Documents in non-Roman scripts now constitute a sizeable part of world production, and their bibliographic control through Romanization is beset by many problems. Among these are the impossibility to simultaneously satisfy certain functional requirements, the multiplicity of schemes and their inconsistent use, and the susceptibility of the method…

Notes that the term "roman" when used to describe characters of written languages, can be confusing because it is overloaded with four different meanings. Distinguishes among these four meanings and suggests alternative terms for each of them. (RS)

Advocates the use of machine readable codes to accomplish romanization and promote the exchange of bibliographic data. Proposals are presented for transliteration standards, design of machine readable conversion codes, and the establishment of databases. (RAA)

To eliminate confusion caused by diverse spellings in Italian texts of words from languages using the Cyrillic alphabet, the adoption of a common system is urged that would establish correspondence between the letters and sounds of the two languages but keep the form of the original as much as possible. (CFM)

Discusses problems of information distortion resulting from romanization (i.e., representation of nonroman scripts in Latin characters) and modifications of USMARC format to support nonroman scripts in library catalogs. Efforts to develop a universal character set and its potential effects on USMARC are considered. (45 references) (MES)

Citing the confusion generated for both librarians and users that results from the Romanization of bibliographic entries written in non-Roman scripts, it is argued that a standardized solution generally applicable to the arrangement of non-Roman script entries in bibliographic control tools should be found and adopted. Such entries should not be…

The traditional theory of Chinese writing is that it is divorced from the language because as a non-alphabetic system, it cannot represent real speech. Chinese writing, however, is a functional linguistic system in its own right. Writing does not need to be totally dependent on speech, but can be related either to the phonological or the semantic…

Difficulties in transcription from the Hebrew to the Roman alphabet are discussed. The resolution of some of the problems in Judeo-Spanish texts using the "aljamiado" writing system are reviewed, including the use of some Hebrew consonants as vowels, representation of Judeo-Spanish sounds non-existent in Hebrew, and phonetic variations…

Script reform, the modification of an existing writing system, is often confused with script replacement of one writing system with another. Turkish underwent the replacement of Arabic script by an adaptation of Roman script under Kamel Ataturk, but a similar replacement in Persian was rejected because of the high rate of existing literacy in…

Summarizes developments of attempts to standardize written and spoken Japanese, from World War II to the present. (AM)

Discusses the romanization of Chinese characters in U.S. library bibliographic records; considers the advantages and disadvantages of changing from Wade-Giles romanization to pinyin; describes word division problems; proposes an alternative that uses a computer program; and considers the future possibilities of a multiscript, general purpose…

Provides suggestions for helping English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers who work with students who write in a different alphabet or use a different form of script deal with the handwriting of their classes at the start of English learning. It is a way to systematically check, revise, and improve learners' handwriting through the use of dictations.…

After a century of effort, directed at modernising Chinese script, it is still the case that Chinese characters (henceforth "hanzi") remain a deficient communication system both for human use and for mechanical application. In some respects, the reform of Chinese "hanzi" has been a very political process, driven ultimately by…

Discusses bibliographic access to documents in nonroman scripts and the need for standards for the way different scripts are encoded for data processing. A microcomputer-based system that transliterates Cyrillic text to a romanized version and back to Cyrillic is proposed. (10 references) (MES)

Two articles discuss Chinese libraries and materials: one reviews the role of bibliographic utilities in the bibliographic control of Chinese language materials in U.S. libraries, and one examines characteristics of administration in academic libraries in China from both historical perspective and current practice. (64 references) (LRW)