{"id":58760,"date":"2017-11-21T11:05:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=58760"},"modified":"2017-11-28T05:35:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T10:35:32","slug":"transliteration-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Transliteration Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

My recent opinion piece on the evils of the Oxford comma<\/strong><\/a> was more popular than I had anticipated; apparently, I\u2019m not the only person with strong feelings about punctuation. But as much as we love to nitpick and debate about the rules of English, the job of a writer\/editor is exponentially more complicated when you mix a second language into the equation, especially one with a completely different character set. <\/span><\/p>\n

Right off the bat, there\u2019s the issue of transliteration, which is no small thing. Let\u2019s take a word with an almost universally-accepted transliteration: the name Moshe. And yet, the transliteration \u201cMosheh\u201d is not unprecedented. (272,000 Google results, including Strong\u2019s Hebrew Lexicon, which is a fairly significant source.) It\u2019s hard to say that \u201cMosheh\u201d is \u201cwrong\u201d because, technically, it\u2019s a more accurate transliteration as the name Moshe ends in a letter <\/span>hei<\/span><\/i> in Hebrew, which is not reflected by the standard English spelling. (There\u2019s a series on OU Torah<\/strong><\/a> called <\/span>VaYigdal Moshe<\/span><\/i>, featuring <\/span>divrei Torah<\/span><\/i> by Rav Mosheh Twersky HY\u201dD. I find it interesting that Rav Twersky\u2019s colleagues and students spelled the series name \u201cMoshe\u201d even though the one whose content they present spelled his name \u201cMosheh.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

If such a discrepancy can be true for Moshe, as well as for other \u201csimple\u201d names like Avraham (Avrohom), Yaakov (Yaacov), and Eisav (Aisav), imagine the variations we get for names like Achashverosh, Cheftzibah or Mahershalalchashbaz. (Yes, that\u2019s a real name \u2013 Isaiah 8:3.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get back to Avraham\/Avrohom for a second. As much as I like to <\/span>kibbitz<\/span><\/i> (only half-jokingly) about <\/span>taf<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>saf<\/span><\/i> (see this article<\/strong><\/a> from the OU\u2019s <\/span>Jewish Action<\/span><\/i> magazine), the vowel <\/span>kamatz<\/span><\/i> is actually far more difficult to handle in transliteration. If one speaks with Sefardi-style pronunciation, in which the <\/span>kamatz<\/span><\/i> is pronounced the same as the <\/span>pasach<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>patach<\/span><\/i>), it\u2019s not much of a problem: Avraham, Yisrael, shalom. But for those of us who speak Ashkenazi-style, in which a <\/span>kamatz<\/span><\/i> is pronounced like \u201caw\u201d in \u201cfawn,\u201d there\u2019s no good transliteration. \u201cYisrael\u201d looks like it\u2019s written with a <\/span>pasach<\/span><\/i> in Hebrew (\u201cah\u201d), while \u201cYisroel\u201d looks like it\u2019s written with a <\/span>cholam<\/span><\/i> (\u201coh\u201d). But it\u2019s not practical to write Avrawhawm, Yisrawel and shawlom. Please, show me a graceful way to transliterate the <\/span>bracha<\/span><\/i> \u201cgaw-al Yisroel!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Another challenge is what to italicize as a foreign word. Certain words, like \u201cTorah\u201d and \u201ckosher\u201d have been adopted into English. Anything that is sufficiently common \u2013 like shul and mitzvah \u2013 likewise need not be italicized. But where\u2019s the line? I italicized <\/span>bracha<\/span><\/i> in the paragraph above; was that necessary? And if \u201ckosher\u201d need not be italicized, what about the less familiar verb form, to <\/span>kasher<\/span><\/i>? Or Hebrew\/English hybrids, as in \u201cthe rabbi <\/span>kashered<\/span><\/i> my kitchen?\u201d Sometimes it\u2019s easier to write around it and just say \u201ckosherize!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing that people do that makes me crazy is they capitalize every Hebrew (or Yiddish) word just because it\u2019s Jewish, as in \u201cThe Rabbi spoke in Shul about the Mitzvah of Chesed.\u201d No. We have rules in English about capitalization and common nouns are written lowercase: The rabbi spoke in shul about the mitzvah of <\/span>chesed<\/span><\/i>. This particular overcompensation completely bewilders me because Hebrew doesn\u2019t even have capital letters! So, the particular candelabra that was in the Temple was the Menorah but the thing you will light in your home on Chanukah is a menorah (or a <\/span>chanukiyah<\/span><\/i>, which I write lowercase even though the name comes from Chanukah, though I could hear capitalizing it as I do \u201cShabbaton\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

