# Dhivehi: ދިވެހިބަސް



## Au101

I was searching wikipedia and came across this: ދިވެހިބަސް . It is the name of a language (I saw it in the other languages box. If you can't see it, search Tamil Nadu in Wikipedia and its the one below Deutsch and above Eesti.) The ISO 639 language code is "dv". Thanks.


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## TarisWerewolf

After a little hunting around on the .dv page of Wikipedia, it's Dhivehi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken on the Republic of Maldives (islands south of India).


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## Au101

Oh, thanks a lot, I tried searching .dv but found nothing, so thanks for your efforts. Another linguistic mystery solved by the good people of the wordreference forums.


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## Pauro

Hey. 
Right, it's Dhivehi bas or Maldivian.
By the way, I'm looking for a Dhivehi font (unicode) that can be used for browsing the net for Windows XP. Any suggestions?


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## Au101

Try "omiglot.com". On the home page click "A-Z index" under "Alphabets and other writing systems". From there, click "Divehi" (its spelt without the first "h".) Scroll Down to "links" and you will see a list of websites where fonts can be downloaded from. "wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Thaana.html" looks particularly good to me. Let me know if this is any good. If not, I'll keep looking.


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## Pauro

Thanks. I tried everything. I use some fonts including Thaana, which helps to read websites but I'm afraid not to type the language.


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## Au101

For typing you can try:

Open up Microsoft Word
On the menu bar click "insert"
Click "symbol" on the drop-down menu
Painstakingly insert each character (this is the hard way, I know.)

Or

Click "start" (this is outside of word, I mean click the "start" button on the desktop)
Click "all programs"
Click "accessories"
Click "accessibility"
Click "On-Screen Keyboard"
The "On-Screen Keyboard" will appear at the bottom of the screen.
Click "Settings"
Click "Font" and select your font, then type with the on-screen keyboard.

Or

Try googling type in Dhivehi. There are often programmes which allow you to type in other scripts, I have a brilliant one for Tamil. Moreover, if you look really hard, you can sometimes find a free one, but I'm afraid some do need to be paid for. But they're not that expensive. I haven't read it thoroughly, but "tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/thaana.html" looks quite good.

Let me know if that helps.


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## Pauro

About Microsoft Word it's no problem - I can insert characters one by one... The problem is the browser as it doesn't decode the fonts... Also it's not always possible to read an online text.
On-Screen keybord idea doesn't help.


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## Au101

Sorry about the delay, I haven't been able to get near my computer. Sorry, also, if there has been any confusion, I tried to answer your questions, but if I misunderstood, I apologise. I am _trying_ (and failing) to learn Tamil, and I have LOADS of fonts. Some very specific to certain programs and websites. However, there are still some websites, which do not display the Tamil and just have boxes, or worse, nonsense. Real nonsense. You may simply not have the RIGHT font. Some websites have links, such as "can't see the font?" Follow the hyperlinks and you may be able to download the font. Or a link may be provided in an FAQs section. However, some, helpfully, do not provide links. There is no solution (that I know of) other than download every font that you come across and hope. However, this may not be the case. Now, I am no expert on computers this query is well-worth a googling. However, I have a friend who's really good with computers, who I could ask if this does not help. However, I do have a few suggestions. First, click "tools" on the toolbar, and then "Internet Options" a quick play with the settings might help. I use Internet Explorer 7 which allows me to select the default font that I view pages in, if this is not specifically specified by the website. I can also change the languages which I view webpages, both can be adjusted by clicking the links under "appearance" in the "General" tab. However, there is one technological solution which is worth a try. Click "page" and then "encoding". (You can also right-click on the page and select "encoding" from the menu. Select "More", and then "Unicode". This may well help, Unicode should display the fonts. However, like I say, I'm not great with computers. So if this doesn't work, try google and if that's no use, I'll e-mail my friend and see what he says.

Report back soon and best of luck.


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## Pauro

Hello
Thanks for all the explanations.
I clarify my main problem  - it's not to read websites but to write online (for browsing the net in a different script) and make the text I write online seen properly. Hope you'll get some help.


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## Au101

Help is _hopefully_ on the way. One thing _I_ happen to know, is that for Tamil this is easily done. However, in my vastly limited experience, you normally need a special programme. For instance, I tried typing in Divehi in wikipedia when researching earlier, and only got English. It _might_ be worth copying and pasting from Word (I often do that) and just mentioning the font that is used and giving a link to download it. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but hopefully my friend can and a better answer will be on the way. I must stress, that this is just _my_ guesswork and I wouldn't act just yet. Thanks.


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## astlanda

Pauro said:


> Hello
> Thanks for all the explanations.
> I clarify my main problem  - it's not to read websites but to write online (for browsing the net in a different script) and make the text I write online seen properly. Hope you'll get some help.



You may try this:
http://www.hot.ee/mutianpu/script/Scriptreplacer.html?getData=9ThaanaSemitic&


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