TF3 Arabic Transliteration PDF V2.3

Mike Ellis TF3 Leader

TAG/MRTD 18 Montreal V2.31 05/2008 May 5-8, 2008 The Machine Readable Passport consists of 2 zones: The Visual Inspection Zone for data to be read by inspectors:

Visual Inspection Zone

VIZ The Machine Readable Zone to be read by machine:

Machine Readable Zone MRZ The name can be treated differently in each zone:

Name: Thérèse CAÑON In the VIZ:

Name: Thérèse CAÑON

Name by convention with diacritical marks & VIZ national characters In the MRZ:

Name: Thérèse CAÑON

Name by convention with diacritical marks & VIZ national characters

MRZ Name limited to A-Z, machine readable The technical terms for this process are:

TRANSCRIPTION (phonetic) VIZ The technical terms for this process are:

TRANSCRIPTION (phonetic) VIZ

MRZ TRANSLITERATION Arabic

Official language of:

Tunisia Lebanon Syria Iran Morocco Palestine Iraq Jordan Algeria Kuwait Libya Egypt Bahrain Qatar UAE Saudi Arabia Mauritania Oman Niger Chad Sudan Yemen Djibouti

Somalia

Comoros And the Arabic font is used in other languages:

Kurdish Farsi Pashto & Dari Tunisia Lebanon Syria Iran Morocco Palestine Iraq Afghanistan Jordan Algeria Kuwait Pakistan Libya Egypt Bahrain Qatar UAE Saudi Arabia Urdu, Shahmukhi, Sindhi Mauritania Oman Niger Chad Sudan Yemen Hausa Djibouti

Somalia

Comoros This is a well-known name 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 12. Mo’ammar el-Gadhafi 23. Muammar Ghadafi 2. Mo’ammar Gadhafi 13. Moamar El Kadhafi 24. Muammar Ghaddafi 3. Muammar Kaddafi 14. Muammar al-Qadhafi 25. Muamar Kaddafi 4. Muammar Qadhafi 15. Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi 26. Muammar Quathafi 5. Moammar El Kadhafi 16. Mu’ammar Qadafi 27. Mohammar Q’udafi 6. Muammar Gadafi 17. Moamar Gaddafi 28. Muammar Gheddafi 7. Mu’ammar al-Qadafi 18. Mu’ammar Qadhdhafi 29. Muamar Al-Kaddafi 8. Moamer El Kazzafi 19. Muammar Khaddafi 30. Moammar Khadafy 9. Moamar al-Gaddafi 20. Muammar al-Khaddafi 31. Moammar Qudhafi 10. Mu’ammar Al Qathafi 21. Mu’amar al-Kadafi 32. Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi 11. Muammar Al Qathafi 22. Muammar Ghaddafy د ا This is a common Arabic name: د ا

Mahmoud

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

Mahmood

Mehmood and 52 more... د ا

Abd-al-Rahiim The second component of this Arabic name has Abdalraheem at least 145 Latin transcriptions. Abd ar-Raheem

Abdul Rahim

Abd al Raheem

and 140 more...

From: www.kanji.org/cjk/arabic د ا

ا د

Mahmoud Abd-al-Rahiim

Mahmud Abdalraheem While not all combinations might occur, this isMahmut a possible 57 x 145 = 8,265Abd Latin ar-Raheem transcriptions - from ONE name in Arabic script! Mahmood Abdul Rahim

Mehmood Abd al Raheem

and 52 more... and 140 more...

From: www.kanji.org/cjk/arabic Mismatches are likely to occur Database ------MAHMOUD ABD-AL-RAHEEM MUAMAR ABD-AL-RAHEEM MAHDI ABD-AL-RAHIM ------

MAHMUT ABDUL RAHIIM MAHMOUD ABD-AL-RAHEEM

MISMATCH ! 1. VIZ

Transcription Doc 9303 states that if the name is in a non-Latin script, a transcription into Latin characters must be provided. There are many transcription standards:

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b ب Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة Teh t t t t t t ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj ج Hah h h h h h h ح Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Zain z z z z z z ز Seen s s s s s s س We take the name in the Arabic script, and transcribe each part, according to a transcription standard or the practice in each issuing country.

ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū Bakr ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū Bakr Mohammed ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū Bakr Mohammed ibn ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū Bakr Mohammed ibn Zakar īya ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū BakrMohammed ibn Zakar īya al-Rāzi You will notice the following points about the transcription:

Short vowels inferred by user ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū BakrMohammed ibn Zakar īya al-Rāzi

The short vowels are not included in the Arabic name, but are added by the translator. “Zakaria” or “Zakar īya” “bin” or “ibn”

ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū BakrMohammed ibn Zakar īya al-Rāzi

The spelling may vary in different countries. Diacritical marks ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū BakrMohammed ibn Zakar īya al-Rāzi

Diacritical marks, indicating pronunciation, are permitted in the VIZ, but NOT in the MRZ. So the transcribed name in Latin characters is put into the VIZ:

ا زآ ا ازى

Ab ū Bakr Mohammed ibn Zakar īya al-Rāzi You will notice the following about the transcription standards:

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b ب Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة (Teh t t t t tAlternatives t (choices ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj ج Hah h h h h h h ح Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Zain z z z z z z ز LatinSeen characters s may sbe possible, s depe snding s upon context سMore than one Transcription standards

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b characters بSpecial & silent Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة Teh t t t t t t ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj ج Hah h h h h h h ح Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Zain z z z z z z ز .charactersSeen s are s transcribed s by s special s marks, s or not at all سSome Arabic Transcription standards

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b ب Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة Teh t t t t t t ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj ج Hah h h h h h h ح Diacritical marks Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Zain z z z z z z ز .Seen markss are used s to sdistinguish s character s ss سDiacritical Transcription standards

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b ب Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة Teh t t t t t t ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj Compound characters ج Hah h h h h h h ح Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Zain z z z z z z ز ?(ح ) ”and s “h (ت ) same s as “t” s (ث )Seen characters:s sis “th” s سCompound Transcription standards

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b characters بSpecial & silent Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة (Teh t t t t tAlternatives t (choices ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj ج Hah h h h h h h ح Diacritical marks Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Compound characters Zain z z z z z z ز All these variations lead to name differences Seen s s s s s s س Transcription standards

Arabic DIN 31635 ISO 233 ISO/R 233 UN ALA-LC EI character 1982 1984 1961 1972 1997 1960 ----‘ Alef ā ا Beh b b b b b b characters بSpecial & silent Teh h,t t , h,t h,t a,at marbuta ة (Teh t t t t tAlternatives t (choices ت Theh t t t th th th ث Jeem ğ ğ ğ j j dj ج Hah h h h h h h ح Diacritical marks Khah h h h kh kh kh خ Dal d d d d d d د Thal d d d dh dh dh ذ Reh r r r r r r ر Compound characters Zain z z z z z z ز and make transcription unsuitable for the MRZ. Seen s s s s s s س TF3 does NOT recommend that the transcription in the VIZ be standardized.

TF3 recommends that each issuing country use an existing transcription standard for the VIZ, or the procedure that has been traditionally used in that country.

However, the ICAO TAG/MRTD may decide to standardize the transcription in the VIZ. 2. MRZ

Transliteration We must use transliteration in the MRZ as we are limited to ‘A’ to ‘Z’. We cannot have diacritical marks, etc, as in the VIZ. This is because the MRZ is meant for MACHINE READING. Starting again with the Arabic name in the VIZ:

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

ا زآ ا ازى

و ب ا Alef Beh Waw ا زآ ا ازى

ر ك ب Space و ب ا Alef Beh Waw Beh Kaf Reh and so on, until we have all the individual characters:

ا زآ ا ازى

Space ن بSpace د م ح مSpace ر ك بSpace و ب ا Alef Beh Waw Beh Kaf Reh Meem Hah Meem Dal Beh Noon ا ي ر ك ز ى ز ا ر ل ا Space Zain Kaf Reh Yeh Alef Alef Lam Reh Alef Zain Farsi Yeh We then take each Arabic character, and looking up a transliteration table, we find the Latin equivalent:

