limitations you will have if your Operating System is not Windows Vista, XP, 2000, or NT 4.0.

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Applications
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Any Unicode-compatible application, such as Microsoft Word 2007, 2003, 2002, 2000, or 97, is compatible. Adobe® InDesign® and Microsoft Publisher are compatible. (Microsoft PowerPoint is not compatible.) QuarkXPress 7.0 is Unicode-compatible, but has not been tested.

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Microsoft Office (Word) 2003 is required to use the included SemiticTranslitU OT keyboard layout for the most intuitive input order (letter-accent-accent). Users of any other Unicode-compatible application will use the SemiticTranslitU Deadkey keyboard layout, which provides deadkey input (accent-letter). Both keyboard layouts provide full access to all letters and diacritics used in transliterating Semitic languages, Greek, and Pashto; they differ only in input method. (Note that Word 2003 installs only into Windows Vista, XP, or 2000 SP3 or later.)

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There is a bug in Microsoft Office (Word) 2007 so that it does not completely support the OpenType layout features built into these fonts. At this time although Office 2007 works fine with the Dead Key keyboard of Semitic Transliterator in Unicode, Office 2007 does not support input of two or more diacritics above a letter when using the OpenType keyboard method. If you need to do this with Semitic Transliterator in Unicode you should use Office 2003 instead of Office 2007. (See above for more about the two input methods.) If you need to use Office 2007 and have questions about this please contact us for more information.

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Older, non-Unicode applications such as Word 95 (Word 7) and Word 6 are not compatible. Quark XPress (through version 6.5), PageMaker, Corel WordPerfect, and Lotus Word Pro are not compatible.

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Do you need a copy of Microsoft Word 2002? We can provide the OEM version at a discounted price. (Note you can use the dead key input with Word 2002, but Word 2003 is required to use the OpenType keyboard layout method.)

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Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 (included in Microsoft Office 2003) is not compatible with Semitic Transliterator in Unicode for Windows. All text is changed to the Arial font, whether typed with the keyboard, input using Insert Symbol, or pasted from Word using the Windows clipboard. PowerPoint users should type their text in Word or another Unicode-compatible application, and save the text as a graphic for import into PowerPoint. Users can also use WordArt to create their text. To do this in PowerPoint go to Insert, Picture, WordArt, and type your text, formatting it as desired. Alternatively, users can type directly into PowerPoint using our non-Unicode Semitic Transliterator fonts. (Earlier versions of PowerPoint have not been tested for compatibility.)

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Notes
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Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0: To use the keyboards for easy input of Unicode text you must have Windows Vista, XP, 2000, or NT 4.0. The included keyboard drivers provide four characters-per-key input (instead of the normal two characters-per-key), following our paper keyboard layout charts. Complete instructions are included in the User's Manual included with the product.

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Windows Me/98/95: The fonts alone will be installed into Windows Me/98/95; the keyboard files do not install into or work in Windows Me/98/95. This means you may install the Unicode-compatible fonts into Windows Me/98/95 and open files that were created in Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT using the fonts if you have a compatible, Unicode-enabled program, such as Microsoft Word 2002/2000/97. In Windows Me/98/95 you will be able to edit documents that use these fonts in several ways. In Word 2002 you may use Insert Symbol or a built-in hot key feature to insert Unicode characters. In Word 2000/97 you may use Insert Symbol or the Linguist’s Software Word template included with the product. This template includes a macro which duplicates most of the features of the hot key feature built into Word 2002. Using these methods you can input characters one at a time in Windows Me/98/95. These input methods are not as easy as using the keyboard drivers in Windows Vista/XP/2000/NT (see above), but are adequate for very small editing projects. Complete instructions are included in the User's Manual included with the product.

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Collaboration with Macintosh users: If you type documents in Word 2003 using the OpenType keyboard the Macintosh user who receives your file must use Mellel, which is the only Macintosh application that supports the OpenType keyboard. Likewise, if a Mellel user creates a document using the OpenType keyboard and sends the file to you, you must open it in Word 2003. Documents created with the deadkey keyboard may be transferred back and forth using any Unicode-compatible application. All characters in the fonts are accessible using either keyboard; only the input method differs.

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Windows 3.x: This product does not install into or work with Windows 3.x.

