TF3 Arabic transliteration PDF V2

Mike Ellis TF3 Leader

TAG/MRTD 18

MontrealMay 5-8, 2008

V2.31 05/2008

The Machine Readable Passport consists of 2 zones:

The Visual Inspection Zone for data to be read by i nspectors:

Visual Inspection Zone

VIZ

The Machine Readable Zone to be read by machine:

Machine Readable ZoneMRZ

The name can be treated differently in each zone:

Name: Thérèse CAÑON

In the VIZ:


VIZ

Name by convention with diacritical marks &

national characters

In the MRZ:


VIZ

MRZ


national characters

Name limited to A-Z,machine readable

VIZ

The technical terms for this process are:

TRANSCRIPTION (phonetic)

VIZ

MRZ

The technical terms for this process are:

TRANSCRIPTION (phonetic)

TRANSLITERATION

Arabic

MoroccoAlgeria

Tunisia

Libya Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Yemen

Oman

IraqSyriaLebanon

Palestine

BahrainKuwait

Comoros

Djibouti

Jordan

Mauritania

Qatar UAE

SudanChad

Somalia

Official language of:

Iran

Niger

MoroccoAlgeria

Tunisia

Libya Egypt

Saudi Arabia

Yemen

Oman

IraqSyriaLebanon

Palestine

BahrainKuwait

Comoros

Djibouti

Jordan

Mauritania

Qatar UAE

Sudan

Pashto & Dari

Chad

Kurdish

Urdu, Shahmukhi, Sindhi

Hausa

Somalia

Afghanistan

Pakistan

Iran

Niger

And the Arabic font is used in other languages:

Farsi

This is a well-knownname in Arabic script:

which according to a website that tracks newspaper & web articles,has at least 32 variations in the Latin script..... .

Latin transcriptions found:

1. Muammar Qaddafi

2. Mo’ammar Gadhafi

3. Muammar Kaddafi

4. Muammar Qadhafi

7. Mu’ammar al-Qadafi

5. Moammar El Kadhafi

6. Muammar Gadafi

8. Moamer El Kazzafi

9. Moamar al-Gaddafi

10. Mu’ammar Al Qathafi

11. Muammar Al Qathafi

12. Mo’ammar el-Gadhafi

13. Moamar El Kadhafi

14. Muammar al-Qadhafi

15. Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi

18. Mu’ammar Qadhdhafi

16. Mu’ammar Qadafi

17. Moamar Gaddafi

19. Muammar Khaddafi

20. Muammar al-Khaddafi

21. Mu’amar al-Kadafi

22. Muammar Ghaddafy

23. Muammar Ghadafi

24. Muammar Ghaddafi

25. Muamar Kaddafi

26. Muammar Quathafi

29. Muamar Al-Kaddafi

27. Mohammar Q’udafi

28. Muammar Gheddafi

30. Moammar Khadafy

31. Moammar Qudhafi

32. Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi

This is a common Arabic name: د ��ا��

د ��ا��

د��

Mahmoud

Mahmud

Mahmut

Mahmood

Mehmood

and 52 more...

The first component of this Arabic name has at least 57 Latin transcriptions.

د ��ا��

From: www.kanji.org/cjk/arabic

�ا��

Abd-al-Rahiim

Abdalraheem

Abd ar-Raheem

Abdul Rahim

Abd al Raheem

and 140 more...

The second component of this Arabic name has

at least 145 Latin transcriptions.

د ��ا��

From: www.kanji.org/cjk/arabic

د�� ا��

Mahmoud

Mahmud

Mahmut

Mahmood

Mehmood

and 52 more...

Abd-al-Rahiim

Abdalraheem

Abd ar-Raheem

Abdul Rahim

Abd al Raheem

and 140 more...

While not all combinations might occur,this is a possible 57 x 145 = 8,265 Latin transcrip tions -

from ONE name in Arabic script!

Mismatches are likely to occur

MAHMUT ABDUL RAHIIM

-------------

MAHMOUD ABD-AL-RAHEEM

MUAMAR ABD-AL-RAHEEM

MAHDI ABD-AL-RAHIM

-------------

MAHMOUD ABD-AL-RAHEEM

MISMATCH !