ا زآ ا ازى

Space ن بSpace د م ح مSpace ر ك بSpace و ب ا Alef Beh Waw Beh Kaf Reh Meem Hah Meem Dal Beh Noon ا ي ر ك ز ى ز ا ر ل ا Space Zain Kaf Reh Yeh Alef Alef Lam Reh Alef Zain Farsi Yeh

A ا زآ ا ازى

Space ن بSpace د م ح مSpace ر ك بSpace و ب ا Alef Beh Waw Beh Kaf Reh Meem Hah Meem Dal Beh Noon

ى ز ا ر ل ا ا ي ر ك ز Zain Kaf Reh Yeh Alef Alef Lam Reh Alef Zain Farsi Yeh

A B ا زآ ا ازى

A BW In the MRZ a “space” becomes ‘<‘

ا زآ ا ازى

A B W < and so on, until we get to “hah”. In our transliteration table the Latin ‘H’ is already taken by “heh”, so we use ‘XH’ for “hah”. This preserves some phonetic similarity.

ا زآ ا ازى

ABW< BK R

ا زآ ا ازى

ABW

ا زآ ا ازى

ABW

Name by convention with diacritical marks & national characters

Name limited to A-Z, machine readable There are many transliteration standards:

Arabic character Buckwalter ASMO 449 SATTS Alef AGA ا Beh b H B Buckwalter ب Teh p I ? marbuta ة Teh t J T ت Theh v K C ث Jeem j L J ASMO 449 ج Hah HMH ح Khah x N O خ Dal d O D SATTS د Thal *PZ ذ Reh r Q R ر ; Zain z R ز (Seen s S S (this is a partial table س Transliteration standards

Arabic character Buckwalter ASMO 449 SATTS Alef AGA ASMO 449 is an arbitrary ا Beh b H B sequence which preserves ب Teh p I ? .marbuta no phonetic similarity ة Teh t J T ت Theh v K C ث Jeem j L J ج Hah HMH ح Khah x N O خ Dal d O D د Thal *PZ ذ Reh r Q R ر ; Zain z R ز Seen s S S س Transliteration standards

Arabic character Buckwalter ASMO 449 SATTS Alef AGA ا Beh b H B ب Teh p I ? marbuta ة Teh t J T ت Theh v K C ث Jeem j L J Buckwalter contains many ج .Hah HMH lower case characters ح (Khah x N O (NOT A-Z خ Dal d O D د Thal *PZ ذ Reh r Q R ر ; Zain z R ز Seen s S S س Transliteration standards

Arabic character Buckwalter ASMO 449 SATTS Alef AGA ا Beh b H B ب Teh p I ? marbuta ة Teh t J T ت Theh v K C ث Jeem j L J Buckwalter & SATTS ج Hah HMH contain many special characters ح Khah (x N O (NOT A-Z خ Dal d O D د Thal *PZ ذ Reh r Q R ر ; Zain z R ز Seen s S S س Transliteration standards

Arabic character Buckwalter ASMO 449 SATTS Alef AGA ا Beh b H B ب Teh p I ? marbuta ة Teh t J T ت Theh v K C ث Jeem j L J For these reasons, these ج Hah HMH transliteration schemes are NOT suitable ح Khah .x N O for the MRZ خ Dal d O D د Thal *PZ ذ Reh r Q R ر ; Zain z R ز Seen s S S س Our suggested transliteration standard:

Arabic character Buckwalter SATTS Alef AA ا Beh b B ب Teh p ? marbuta ة Teh t T ت Theh v C ث Jeem j J ج Hah HH 1. We discount schemes like ASMO 449 ح Khah x O خ Dal d D د Thal *Z ذ Reh r R ر ; Zain z ز Seen s S س Our suggested transliteration standard:

Arabic character Buckwalter SATTS TF3 Scheme Alef AA A ا Beh b B B ب Teh p ? XTA marbuta ة Teh t T T ت Theh v C XTH ث Jeem j J J 2. We use some ج Hah HH XH characters similarly ح .Khah x O XKH to Buckwalter & SATTS خ Dal d D D د Thal *Z XDH ذ Reh r R R ر Zain z ; Z ز Seen s S S س Our suggested transliteration standard:

