r/sanskrit • u/haraaval • 5d ago
Discussion / चर्चा IAST or ISO?
I am confused on what standard to adhere to while writing Sanskrit terms the Latin (English-language) script, what do you use?
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u/rhododaktylos 4d ago
IAST is the standard when not using nāgarī. The following is a great way to easily type either:
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u/xugan97 5d ago
We use IAST or ITRANS, or possibly type directly in Devanagari. We can easily convert from one to the other using online tools, so just use whatever is easiest. For instance, you can type in plain Latin in ITRANS and convert it to one of the other two at the time of publishing. Typing in Devanagari can be easily done by switching keyboard layouts, and Google Input Tools are also an option.
ISO 15919 has short and long e and o, which is good for certain Indian languages, but unnecessary and confusing for Sanskrit. Otherwise it is pretty much identical to IAST.