Database

1. VIZ

Transcription

Doc 9303 states that if the name is in a non-Latin script, a transcriptioninto Latin characters must be provided.

There are many transcription standards:

Arabiccharacter

DIN 316351982

ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b

ةTehmarbuta h,t t , h,t h,t a,at

ت Teh t t t t t t

ث Theh t t t th th th

ج Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj

ح Hah h h h h h h

خ Khah h h h kh kh kh

د Dal d d d d d d

ذ Thal d d d dh dh dh

ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

Abū

We take the name in the Arabic script, and transcri be each part,according to a transcription standard or the practi ce in each issuing country.

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

BakrAbū

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

MohammedBakrAbū

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

ibnMohammedBakrAbū

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

ibn Zakar īyaMohammedBakrAbū

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

ibn Zakar īyaMohammedBakr al-R āziAbū


ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى


Short vowels inferred by user

You will notice the following points about the tran scription:

The short vowels are not included in the Arabic nam e, but are added by the translator.


ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى


“Zakaria” or “Zakar īya”

The spelling may vary in different countries.

“bin” or “ibn”


ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى


Diacritical marks

Diacritical marks, indicating pronunciation, are pe rmitted in the VIZ, but NOT in the MRZ.

ibn Zakar īyaMohammedBakr

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

al-RāziAbū ibn Zakar īyaMohammedBakr al-R āziAbū

So the transcribed name in Latin characters is put into the VIZ:

You will notice the following about the transcripti on standards:Arabic

characterDIN 316351982

ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b


ت Teh t t t t t t



ح Hah h h h h h h


د Dal d d d d d d


ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

Alternatives (choices)

More than one Latin character may be possible, depe nding upon context

Transcription standardsArabic


ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b


ت Teh t t t t t t



ح Hah h h h h h h


د Dal d d d d d d


ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

Special & silent characters

Some Arabic characters are transcribed by special m arks, or not at all.



ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b


ت Teh t t t t t t



ح Hah h h h h h h


د Dal d d d d d d


ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

Diacritical marks

Diacritical marks are used to distinguish character s.



ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b


ت Teh t t t t t t



ح Hah h h h h h h


د Dal d d d d d d


ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

Compound characters

Compound characters: is “th” ( ) ”same as “t (ث ) ”and “h (ت ?(ح



ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b


ت Teh t t t t t t



ح Hah h h h h h h


د Dal d d d d d d


ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

Diacritical marks

Compound characters



All these variations lead to name differences



ISO 2331984

ISO/R 2331961

UN1972

ALA-LC1997

EI1960

ا Alef ā ‘ - - - -

ب Beh b b b b b b


ت Teh t t t t t t



ح Hah h h h h h h


د Dal d d d d d d


ر Reh r r r r r r

ز Zain z z z z z z

س Seen s s s s s s

Diacritical marks

Compound characters



and make transcription unsuitable for the MRZ.

TF3 does NOT recommend that the transcription in th e VIZbe standardized.

TF3 recommends that each issuing country use an exi sting transcription standard for the VIZ, or the procedur e that hasbeen traditionally used in that country.

However, the ICAO TAG/MRTD may decide to standardiz e the transcription in the VIZ.

2. MRZ

Transliteration

We must use transliteration in the MRZ as we are li mited to ‘A’ to ‘Z’.We cannot have diacritical marks, etc, as in the VI Z.

This is because the MRZ is meant for MACHINE READIN G.

Starting again with the Arabic name in the VIZ:

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

و ب اAlef Beh Waw

Process of transliteration:firstly, we break up the Arabic name into its parts .

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى


ر ك ب Beh Kaf Reh

Space

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى



د م ح م Meem Hah Meem Dal

ن ب Beh Noon

ا ي ر ك ز Zain Kaf Reh Yeh Alef

ى ز ا ر ل اAlef Lam Reh Alef Zain Farsi Yeh

Space Space Space Space

Space

and so on, until we have all the individual charact ers:

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



A


Space

We then take each Arabic character, and looking up a transliteration table,we find the Latin equivalent:

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



A B


ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



A B W


Space

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



AB W <


Space

In the MRZ a “space” becomes ‘<‘

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



AB W < B K R < M XH


Space

and so on, until we get to “hah”. In our translite ration table the Latin ‘H’ is already taken by “heh”, so we use ‘XH’ for “hah”.

