Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, PhD
Transliterating (or, Romanization of) Hebrew into English is a
problem, primarily because Hebrew is a Semitic language and English is not. Hebrew has some letters that are not reproduced
in English or other languages that are not Semitic. (Please note: Sumerian, even though it uses cuneiform
signs, is not a Semitic language).
Which are the problematic
Hebrew letters?
1.
The guttural
letter HET can be transliterated
variously: h (in academic Hebrew, with a dot underneath), Chet (in German) , Jet
(in Spanish) or simply h. I prefer the last one, even though, in English or
Hebrew , it sounds close to the letter heh.
2.
The guttural
letter AYIN can be rendered as a, even though it sounds like the simple Hebrew
letter alef. (Many Middle Eastern Jews
still pronounce the letter correctly. Arabic has a similar letter)
3.
The letter R, is
not rolled the way some Israelis do, but is rendered as a simple r.
4.
The letter KOF, at
the back of your throat, is difficult to distinguish from the Hebrew letter
KAF.
5.
The letter TET, t
(with a dot underneath, in academic Hebrew), is not pronounced differently from
t (taf).
6.
The letter
SAMEH, is pronounced like the letter sin, as s.
In my practice, the
Hebrew alphabet is transliterated (and pronounced like Latin) as follows:
a (alef), b (bet), v (vet), g (gimal), d (dalet), h (heh), v (vav),
z (zayin), h (het), t (tet), y (yod), k (kaf), h (haf), l (lamed), m (mem), n
(nun), s (sameh), a (ayin), p (peh), f (feh), ts (tsadi), k (kof), r (resh), sh
(shin), s (sin), t (taf).
NOTE: I do not like
the transliteration of the festival of Hanukah, as Chanukah (as in German), or
as Janukah (as in Spanish). In French, Chanukah, would be pronounced as
Shanukah.
Nor do I like to
transliterate Baruh (“blessed”), as baruch.
In Hebrew , a “happy
holyday,” would be Hag Sameah, and not Chag Sameach.
Furthermore, today,
in Israel, they use the Sefardic (i.e., of Spain) pronunciation of Hebrew and
the Ashkenazic (Eastern-European) script. Therefore, we do not say and
transliterate Boruh Ato Adonoy, but Baruh Ata Adonay. (“Blessed are you, Oh,
God”).
This is how I would
transliterate the first sentence of the Hebrew Bible:
Bereshit bara Elohim et ha-shamayim ve-et
ha-aretz. (“When God began to create heaven and earth” , JPS, Gen.1:1)
Now, that is simple
and readable!
