Domain names for non-Latin charachter sets

How do the Russians, Bulgarians, Greeks and Turks do it?

[rencke]

Most European languages have an extended character set, which can not be used in domain names. Instead, the nearest equvalent found between a and z would be used. For example å and ä become a, while ö becomes o.

But how is this handled when the local language has a completely different character set? This is the case in Russia and a large number of other countries using the Cyrillic set, in Greece which has its own charachter set and to some extent also in Turkey and a number of other countries, where several characters lack a near equivalent in Latin.

Are there accepted conventions for the transcription of these totally different characters into Latin? Does anyone know?

[Goblin]

there is no official convention - here's one accepteted in bulgarian chats, which seems to be accepted everywhere (i guess i don't have to say you that you have to change your encoding to "cyrillic" to read this :)):

a (phonetically 'a') = a
á (b) ='b'
â (v) ='v'
ã (g) ='g'
ä (d) ='d'
å (e) ='e'
æ ('j' or 'dj') ='j', or 'zh'
ç (z) ='z'
è (i) ='i'
é (y) =almost not used
ê (k) ='k'
ë (L) ='L'
ì (m) ='m'
í (n) ='n'
î (o) ='o'
ï (p) ='p'
ð (r) ='r'
ñ (s) ='s'
ò (t)='t'
ó ('u'or 'oo' like in 'look') ='u'
ô (f) ='f'
õ (h) ='h'
ö (ts) ='ts'
÷ ('tch' or 'ch') = 'ch'
ø ('sh') ='sh'
ù ('sht') ='sht'
ú (let's say a sound between 'a' and 'o')='y'
ü not used in latin alph.
þ ('iu') ='iu' (sometimes)
ÿ ('ia') ='q'

I have to check all this as i may be wrong somewhere but this should do.

[rencke]

It works! Thanks Goblin.

Hey, everybody! Set you browser's coding to cyrillic, click "Printable version" below and you've got yourself a nice cheat sheet.

If any Russian seeing this feels that the Bulgarians haven't got it right, make sure to post your objections right here.

Otherwise, we are just waiting for the Greeks to tell us how they handle the problem.

[VladT]

The correcion for russian spelling:
russian letter (how to speak) = how to write in latin letters

a (a, like Mark) = 'a'
á (b) ='b'
â (v) ='v'
ã (g, like google) ='g'
ä (d) ='d'
å (e, like Ben) ='e'
¸ (like in your) = 'yo'
æ ('j' or 'dj') ='j', or 'zh'
ç (z, like zone) ='z'
è (i, like teen) ='i'
é (not a sound) = 'y'
ê (k) ='k'
ë (L) ='L'
ì (m) ='m'
í (n) ='n'
î (o) ='o'
ï (p) ='p'
ð (r, like rest) ='r'
ñ (s) ='s'
ò (t)='t'
ó (like 'look') ='u'
ô (f) ='f'
õ (h, like home) ='h'
ö (ts) ='ts'
÷ ('tch' or 'ch') = 'ch'
ø ('sh') ='sh'
ù ('ssh', like) ='sch'
ú (not a sound, just marks hardness)
ü (not a sound, just marks softness) = '`'
û (most difficult for foreigners :) and no english words close to this sound) = 'y'
ý ('ae', like 'at') = 'e'
þ (exactly 'you') ='u'
ÿ ('ia') ='ya' or 'ja'

I hope this info is useful for you. :) Russian is my native.

[rencke]

ñàéò îá WebmasterWorld, VladT. I hope you will like this place. There is an enourmous amount of good information to read here. In the European forum, we have so many ongoing and open discussions, that you have to set the drop down box at the bottom of the index page to "Show all discussions", but I guess you already found that out. You will find additional information about the European forum in the Charter [webmasterworld.com].

"Spasibo" for the quick reference to transcription of the Russian language into Latin.

Readers: Set your browser to show Cyrillic and you can then print a convenient 'cheat sheet' for your own use.

PS: The two first words in this post are supposed to mean "welcome to". I hope I got it right.