This preserves some phonetic similarity.

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



AB W < B K R < M XH M D < B N < Z K R Y A < A LR A Z XAY


Space

and so on, until we get to the “Farsi yeh”, which i s transliterated in our tableby “XAY”, since the standard “yeh” is “Y”.

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى




ن ب Beh Noon



AB W < B K R < M XH M D < B N < Z K R Y A < A LR A Z XAY


Space

In our transliteration table we are using ‘X’ as an “escape” characterto modify the following character or characters.

We have to do this because there are not enough Lat in characters in ‘A’ to ‘Z’ to match the Arabic characters.

We are also doing this to preserve some phonetic si milarity.

ا� �� زآ�� ا ��ازى

ABW<BKR<MXHMD<BN<ZKRYA<ALRAZXAY

The transliterated name is then placed in the MRZ:

Remember: the name can be treated differently in ea ch zone:


national characters

Name limited to A-Z,machine readable

Arabic character Buckwalter ASMO 449 SATTS

ا Alef A G A

ب Beh b H B

ةTehmarbuta p I ?

ت Teh t J T

ث Theh v K C

ج Jeem j L J

ح Hah H M H

خ Khah x N O

د Dal d O D

ذ Thal * P Z

ر Reh r Q R

ز Zain z R ;

س Seen s S S

There are many transliteration standards:

Buckwalter

ASMO 449

SATTS

(this is a partial table)


ا Alef A G A

ب Beh b H B

ةTehmarbuta p I ?

ت Teh t J T

ث Theh v K C

ج Jeem j L J

ح Hah H M H

خ Khah x N O

د Dal d O D

ذ Thal * P Z

ر Reh r Q R

ز Zain z R ;

س Seen s S S

Transliteration standards

ASMO 449 is an arbitrary sequence which preserves

no phonetic similarity.


ا Alef A G A

ب Beh b H B

ةTehmarbuta p I ?

ت Teh t J T

ث Theh v K C

ج Jeem j L J

ح Hah H M H

خ Khah x N O

د Dal d O D

ذ Thal * P Z

ر Reh r Q R

ز Zain z R ;

س Seen s S S


Buckwalter contains manylower case characters.

(NOT A-Z)


ا Alef A G A

ب Beh b H B

ةTehmarbuta p I ?

ت Teh t J T

ث Theh v K C

ج Jeem j L J

ح Hah H M H

خ Khah x N O

د Dal d O D

ذ Thal * P Z

ر Reh r Q R

ز Zain z R ;

س Seen s S S


Buckwalter & SATTScontain many

special characters(NOT A-Z)


For these reasons, these transliteration schemes

are NOT suitablefor the MRZ.


ا Alef A G A

ب Beh b H B

ةTehmarbuta p I ?

ت Teh t J T

ث Theh v K C

ج Jeem j L J

ح Hah H M H

خ Khah x N O

د Dal d O D

ذ Thal * P Z

ر Reh r Q R

ز Zain z R ;

س Seen s S S

Arabic character Buckwalter SATTS

ا Alef A A

ب Beh b B

ةTehmarbuta p ?

ت Teh t T

ث Theh v C

ج Jeem j J

ح Hah H H

خ Khah x O

د Dal d D

ذ Thal * Z

ر Reh r R

ز Zain z ;

س Seen s S

1. We discount schemes like ASMO 449

Our suggested transliteration standard:

Arabic character Buckwalter SATTS TF3 Scheme

ا Alef A A A

ب Beh b B B

ةTehmarbuta p ? XTA

ت Teh t T T

ث Theh v C XTH

ج Jeem j J J

ح Hah H H XH

خ Khah x O XKH

د Dal d D D

ذ Thal * Z XDH

ر Reh r R R

ز Zain z ; Z

س Seen s S S


2. We use somecharacters similarly

to Buckwalter & SATTS.