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Printer: The fonts will print to any Windows printer at the highest quality allowed by your printer.

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Documentation: All documentation, including Setup Instructions, a User's Manual, and Keyboard Layout Charts (showing placement of the characters on the keys), is in Adobe Acrobat™ PDF format, and is installed into the Windows Start menu for easy access. Users may view the documentation on screen or print it, using Acrobat Reader, available free online if you do not already have it.

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Converting files from TranslitLS to TranslitLSU: The Semitic Transliterator Converter is available to convert TranslitLS (ASCII-encoded) Word files to the TranslitLSU fonts.

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Semitic Transliterator in Unicode for Macintosh

Semitic Transliterator in Unicode for Macintosh includes two keyboard layouts that provide four-characters-per-key input. The keyboards are phonetic, based on the US keyboard, and allow easy input of all transliteration characters and symbols covered by the fonts.

The first keyboard layout takes advantage of the OpenType layout features built into the fonts for the most logical, intuitive input possible. Input order is letter, accent, accent. The letter with its associated diacritics is built up automatically as you type, with all diacritics perfectly spaced. This keyboard layout requires the Mellel word processor (see System Requirements).

This demonstrates the input method using the OpenType keyboard layout and Mellel.

The second keyboard layout works with any Unicode-compatible application and uses deadkey input to type letters with their associated diacritics. The user first types the deadkey (representing the accent) and nothing happens. Then the user types the letter and the accented letter appears in the file. For example:

This demonstrates Deadkey input in any Unicode-compatible application.

Users can easily switch between keyboard layouts at any time using a keyboard shortcut. Detailed instructions and printable keyboard layout charts showing all keystrokes are included in the product.

Detailed instructions and printable keyboard layout charts showing all keystrokes are included in the product.

Macintosh System Requirements:

bulletOperating Systems
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Requires Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) or higher.

bulletApplications
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The OpenType keyboard requires Mellel. At this time we are not aware of any other Macintosh application that supports the OpenType layout features in this font.

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The deadkey keyboard works with any Unicode-compatible application.

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The only Macintosh applications we are aware of that support Unicode at this time are Microsoft Word 2004, Nisus Writer Express, InDesign CS, Mellel, TextEdit (included free with Mac OS X), Oxygen, BBEdit, and OpenOffice. We have only tested the fonts in Mellel, Word 2004, Nisus Writer Express and TextEdit. (If you are aware of additional applications please let us know.)

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Even applications that claim to be Unicode and OpenType compliant may only support a limited range of Unicode characters or a limited set of OpenType features. Contact Linguist's Software about compatibility questions and about the availability of a non-Unicode version of this product that works in all applications.

bulletNotes
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These fonts are compatible with the Windows version of Semitic Transliterator in Unicode. No conversion of files is necessary when transferring files to Windows if your applications are fully Unicode-aware and compatible fonts are installed on both systems.

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If you type documents in Mellel using the OpenType keyboard the Windows user who receives your file must use Word 2003 (or another component of Office 2003), which is the only Windows application that supports the OpenType keyboard. Likewise, if a Word 2003 user creates a document using the OpenType keyboard and sends the file to you, you must open it in Mellel. Documents created with the deadkey keyboard may be transferred back and forth using any Unicode-compatible application. All characters in the fonts are accessible using either keyboard; only the input method differs.

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Converting files from TranslitLS to TranslitLSU: The Semitic Transliterator Converter is available to convert TranslitLS (ASCII-encoded) Word files to the TranslitLSU fonts.

 

Product Sets Available in the Semitic Transliterator in Unicode Product Series:
(Click on a link to go to samples of that typestyle.)
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Semitic Transliterator TranslitLSU (Times-style)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitChanU (Chancery-style)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitGaraU (Garamond-style)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitMonoU (Courier-style)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitPalaU (Palatino-style)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitSansU (Helvetica-style)

Individual sets cost US$99.95; each additional set purchased for that platform (Windows or Macintosh) at the same time is $50; or purchase all sets together for one platform as Semitic Transliterator Professional in Unicode for $249.95. Order

Font Samples: A small font sample is shown below for each font. Links to additional font samples will open in a new browser window. These additional samples will show you accented letters used in the transliteration methods supported by these fonts, including the accented vowels not shown below, and some special characters in the fonts. You can also see bold, italic, and bold-italic samples of all the fonts except TranslitChanU, which is plain only. The samples are on separate pop-up pages because putting all of the graphics on this page would cause the page to open too slowly if you have a slow dial-up connection. Be sure to look at the additional samples to confirm the fonts have the transliteration characters you need.

