Writing Arabic in English
Languages and libraries
keyboard layout for arabic
SHOW HN2025
How HN took it
2 positive, 6 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 6 critical, out of 14 comments about the project. Thread score -0.29.
Docs: 0 for, 3 againstIdea: 1 for, 2 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Good work and neat layout choices
From 2 comments
Great work. I was expecting to use the informal transliteration keyboard, using 3 for ع or using 2 for ء or 7 for ح
resiros on HNNeat but it looks like it is reinventing the Arabic QWERTY layout slightly differently. The QWERTY layout uses shift for the special letters here. So ش is shift+S. Another neat…
kdaker on HN
Objections
Yamli and similar tools existed for about twenty years
From 3 comments
This also exists for Arabic and other languages and has for maybe twenty years. The first popular Arabic one was by a startup called Yamli. Google then launched a transliteration…
Ozzie_osman on HNYamli did this ~20 years ago.
anonu on HNReminds me of Yamli (https://www.yamli.com/arabic-keyboard/) which lets you type in English and transliterates it to Arabic. For example you type habibi and it transliterates it…
ls-a on HN
Arabic transliteration is not standardized across dialects
From 2 comments
Minus the short hand you can do there. Also unlike pinyin, there is no standard transliteration of Arabic into Latin characters nor vice verse, which makes reading transliterated…
eddythompson80 on HNThat’s the so-called Arabic chat alphabet, and it’s used across the Arab world. But it isn’t standardized, and everyone writes it differently.
rafram on HN
Some linguistic claims in the article about emphatic letters are wrong
From 1 comment
There are many existing transliteration systems for Arabic, among them SATTS (developed to allow for transmission of Arabic text over telegraphs), the Buckwalter system…
mcswell on HN
Characters render incorrectly on some devices
From 1 comment
your beginning and end of word examples render weirdly here (chrome/android). e.g. byt should be بيت without the squiggle at the beginning
zem on HN
Requests
Support for word-for-word translation and natural sentence examples
From 1 comment
Clicking in and hoping to see something about woed for word translation of Arabic, because that is something I enjoy when I see with other languages. I know some people do it for…
skinkestek on HN
Consult a Lebanese speaker about the transliteration
From 1 comment
The author of the article needs to get in touch with a Lebanese person. Just about any Lebanese who has lived mostly in Lebanon will do. They have a popular and simple system for…
stevoski on HN
Questions
Which language examples are meant by the request for natural sentence structure
From 1 comment
Are you referring to the language examples in the article? Could you please give an example of what you mean?
Waraqa on HN
Alternatives named
Yamli
From 2 comments
Reminds me of Yamli (https://www.yamli.com/arabic-keyboard/) which lets you type in English and transliterates it to Arabic. For example you type habibi and it transliterates it…
ls-a on HNThis also exists for Arabic and other languages and has for maybe twenty years. The first popular Arabic one was by a startup called Yamli. Google then launched a transliteration…
Ozzie_osman on HN
Microsoft Maren
From 2 comments
Windows used to have one that acted as a system keyboard. Funny thing is, if my memory is correct, the official website for it was a silverlight application, so it didn't exactly…
eddythompson80 on HNThis also exists for Arabic and other languages and has for maybe twenty years. The first popular Arabic one was by a startup called Yamli. Google then launched a transliteration…
Ozzie_osman on HN
Google Ta3reeb
From 1 comment
This also exists for Arabic and other languages and has for maybe twenty years. The first popular Arabic one was by a startup called Yamli. Google then launched a transliteration…
Ozzie_osman on HN