‘X’ has no Arabic equivalent

(and a precedent ofbeing used for ICAO

transliteration)

3. We use ‘X’ as anescape character,and try to preservephonetic similarity.

Arabic character Buckwalter SATTS TF3 Scheme

ا Alef A A A

ب Beh b B B

ةTehmarbuta p ? XTA

ت Teh t T T

ث Theh v C XTH

ج Jeem j J J

ح Hah H H XH

خ Khah x O XKH

د Dal d D D

ذ Thal * Z XDH

ر Reh r R R

ز Zain z ; Z

س Seen s S S

0639 ع ainE

063A غ ghain G

0640 ـ tatwheel

0641 ف fehF

0642 ق qafQ

0643 ك kafK

0644 ل lamL

0645 م meemM

0646 ن noonN

0647 ) hehH

0648 و wawW

0649 ى alef maksuraXAY

064A ي yehY

064B ً fathatan

064C ٌ dammatan

064D ٍ kasratan

064E َ fatha

064F ُ damma

0650 ِ kasra

0651 ّ shadda

0652 ْ sukun

0670 ? superscript alef

0671 ? alef waslaXXA

06A4 ? vehV

06A5 ? feh with 3 dots belowXFF

Unicode Arabic letter Name Doc 9303Doc 9303Doc 9303Doc 9303

0621 ء hamzaXE

0622 3 alef with madda aboveXAA

0623 أ alef with hamza aboveXAE

0624 ؤ waw with hamza aboveXWE

0625 إ alef with hamza belowXAI

0626 ئ yeh with hamza aboveXYE

0627 ا alefA

0628 ب behB

0629 ة teh marbutaXTA

062A ت tehT

062B ث thehXTH

062C ج jeemJ

062D ح hahXH

062E خ khahXKH

062F د dalD

0630 ذ thalXDH

0631 ر rehR

0632 ز zainZ

0633 س seenS

0634 ش sheenXSH

0635 ص sadXSS

0636 ض dadXDD

0637 ط tahXTT

0638 ظ zahXZZ

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated


0639 ع ainE

063A غ ghain G

0640 ـ tatwheel

0641 ف fehF

0642 ق qafQ

0643 ك kafK

0644 ل lamL

0645 م meemM

0646 ن noonN

0647 ) hehH

0648 و wawW


064A ي yehY

064B ً fathatan

064C ٌ dammatan

064D ٍ kasratan

064E َ fatha

064F ُ damma

0650 ِ kasra

0651 ّ shadda

0652 ْ sukun



06A4 ? vehV


Not transliterated

4. Short vowels, being optional in Arabic names, are not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

5. Tatwheel is a graphics “filler” character.

0639 ع ainE

063A غ ghain G

0640 ـ tatwheel

0641 ف fehF

0642 ق qafQ

0643 ك kafK

0644 ل lamL

0645 م meemM

0646 ن noonN

0647 ) hehH

0648 و wawW


064A ي yehY

064B ً fathatan

064C ٌ dammatan

064D ٍ kasratan

064E َ fatha

064F ُ damma

0650 ِ kasra

0651 ّ shadda

0652 ْ sukun



06A4 ? vehV


Not transliterated

0639 ع ainE

063A غ ghain G

0640 ـ tatwheel

0641 ف fehF

0642 ق qafQ

0643 ك kafK

0644 ل lamL

0645 م meemM

0646 ن noonN

0647 ) hehH

0648 و wawW


064A ي yehY

064B ً fathatan

064C ٌ dammatan

064D ٍ kasratan

064E َ fatha

064F ُ damma

0650 ِ kasra

0651 ّ shadda

0652 ْ sukun



06A4 ? vehV


6. Sukun marks the “absence of a vowel” and shadda is “doubling”,

also optional.

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

So we have achieved an exact representation of the Arabic namein the MRZ by a process of transliteration:

د ��ا��

د و م ح مMeem Hah MeemWaw Dal

م ي ح د ل ا د ب ع Ain Beh Dal Alef Lam Reh Hah Yeh Meem

M M D < E B

Space

LR XH YMXH DAW

The transliteration process is reversible, so the original Arabic name can be recovered from the MRZ:

حAin

MXHMWD<EBDALRXHYM

�ا��

م م و دMeem Hah Meem Waw Dal MeemHahLamAlefDalBeh

ع YehReh

ب د ا ل د ح ي م

د��

The transliterated name may only look approximately similarto the transcribed name in the VIZ,

but remember it is MACHINE readable, and not meant to be humanly readable.

