What are some guidelines to transliterate Italian to Hebrew?

 

Broadly speaking, it’s fairly easy, as Italian uses the same vowels as in Hebrew (in fact, it’s a common way of explaining Hebrew vowels to English speakers). By default, the /a/ sound is assumed, and the /i/ sound is indicated by using a yod as though it were the letter i in Italian. If the vowel is an /e/, /o/ or /u/ sound, use niqqud to state a ségol, ḥolam, or shuruq, respectively. However:

• If the word starts with a vowel, use an aleph to “carry” it—e.g. אוניברסיטה
• If the /a/ sound is at the end of a word—e.g. università—indicate it with a héh sophit (e.g. אוניברסיטה)

Why have you learned Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic or Faroese as second language? What aspects of those languages are you fascina…

 

(My answer to this question at Quora.com)

I learned a little bit of Norwegian during a summer holiday that I took there in 1981, which ended up being extended by several weeks, with a repeat visit a few months later, and another in 1990.

I was struck by the similarities between it and the Anglo-Saxon part of English (e.g., Skal vi gå roing og fiske? = Shall we go rowing and fishing?); enchanted by its distinctive rhythms of speech; fascinated that Norwegian mothers call to their small children with exactly the same expression and intonation as Jamaican mothers (Kom nå!/Com,nuh!); and marvelled how the vagaries of the Indo-European etymology can lead to virtually the same word—cald in Norwegian (“cold”), and caldo in Italian (“hot”)—having opposite meanings.

I would jump at the opportunity to complete my knowledge of the language, but that will probably have to wait for another lifetime…

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