Is Greek transliteration needed or beneficial for text publication?

[davejonescue]

Hello. Was just wondering from those who may have experience in this arena if transliteration along with the conversion of Greek shorthand (ligatures) in the republication of Puritan texts is necessary or preferred? I was able to find a person on Fiverr who is able to convert the old Greek script found in many Puritan era writings, to its normal equivalent, in the hopes of doing Tombes "Antipaedobaptism" which has about 850 instances. He initially quoted me $45 for the conversion and $25 for the transliteration, but we settled on $150 as I did not feel right, considering the importance it has to me, to do so many instances for so little money. The person is a native Greek speaker, with a Masters in Greek literature, and specializes in modern, and ancient Greek texts. I have seen some people add the transliteration next to the regular Greek quotes, and dont really know if this is a normal practice? Since, if all goes well, this hopeful partnership will open many doors to assist in the ePublication of many Puritan texts that are more heavy on the Greek, just wanting to know if it is a waste of effort or finances to have both?

Below is the way I set up the process, in Excel, with the instance, and the page number where it is included. This way I can simply add the converted and/or transliterated text where it needs to be in the book for ePublication. It is pretty easy to track the instances down using EEBO-TCP. Since there is an indicator in the text, i.e. <non-latin>, and the page number of the original facsimile is provided, I can basically import into Word, highlight the page numbers, and the indicator, and go directly to where the Greek is in the text without having to slowly comb through the facsimile. This makes compiling a list like below not so much of a task.

 

[J.L. Allen]

It seems like an involved project! I may differ with other folks on the board or elsewhere, but I'm not a fan of transliteration if any Greek text (or Hebrew) is included. In other words, if Greek and Hebrew are already present in the text and represented in the publication, then don't include transliterations alongside or elsewhere. If no Greek or Hebrew characters and words are represented, then keep it transliterated. However, this latter way is not my preference. Folks who are reading works that dive into Greek and Hebrew often have a working knowledge of the languages. If not, then they might already be at a loss, transliteration or no.

Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[davejonescue]

It seems like an involved project! I may differ with other folks on the board or elsewhere, but I'm not a fan of transliteration if any Greek text (or Hebrew) is included. In other words, if Greek and Hebrew are already present in the text and represented in the publication, then don't include transliterations alongside or elsewhere. If no Greek or Hebrew characters and words are represented, then keep it transliterated. However, this latter way is not my preference. Folks who are reading works that dive into Greek and Hebrew often have a working knowledge of the languages. If not, then they might already be at a loss, transliteration or no.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Thank you. This will be well for me to keep in mind in the future. As I dont want to waste monetary resources on unneeded features, and I dont want to waste the other persons time doing things that I will not use. I appreciate the reply.

 

[Charles Johnson]

I don't like transliterations. They don't help anyone, because anyone who knows enough Greek to know the word can read Greek characters.

 

[davejonescue]

Update: So we worked out a set price of $5 per 25 instances of Greek. This is awesome, because 1,665 out of 1,900 works in the Project Puritas (Puritans Only) 80+pages Corpus, are 100 instances (or $20) or less. Let me think, going out to Sonic, or offering a good Puritan work to the world? Its a no-brainer. Lord I pray that this relationship lasts.

What is awesome too, is I can combine Greek lists in Excel, so I can send him 1,2,3 or more books worth with the smaller instances all the way up to as much as I can finance. This really does open up so many doors. Thank you Jesus.

 

[KMK]

Update: So we worked out a set price of $5 per 25 instances of Greek. This is awesome, because 1,665 out of 1,900 works in the Project Puritas (Puritans Only) 80+pages Corpus, are 100 instances (or $20) or less. Let me think, going out to Sonic, or offering a good Puritan work to the world? Its a no-brainer. Lord I pray that this relationship lasts.

What is awesome too, is I can combine Greek lists in Excel, so I can send him 1,2,3 or more books worth with the smaller instances all the way up to as much as I can finance. This really does open up so many doors. Thank you Jesus.

I thought Texans went to Whataburger?

 

[davejonescue]

I thought Texans went to Whataburger?

Depends. My little town shuts down at about 9pm, so after say 10pm Whataburger is the only thing open. But they are kind of expensive (but so is Sonic) so if you go there, you are looking at close to $12.00 for a single combo. Where I live there are two Sonics before you get to Whataburger, and their food isnt that exceptional. If there were 24hr Taco Shops like we had back when I lived in SD/CA, I wouldnt go to either.

 

[CathH]

Transliterations can be useful for people who don't have much knowledge of Greek or Hebrew as it allows them to keep track of what word is being used/discussed in a familiar orthography. I'm in favour.

 

[Charles Johnson]

Transliterations can be useful for people who don't have much knowledge of Greek or Hebrew as it allows them to keep track of what word is being used/discussed in a familiar orthography. I'm in favour.

In my own translations I keep the translation of terms consistent to help the reader follow along.