#HINDI BENGALI ALPHABET COMPARISON HOW TO#
#HINDI BENGALI ALPHABET COMPARISON PLUS#

Tamil: а®¤а®®а®їа®ґаЇЌ а®Ћа®ґаЇЃа®¤аЇЌа®¤аЇЃ а®®аЇЃа®±аЇ€ This language of Sri Lanka, South India, and elsewhere stands out for having some boxy letters alongside the loops.

Sinhala: а·ѓа·’а¶‚а·„а¶Ѕ а¶…а¶ља·”а¶»а·” This language of Sri Lanka has a syllabic script with curvy, curly letters, several of which look like variants of w swinging loops. Odia: а¬‰а¬‡а¬•а¬їа¬Єа¬їа¬Ўа¬ја¬їа¬† а¬°аЃ The script for this language of East India includes many letters that look like balloons, some containing shapes like m, others with an extra curved line, which makes them look like they're moving. If you think of eyebrows as expressing a candid opinion, think of it as a Kannada opinion. The аІ symbol is the Kannada letter for 't.' Many of the other letters in this alphabet have the same 'eyebrow' on the top. Kannada: аІ•аІЁаіЌаІЁаІЎ аІ…аІ•аіЌаІ·аІ°аІ®аІѕаІІаі† You probably use letters from this South Indian alphabet without realizing it. This language of South India has a name that, in the Latin alphabet, is spelled the same way in either direction, and many of the letters in its own alphabet are symmetrical sets of loops and bumps, such as аґ¤ and аґ‹. Malayalam: аґ®аґІаґЇаґѕаґіаґІаґїаґЄаґї Now we're getting into the languages that feature a lot of circles. Note the hooks flowing over the top like the letter G and an upside-down letter J. Gujarati: аЄ—а«ЃаЄњаЄ°аЄѕаЄ¤а«Ђ аЄІаЄїаЄЄаЄї This script looks rather like a free-flowing version of the Devanagari without the line across the top. Think of that letter as resembling the A in Assamese. But only Assamese has the triangle with a second line inside а§° (standing for 'r' like in English 'rare'), and it uses it a fair bit. It is also used to write a few other languages such as Sikkimese and Ladakhi, but if you see it, you're probably looking at Tibetan.ДЄssamese and Bengali: а¦¬а¦ѕа¦‚а¦Іа¦ѕ а¦Іа¦їа¦Єа¦ї Both these languages have letters pointing to the left like а¦¬ (think Bengal tiger teeth), and both have squigglies like а¦І. Tibetan: аЅ–аЅјаЅ‘ај‹аЅ¦аѕђаЅ‘ајЌ This script uses a lot of curving downward strokes that can look like knife edges. Need a pun to remember it by? Think Pun-grabby! It looks rather like the Devanagari but it has a couple of letters that look like mechanical claws reaching down to grab something: аЁІ (sounds like 'l') and аЁЁ (sounds like 'n'). Gurmukhi: аЁ—а©ЃаЁ°аЁ®а©ЃаЁ–а©Ђ аЁІаЁїаЁЄа©Ђ This is the alphabet used by Punjabi. Its letters are generally rounded or square rather than triangular. Devanagari is pronounced like 'Dave a nuggery.' This is by far the most common and best known language with a line across its top.

We can divide these languages into three completely unscientific sets based on how they look: those with a line across the top, those that use a lot of circles, and those with hooks or rings on their ends.Дevanagari: а¤¦аҐ‡а¤µа¤Ёа¤ѕа¤—а¤°аҐЂ Devanagari is the name of the alphabet it is used for Hindi, Sanskrit, and quite a few other languages.

#HINDI BENGALI ALPHABET COMPARISON PLUS#

There are many languages in Indian and Southeast Asia that have distinctive writing systems, but they're all descended from the Brahmi script of some 2,300 years ago, and they all have the same general principle of a character standing for a consonant plus a vowel, with extra marks to specify what vowel.

#HINDI BENGALI ALPHABET COMPARISON HOW TO#

Here are the languages you're most likely to see, with some tips on how to identify them. Just keep an eye out for their signature looks - and maybe use one or two mental tricks to help you remember. But what about all those other alphabets? You can't be expected to memorize them all, of course. Recently, I wrote about how to use special characters to identify languages that use Latin alphabets.

Hindi bengali alphabet comparison