Be sure you read the System Requirements for Windows or Macintosh before ordering!

 
Semitic Transliterator TranslitLSU in Unicode
$99.95 (or $50 when ordered with another full-priced set for that platform) Order
bulletTranslitLSU, a Times-style transliteration font, in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic
This shows some of the accented consonants in the TranslitLSU font.
  (more samples)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitChanU in Unicode

$99.95 (or $50 when ordered with another full-priced set for that platform) Order

bullet TranslitChanU, a Chancery-style transliteration font, in plain style only
This shows some of the accented consonants in the TranslitChanU font.  (more samples)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitGaraU in Unicode

$99.95 (or $50 when ordered with another full-priced set for that platform) Order

bulletTranslitGaraU, a Garamond-style transliteration font, in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic
This shows some of the accented consonants in the TranslitGaraU font. (more samples)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitMonoU in Unicode
$99.95 (or $50 when ordered with another full-priced set for that platform) Order
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TranslitMonoU, a Courier-style transliteration font, in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic
This shows some of the accented consonants in the TranslitMonoU font. (more samples)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitPalaU in Unicode
$99.95 (or $50 when ordered with another full-priced set for that platform) Order
bullet TranslitPalaU, a Palatino-style transliteration font, in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic
This shows some of the accented consonants in the TranslitPalaU font.  (more samples)

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Semitic Transliterator TranslitSansU in Unicode

$99.95 (or $50 when ordered with another full-priced set for that platform) Order
bullet TranslitSansU, a Helvetica-style (sans serif) transliteration font, provided in plain, bold, italic, and bold-italic
This shows some of the accented consonants in the TranslitSansU font.  (more samples)

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Semitic Transliterator Professional in Unicode  $249.95 Order

bulletComplete contents of all Semitic Transliterator in Unicode product sets listed above for one platform

Related Products: For non-Unicode versions of our transliteration fonts, available for both Windows and Macintosh, see Semitic Transliterator. The non-Unicode fonts are not interchangeable with Semitic Transliterator in Unicode, but contain fonts with the same typestyles. Both Unicode and non-Unicode versions of Semitic Transliterator may be installed on your system (since they have different file and font names) and may even be used in the same files. They are not, however, interchangeable.

For other transliteration fonts see Transliteration.

For language fonts covering the scripts (alphabets) of the languages whose transliteration is supported by Semitic Transliterator in Unicode, see the following:
Greek (Unicode) (non-Unicode)
Hebrew (Unicode) (non-Unicode)
Arabic (non-Unicode)
Aramaic (Imperial, Syriac, Hebrew [Unicode], Hebrew [non-Unicode])
Coptic (non-Unicode)
Ugaritic (non-Unicode)
Akkadian (non-Unicode)

The Semitic Transliterator Converter is available to convert TranslitLS (ASCII-encoded) Word files to the TranslitLSU fonts.

What others are saying about Semitic Transliterator in Unicode Here's what others are saying about Semitic Transliterator in Unicode fonts:

"Thank you very much for your splendid array of products for Hebrew Bible and transliteration."
Prof. Walter Houston, Mansfield College, Oxford University

"We have used Linguist's Software fonts for several years, including your Greek and Hebrew fonts as well as your Semitic Transliterator. We have been pleased with the quality and functionality. I am impressed with the new Unicode versions of the fonts and I enjoy the added features. I am very pleased with it. Thank you!"
Jacob Rawlins, Production Coordinator,
Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts, BYU, Provo, UT

"Thanks! I'm impressed! I'm astounded you could get this out so fast! These fonts were one thing I needed."
Joseph Weinstein, Cambridge, MA (author of MacInHebrew, the first right to left text adaptor for the Macintosh, circa 1985)

"Thank you very much !!!! It is all OK. Your font is beautiful!"
Professor Tommaso Gnoli, Università di Bologna, Italy

 

 

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