This over-capitalization even extends to pure English words for Jewish concepts, such as \u201cThe Jewish People settled the Land of Israel.\u201d There\u2019s absolutely no reason to capitalize \u201cpeople\u201d or \u201cland\u201d in that sentence. I freely admit, however, that I am guilty of writing about \u201cthe Books of the Bible\u201d and \u201cthe Name of God,\u201d so we all make judgment calls for various reasons. <\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking of God, oh my G-d. We have enough trouble deciding between God and G-d but I have also seen GOD, GD and \u2013 someone literally just recommended this to me \u2013 G0d (with a numeral zero for a “vowel”). How many options do we need for a word that\u2019s only three letters long? (For the record, GOD is unsupported by the rules of grammar, GD looks like an abbreviation and G0d with a zero looks like a typo. I think the standard two options are more than sufficient.)<\/span><\/p>\n

There are more issues I could discuss, such as the doubling of letters. This is grammatically appropriate when a consonant has a <\/span>dagesh chazak<\/span><\/i> (look for the dot in a letter that isn\u2019t <\/span>beis<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>kaf<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>pei<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>taf<\/span><\/i>). Take a glance at the cover of the book we read at the <\/span>Seder<\/span><\/i>. (Or should that be <\/span>seder<\/span><\/i>?) The letter <\/span>gimmel<\/span><\/i> has a <\/span>dagesh<\/span><\/i>, hence <\/span>Haggadah<\/span><\/i>. The word for kindness, however, has no <\/span>dagesh<\/span><\/i> in the <\/span>samech<\/span><\/i> and is therefore, in my opinion, properly transliterated <\/span>chesed<\/span><\/i> rather than <\/span>chessed<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

It may seem inconsistent that I spelled the name of the third Hebew letter \u201c<\/span>gimmel<\/span><\/i>\u201d in the paragraph above even though the letter <\/span>mem<\/span><\/i> in its name has no <\/span>dagesh<\/span><\/i>. I did that because the rules of English grammar will ensure proper pronunciation of the short \u201ci\u201d when followed by a double consonant, while the pronunciation of \u201c<\/span>gimel<\/span><\/i>\u201d would not be as evident.[1] Similarly, I noted earlier that I don\u2019t italicize the word Torah but sharp-eyed readers will have observed that in the second paragraph I wrote \u201c<\/span>divrei Torah<\/span><\/i>.\u201d I chose to do that because splitting the single phrase \u201c<\/span>divrei<\/span><\/i> Torah\u201d into half-italics is visually cumbersome.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the same point I had regarding the Oxford comma: the rules exist to facilitate communication. Sometimes clarity or elegance requires stepping outside the box of dogma. Will I always do the same thing? Not necessarily. As Walt Whitman wrote, \u201cDo I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.\u201d All I hope is that aspiring writers familiarize themselves with the basics so that their exceptions will be informed, conscious decisions.[2]<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. So why don\u2019t I double the \u201cs\u201d in \u201cchesed,\u201d which has a short \u201ce?\u201d I feel that the spelling \u201cchessed\u201d makes one more likely to read the \u201cch\u201d as it is pronounced in chair rather than as it is in \u201cBach.\u201d You can disagree with my reasons but my point is that such decisions should <\/span><\/i>have<\/span><\/i> reasons!<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n
  2. And don’t get me started on trying to transliterate the shva<\/em>!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    My recent opinion piece on the evils of the Oxford comma was more popular than I had anticipated; apparently, I\u2019m not the only person with strong feelings about punctuation. But as much as we love to nitpick and debate about the rules of English, the job of a writer\/editor is exponentially more complicated when you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":58761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nTransliteration Blues - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"All I hope is that aspiring writers familiarize themselves with the basics so that their exceptions will be informed, conscious decisions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Transliteration Blues - OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All I hope is that aspiring writers familiarize themselves with the basics so that their exceptions will be informed, conscious decisions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OU Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-21T16:05:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-28T10:35:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hebrew.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/\",\"name\":\"Transliteration Blues - OU Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hebrew.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-21T16:05:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-28T10:35:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/50551cbad585e4b2a31b4b0227e06c1c\"},\"description\":\"All I hope is that aspiring writers familiarize themselves with the basics so that their exceptions will be informed, conscious decisions.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/transliteration-blues\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hebrew.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/hebrew.jpg\",\"width\":520,\"height\":334,\"caption\":\"Hebrew Alphabet\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/\",\"name\":\"OU Life\",\"description\":\"Everyday Jewish Living\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/50551cbad585e4b2a31b4b0227e06c1c\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Jack-Abramowitz_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Rabbi-Jack-Abramowitz_avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Jack Abramowitz is Torah Content Editor at the Orthodox Union. 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