Morse code was built for the Latin alphabet, but almost every writing system has been sent with it. Most of them, including Russian Cyrillic, Greek and Hebrew, reuse the Latin codes, matching each of their letters to a Latin letter that looks or sounds similar. Japanese has a separate code, Wabun, with its own sign for each kana. Chinese is sent as four-digit numbers.
Russian: the Latin codes, reassigned
Russian Morse code was enacted by the Russian government in 1856. Rather than invent new signals, it maps Cyrillic letters onto existing ones:
| Cyrillic | Sound | Code | Same as Latin |
|---|---|---|---|
| А | a | .- |
A |
| Б | b | -... |
B |
| В | v | .-- |
W |
| Г | g | --. |
G |
| Ш | sh | ---- |
(CH) |
Notice В, which sounds like V but uses the code of W. Letters with no Latin match, such as Ш, take spare codes.
Russian operators memorise the codes with sung phrases called napevy, "melodies", in which long syllables stand for dashes. А is "ай-даа", ay-daa: a short syllable, then a long one, just like .-.
Greek and Hebrew
Greek Morse uses, for each Greek letter, the Latin letter that looks or sounds most like it. Alpha has the same code as A. Beta has the code of B, even though in modern Greek it is pronounced like V. Hebrew mostly matches letters by sound: Bet, ב, takes the code of B.
Japanese: Wabun, a code of its own
Japanese cannot borrow the Latin codes, because it is not written in letters. Wabun code, 和文モールス符号 in Japanese, gives each kana its own signal, 48 of them, plus separate signs for the voicing marks.
That means the same dots and dashes can stand for different characters. .- is A in International Morse and イ (i) in Wabun. A single dot, ., is E in International and ヘ (he) in Wabun.
To avoid confusion when both are used, operators switch with prosigns. DO, -..---, announces that Wabun follows, and SN, ...-., returns to the International code.
MorseBeep has a full Wabun table in Japanese, and the Japanese translator converts kana and romaji into Wabun and back, showing both readings of every code.
Japanese learners, like Russian ones, often memorise the rhythms with phrases in which long sounds stand for dashes. There is a Japanese guide to that in モールス信号の覚え方.
Korean
A Morse code for the Korean alphabet, Hangul, was first published in 1888, in a text called Chŏnbo changjŏng by Kim Hagu, an advocate of Korea's modernisation who had a talent for languages from his years abroad.
Chinese: numbers, not letters
Chinese has thousands of characters, far too many for dots and dashes. The Chinese telegraph code solves this by numbering them: a codebook gives each character a four-digit number, from 0000 to 9999, arranged in dictionary order. The operator sends the digits in ordinary Morse, and the receiver looks the numbers up again.
Accented letters
Many languages written in the Latin alphabet need a few extra signs. Morse has codes for letters such as É, Ä, Ö, Ü and Ñ, which German, French and Spanish operators use. You will find them in the accented letters section of the alphabet chart, and the German and French translators on this site handle them.
One rhythm, many scripts
Wherever it went, Morse kept its basic shape: short and long sounds, separated by gaps, with the commonest characters made short. Each language just decided what those sounds would mean. If you want to compare, type the same short word into the English translator and the Japanese translator and listen to how differently it comes out.