Arabic character Buckwalter SATTS TF3 Scheme Alef AA A ا Beh b B B We use ‘X’ as an .3 ب Teh p ? XTA ,marbuta escape character ة Teh t T T and try to preserve ت phonetic similarity. Theh v C XTH ث Jeem j J J ج Hah HH XH ‘X’ has no Arabic ح Khah x O XKH equivalent خ Dal d D D (and a precedent of د being used for ICAO Thal *Z XDH (transliteration ذ Reh r R R ر Zain z ; Z ز Seen s S S س Our suggested transliteration standard: ain E ع 0639 063A ghain G غ Unicode Arabic letter Name Doc 9303 tatwheel Not transliterated ـ hamza XE 0640 ء 0621 feh F ف alef with madda above XAA 0641 0622 qaf Q ق alef with hamza above XAE 0642 أ 0623 kaf K ك waw with hamza above XWE 0643 ؤ 0624 lam L ل alef with hamza below XAI 0644 إ 0625 meem M م yeh with hamza above XYE 0645 ئ 0626 noon N ن alef A 0646 ا 0627 beh B 0647 heh H ب 0628 0629 teh marbuta waw W و XTA 0648 ة 062A teh alef maksura XAY ى T 0649 ت 062B theh yeh Y ي XTH 064A ث 062C jeem J 064B ً fathatan Not transliterated ج 062D hah XH 064C ٌ dammatan Not transliterated ح 062E khah XKH 064D ٍ kasratan Not transliterated خ 062F dal D 064E َ fatha Not transliterated د 0630 thal XDH 064F ُ damma Not transliterated ذ 0631 reh R kasra Not transliterated ِ 0650 ر 0632 zain Z shadda Not transliterated ّ 0651 ز 0633 seen S sukun Not transliterated ْ 0652 س 0634 sheen XSH 0670 superscript alef ش ? Not transliterated 0635 sad XSS alef wasla XXA ? 0671 ص dad XDD ض 0636 tah XTT 06A4 ? veh V ط 0637 zah XZZ 06A5 ? feh with 3 dots below XFF ظ 0638 ain E ع 0639 ghain G غ 063A tatwheel ـ 0640 feh F ف 0641 qaf Q ق Short vowels, being optional 0642 .4 kaf K ك 0643 lam L ل in Arabic names, are not transliterated 0644 meem M م 0645 noon N ن 0646 0647 heh H waw W و 0648 alef maksura XAY ى 0649 yeh Y ي 064A 064B ً fathatan Not transliterated 064C ٌ dammatan Not transliterated 064D ٍ kasratan Not transliterated 064E َ fatha Not transliterated 064F ُ damma Not transliterated kasra Not transliterated ِ 0650 shadda ّ 0651 sukun ْ 0652 0670 ? superscript alef Not transliterated 0671 ? alef wasla XXA

06A4 ? veh V 06A5 ? feh with 3 dots below XFF ain E ع 0639 ghain G غ 063A tatwheel Not transliterated ـ 0640 feh F ف 0641 qaf Q ق Tatwheel is a graphics “filler” character. 0642 .5 kaf K ك 0643 lam L ل 0644 meem M م 0645 noon N ن 0646 0647 heh H waw W و 0648 alef maksura XAY ى 0649 yeh Y ي 064A 064B ً fathatan 064C ٌ dammatan 064D ٍ kasratan 064E َ fatha 064F ُ damma kasra ِ 0650 shadda ّ 0651 sukun ْ 0652 0670 ? superscript alef 0671 ? alef wasla XXA

06A4 ? veh V 06A5 ? feh with 3 dots below XFF ain E ع 0639 ghain G غ 063A tatwheel ـ 0640 feh F ف Sukun marks the “absence of a 0641 .6 qaf Q ق 0642 kaf K ك vowel” and shadda is “doubling”, 0643 lam L ل also optional. 0644 meem M م 0645 noon N ن 0646 0647 heh H waw W و 0648 alef maksura XAY ى 0649 yeh Y ي 064A 064B ً fathatan 064C ٌ dammatan 064D ٍ kasratan 064E َ fatha 064F ُ damma kasra ِ 0650 shadda Not transliterated ّ 0651 0652 sukun Not transliterated ْ 0670 ? superscript alef 0671 ? alef wasla XXA

06A4 ? veh V 06A5 ? feh with 3 dots below XFF So we have achieved an exact representation of the Arabic name in the MRZ by a process of transliteration:

د ا

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

M XHDAMW D < E B LRXH YM The transliteration process is reversible, so the original Arabic name can be recovered from the MRZ:

MXHMWD

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

د ا The transliterated name may only look approximately similar to the transcribed name in the VIZ, but remember it is MACHINE readable, and not meant to be humanly readable.

