This Windows text service1 allows a user familiar only with a Latin alphabet keyboard to
type in other languages by using common Latin transliterations of the target language letters.
Currently supported target languages are Russian, Hebrew, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
To give an example, typing privet in Russian mode will produce привет, and typing hi in Hebrew mode will produce הי.
Note
This software is for Windows only. A macOS version is available here.
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Type normally in any window without copy/pasting from a separate app/browser.
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Integrates natively with Windows language/keyboard switching support using official, documented Microsoft APIs. No hacky apps that need to run in the background and hook/hack into the OS workings.
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Works everywhere: desktop and store apps, on the login screen, on x64, x86 and arm64 architectures.
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Supports modern Windows versions 10 and 11.
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Supports multiple languages: currently Russian, Hebrew, Ukrainian and Belarusian, with an easy way to add more, if desired.
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Not having to use punctuation like
'or#for transliteration.
When typing normally on Windows (as opposed to some designated transliteration app), switching between input modes is more complicated - you cannot just pressESClike translit.ru does. This makes typing text with lots of punctuation annoying. Translit allows you to avoid punctuation, for example, usingqforьandqqforъ, making typing much smoother. -
Support for multiple transliteration schemes. Since some people would rather use familiar transliteration schemes from elsewhere, this application allows you to choose the scheme. Currently, in addition to the default, translit.ru/translit.net schemes are supported for Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. More can be added, if desired.
There are existing Windows transliteration apps available on the Internet, but none of them supports all the features above.
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Navigate to the Releases page and download the
Translit-x64.msior theTranslit-arm64.msiinstaller, depending on your computer hardware. -
Run it and install the app.
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During the installation you will be prompted to select the default languages to enable. These will be available by default to all users when first using the app. Don't worry if you select the wrong ones - all users will also be able to add or remove languages for themselves later in the application settings.
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When the installation finishes, look at the system tray. There will be a language icon there (if you haven't had one before). When you click it, it should open a menu like this (assuming you selected Russian and Hebrew during the installation):
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That's pretty much it. You can now switch between English and Translit in any app using this menu or via the
⊞ + Spacebarkey combination.
When one of the Translit languages is active, the system tray will have one additional icon (circled in red below):
Clicking it will launch the Translit settings app. You can also always launch the settings from
Start Menu -> Translit.
The settings app screen looks like this:
It shows you the letter mappings for the language and transliteration scheme selected on top. Changing the scheme makes it the default for all apps for that language.
The ➕ and ➖ buttons allow you to add and remove languages. The ❓ button opens a traditional About dialog.
The app stays on top of other windows to allow you to see the mappings when typing in another window.
Translit can be fully uninstalled via the standard "Add/Remove Programs" (a.k.a. "Apps->Installed Apps") system panel.
Currently supported character mappings can be found in the following documents:
Visual Studio 2022 or above and Python 3.11 or above are the only requirements to build Translit. If you want to build the installers, you will also need WiX Toolset CLI version 6.
- Download/clone the repo.
- Run the
fetch.pyscript from the top-level directory. This will fetch external dependencies. - Open
Translit.slnin Visual Studio and build theTranslit,SettingsorInstallertargets.
Footnotes
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sometimes called an IME, but technically an IME is a different, older technology. ↩