Understanding multilingual typography

Typography is the designer's most crucial tool in visual communication, enabling us to clearly communicate the intended message & sometimes going further to add a flair of personality and emotion. But in the global diverse world we live in, how do we start designing for a multilingual audience?

Considering the existence of about 6,900 languages and over 300 writing systems in the world, you notice just how diverse the world is. If you’re a designer like me, you’ve probably worked on a project that required text typeset in multiple languages, usually languages using the Latin alphabet. Easy copy and paste, right? Sometimes. When it involves languages using different scripts however, it can be a daunting task. Challenge.

To better understand multilingual typography, I’m going to share the type of writing systems with examples and some terms to help you start working with multilingual type.

Writing systems

A writing system is a visual way of representing verbal communication. We generally call it the alphabet, simple. One important factor to note; a writing system is not only a tool for writing the spoken word, it is also a cultural symbol of a people and their identity. This is why when working with multilingual type, it is vital to typeset accurately and respectfully. Now beyond communication, it’s cultural intelligence at play.

Here are the types of writing systems in modern use:

Alphabets

Some letters from the Tifinagh Alphabet of the Amazigh.

Thanks to the domination of the Latin Alphabet, the word alphabet has replaced the term writing system/script. However, an Alphabet is actually a writing system whereby each individual letter represents a consonant or vowel. In some cases, a combination of letters can depict one vowel or consonant. Examples of alphabets include the Latin alphabet, Tifinagh, Armenian, Cyrillic and Georgian.

Abjads

Letters from the Arabic script.

Also known as consonant alphabets, letters in Abjads represent consonants. Vowels are usually indicated by diacritics (small marks on top/bottom of letters) or by other consonant letters. Popular examples include Arabic and Hebrew. It’s important to note that Arabic and Hebrew are both written from right to left. When typesetting, verify to check if the writing direction is correct and if the diacritics are correctly placed on their respective letters.

Abugida/Alphasyllabaries

Letters from the Ge’ez script.

In Abugidas, a symbol represents a single syllable. The syllable is made up of a consonant with an inherent vowel ‘a’ and a diacritical mark or symbol modification is added to depict other vowels like ‘e, i, o, u’. There can be different symbols for the vowels and diacritical marks can be used to mute the vowels. Examples of Abugidas are Ethiopic, Devanagari and Mwangwego script amongst others. Special attention needs to be taken to ensure the diacritics are accurately placed.

Logosyllabary

Letters from Old Bamum

As different parts of the name hint, in logosyllabaries symbol units are used to write words or morphemes of words, with secondary usage to write syllable sounds. Examples include Old Bamum and the Chinese script (Hanzi).

Syllabary

Letters fro the Vai Syllabary

Syllabaries are scripts whereby a single letter represents a syllable. The syllable is made up of a consonant and a vowel. A letter can also represent a single vowel. Examples of syllabic writing systems include Vai, Japanese Hiragana, Cherokee and Hangul.

Writing Direction

Not all writing systems are written horizontally from left to right. As already noted with Arabic and Hebrew, some are written horizontally from right to left, vertically from top to bottom and bottom to left. We also have scripts like Ditema tsa Dinoko that can be written in any direction & orientation. When mixing typography that has different scripts with unique features it is crucial to make sure the software you’ll be using supports bidirectional text. And make sure the writing direction is always correct for each script, or if possible, consult a native user of the script to verify if it is accurate.

This is just the basic foundation to get you started with multilingual typography, there is more to cover just not possible in a single article. Above all, we should strive to design accurately for all audiences, not only for communication purposes but for appropriate & respectful cultural and identity representation. I hope to cover more in upcoming articles, let me know what you think and if you have any corrections or additions, please get in touch, thank you!