index_start.php

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<p>
It's very easy to get started.  The most important thing is to install a font that will show all the Arabic characters used in Swahili - once that is done, you can use all the resources on this website.
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<p>
The best font option at the minute is Scheherazade - to get the most recent version, download <em>ScheherazadeRegOT-1.005.zip</em> from <a href="http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=ArabicFonts_Download#ofl">this page</a>, and unzip it.  Then double-click the file <em>ScheherazadeRegOT.ttf</em> to install the font on your computer. 
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<p>
You can type Swahili in Arabic script directly into a Linux computer using a standard UK keyboard.  Input speed is comparable to typing in Roman script.  The <a href="./keyboard.php">Swahili keyboard</a> section includes simple step-by-step instructions for enabling a Swahili keyboard layout on Ubuntu running KDE, and for making changes to it if you have a non-UK keyboard.
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<p>
Alternatively, if you don't want to do that just yet, go to the <a href="./rom_ar.php">Roman to Arabic</a> section.  There, you can type into a box in Roman script and have the input converted into Arabic script, or you can input a web address and have that whole page converted into Arabic script.  The offline converters allow multiple files to be converted easily.
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<p>
You can cut and paste the converted Arabic text into a word-processor.  See the LibreOffice tab in the <a href="./keyboard.php">Swahili keyboard</a> section.
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<p>
You can also go to the <a href="./ar_rom.php">Arabic to Roman</a> section to convert Arabic script into Roman script (standard Swahili orthography by default, but options are available to add various diacritics to the transliteration).  The offline converters allow a transcription of an existing Swahili manuscript in Arabic script to be automatically transliterated into Roman script.
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<p>
The <a href="./spelling.php">Spelling conventions</a> section gives suggestions for using Arabic script with current-day Swahili, with many examples of how the Arabic script maps to the Roman script.
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<p>
The section on <a href="./spelling.php">Typesetting poetry</a> shows how Swahili poetry manuscripts in Arabic script can be transcribed digitally to produce attractive output in various formats, with the added benefit that the contents of the manuscripts are then available for computer analysis of language, vocabulary, word-frequency, etc.
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