MXHMWD

د ا Mismatches should not occur: Database ------MXHMWD EBDALRXHYM MWMR EBDALRXHYM MXHDY EBDALRXHYM ------

MXHMWD EBDALRXHYM MXHMWD EBDALRXHYM

MATCH ! 1. TF3 recommends that transcription be used in the VIZ and transliteration in the MRZ.

2. TF3 recommends that the transliteration table for the MRZ formulated here be included as an appendix to Doc 9303. RECOMMENDATION 1:

VIZ: Transcription

MRZ: Transliteration RECOMMENDATION 2: ain E ع 0639 063A ghain G غ Unicode Arabic letter Name Doc 9303 tatwheel Not transliterated ـ hamza XE 0640 ء 0621 feh F ف alef with madda above XAA 0641 0622 qaf Q ق alef with hamza above XAE 0642 أ 0623 kaf K ك waw with hamza above XWE 0643 ؤ 0624 lam L ل alef with hamza below XAI 0644 إ 0625 meem M م yeh with hamza above XYE 0645 ئ 0626 noon N ن alef A 0646 ا 0627 beh B 0647 heh H ب 0628 0629 teh marbuta waw W و XTA 0648 ة 062A teh alef maksura XAY ى T 0649 ت 062B theh yeh Y ي XTH 064A ث 062C jeem J 064B ً fathatan Not transliterated ج 062D hah XH 064C ٌ dammatan Not transliterated ح 062E khah XKH 064D ٍ kasratan Not transliterated خ 062F dal D 064E َ fatha Not transliterated د 0630 thal XDH 064F ُ damma Not transliterated ذ 0631 reh R kasra Not transliterated ِ 0650 ر 0632 zain Z shadda Not transliterated ّ 0651 ز 0633 seen S sukun Not transliterated ْ 0652 س 0634 sheen XSH 0670 superscript alef ش ? Not transliterated 0635 sad XSS alef wasla XXA ? 0671 ص dad XDD ض 0636 tah XTT 06A4 ? veh V ط 0637 zah XZZ 06A5 ? feh with 3 dots below XFF ظ 0638 MRZ Name of arabic letter Arabic letter Unicode - To simplify recovery of the Arabic name 0627 ا A alef we include the 0628 ب B beh 0686 چ (C tcheh (Urdu :062F REVERSE TRANSLITERATION TABLE د D dal 0639 ع E ain 0641 ف F feh 0636 ض 063A XDD dad غ G ghain 0630 ذ H heh 0647 XDH thal 0621 ء 062C XE hamza ج J jeem XFF feh with 3 dots below ? 06A5 0643 ك K kaf 06AF گ (XG gaf (Persian, Urdu 0644 ل L lam 062D ح XH hah 0645 م M meem 0698 ژ (XJ jeh (Urdu 0646 ن N noon 062E خ P peh (Persian, Urdu) ? 067E XKH khah XKK keheh (Persian, Urdu) ? 06A9 0642 ق Q qaf 0634 ش XSH sheen 0631 ر R reh 0635 ص XSS sad 0633 س S seen 0629 ة 062A XTA teh marbuta ت T teh 062B ث V veh ? 06A4 XTH theh 0637 ط XTT tah 0648 و W waw 0624 ؤ 064A XWE waw with hamza above ي Y yeh XXA alef wasla ? 0671 0632 ز Z zain 0626 ئ XAA alef with madda above 0622 XYE yeh with hamza above XAE alef with hamza above 0623 XYY alef maksura 0649 ى (or Persian yeh (final position أ 0638 ظ XZZ zah 0625 إ XAI alef with hamza below 0698 ژ (XZH jeh (Persian, Urdu 0686 چ (XCH tcheh (Persian, Urdu Mike Ellis TF3 Leader [email protected]