Translate English to Bengali

Tips for English to Bengali translation

Bengali uses its own script derived from the ancient Brahmi writing system. It has 11 vowels and 39 consonants, with vowel marks attached to consonants similar to Hindi Devanagari but with distinctively rounded, flowing shapes. The script is unrelated to Hindi despite both being Indian languages.

Bengali grammar follows SOV word order with postpositions. Verbs conjugate for tense, person, and formality. Bengali has a formal/informal distinction: aapni (formal you) vs. tumi (informal) vs. tui (very intimate). The translator outputs polite forms by default.

Bangladeshi Bengali and Indian Bengali (West Bengal) differ in some vocabulary and pronunciation. Bus is standard in Bangladesh while autorickshaw terminology differs. The translator handles standard Bengali from both countries.

Bengali has a rich literary tradition including Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. The Bengali alphabet and language are a source of enormous cultural pride, and the Language Movement of 1952 (when Bangladeshis protested for Bengali language rights) is commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO.

The audio side of Bengali

Pair this translator with its audio siblings: speak and listen in real time on the Bengali voice translator, or feed finished text to Bengali text to speech and download the MP3.

Bengali or Bangla: one language, two English names

Bangla is what the language calls itself, and the name is spreading in English too, especially among Bangladeshis. Bengali is the older English label. Type either into a search box and you land on the same language; type either into this translator and you get the same output. One naming note with history behind it: the written standard used today is the cholito register, the colloquial form that replaced the heavily Sanskritized literary style during the twentieth century, which is why modern Bangla text reads far closer to speech than old books do.

Reading the numbers

Bengali has its own digits, and Bangladesh still uses them widely on price tags, dates, and official papers, so ৯ৰৱ can appear where you expect 123. The translator reads both digit sets.

Large amounts run on the South Asian units: lakh for 100,000 and crore for 10,000,000, in Bangla as well as in the English of the region. Convert them for readers outside South Asia before money changes hands on a misread figure.