MXHMWD<EBDALRXHYM

د ��ا��

Mismatches should not occur:

MXHMWD EBDALRXHYM

-------------

MXHMWD EBDALRXHYM

MWMR EBDALRXHYM

MXHDY EBDALRXHYM

-------------

MATCH !

MXHMWD EBDALRXHYM

Database

1. TF3 recommends that transcription be used in th e VIZand transliteration in the MRZ.

2. TF3 recommends that the transliteration table f or the MRZformulated here be included as an appendix to Doc 9303.

RECOMMENDATION 1:

VIZ:Transcription

MRZ:Transliteration

0639 ع ainE

063A غ ghain G

0640 ـ tatwheel

0641 ف fehF

0642 ق qafQ

0643 ك kafK

0644 ل lamL

0645 م meemM

0646 ن noonN

0647 ) hehH

0648 و wawW


064A ي yehY

064B ً fathatan

064C ٌ dammatan

064D ٍ kasratan

064E َ fatha

064F ُ damma

0650 ِ kasra

0651 ّ shadda

0652 ْ sukun



06A4 ? vehV


Unicode Arabic letter Name Doc 9303Doc 9303Doc 9303Doc 9303

0621 ء hamzaXE

0622 3 alef with madda aboveXAA

0623 أ alef with hamza aboveXAE

0624 ؤ waw with hamza aboveXWE

0625 إ alef with hamza belowXAI

0626 ئ yeh with hamza aboveXYE

0627 ا alefA

0628 ب behB

0629 ة teh marbutaXTA

062A ت tehT

062B ث thehXTH

062C ج jeemJ

062D ح hahXH

062E خ khahXKH

062F د dalD

0630 ذ thalXDH

0631 ر rehR

0632 ز zainZ

0633 س seenS

0634 ش sheenXSH

0635 ص sadXSS

0636 ض dadXDD

0637 ط tahXTT

0638 ظ zahXZZ

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

Not transliterated

RECOMMENDATION 2:

MRZ Name of arabic letter Arabic letter UnicodeA alef ا 0627

B beh ب 0628

C tcheh (Urdu) چ 0686

D dal د 062F

E ain ع 0639

F feh ف 0641

G ghain غ 063A

H heh ) 0647

J jeem ج 062C

K kaf ك 0643

L lam ل 0644

M meem م 0645

N noon ن 0646

P peh (Persian, Urdu) ? 067E

Q qaf ق 0642

R reh ر 0631

S seen س 0633

T teh ت 062A

V veh ? 06A4

W waw و 0648

Y yeh ي 064A

Z zain ز 0632

XAA alef with madda above 3 0622

XAE alef with hamza above أ 0623

XAI alef with hamza below إ 0625

XCH tcheh (Persian, Urdu) چ 0686

XDD dad ض 0636

XDH thal ذ 0630

XE hamza ء 0621

XFF feh with 3 dots below ? 06A5

XG gaf (Persian, Urdu) گ 06AF

XH hah ح 062D

XJ jeh (Urdu) ژ 0698

XKH khah خ 062E

XKK keheh (Persian, Urdu) ? 06A9

XSH sheen ش 0634

XSS sad ص 0635

XTA teh marbuta ة 0629

XTH theh ث 062B

XTT tah ط 0637

XWE waw with hamza above ؤ 0624

XXA alef wasla ? 0671

XYE yeh with hamza above ئ 0626

XYY alef maksura or Persian yeh (final position) ى 0649

XZZ zah ظ 0638

XZH jeh (Persian, Urdu) ژ 0698

To simplify recovery of the Arabic name -we include the

REVERSE TRANSLITERATION TABLE:

Mike EllisTF3 Leader

[email protected]

© 2008

Documents

TF3 Arabic transliteration PDF V2