What You Need to Know Before Ordering:

Contrary to popular belief, Aramaic is not one language, but a family of closely-related languages (which are referred to as "dialects"). It is a family that is related to, but separate from Hebrew (which is part of the greater Cannanite family) and Arabic.

Over its nearly 3000 years of written history, some dialects are very similar, akin to the differences between American and British English. Some are a bit different, like Spanish is to Portuguese, where others are very different closer to how German or even Old Anglo Saxon is to Modern English. This is why many Aramaic speakers are surprised to find someone who claims to know Aramaic, but cannot be understood: The problem is dialect.

NOTE: We here at Aramaic Designs focus on older written dialects (i.e. those that are older than ~500 years). Although we have plans to offer modern Neo-Aramaic dialects in the future, we currently do not.

As such, when you are getting a translation you will need to specify which dialect you want. Here at Aramaic Designs, we've simplified the process quite a bit. When you order, we try to adapt your translation to a dialect that is appropriate to a historical figure you want it to be associated with, or the script you choose, which brings us to:

(The same letter Alef in many different Aramaic scripts.)

Like the problem of dialects, Aramaic has been written in dozens of scripts over the years, many of which share the same 22 letters of the West North Semitic alphabet, but are written very differently.

As such, it is "improper" to write certain dialects in certain scripts as they simply did not exist at the same time and geographical location. For example:

The above, although it is in Aramaic, is technically incorrect as it is in Syriac Aramaic, a dialect that was never historically written in the "Hebrew" square script. However, we can fix this by doing one of two things:

The first example is the same script, but written in a proper dialect (Jewish Aramaic), where the second example is the same dialect, but written in a proper script (Estrangela). It's a seemingly subtle difference, but an important one.

However, this is not to say that a bit of anachronism is a bad thing. It's very common in English to write in an antiquated font to purvey a certain aesthetic. As such, where this example is "incorrect":

(Syriac Aramaic written in Old Aramaic script.)

It gives the text a sense of antiquity.

When you order a translation from Aramaic Designs, we will adapt the dialect of your translation to something appropriate to the script or scripts you've chosen, providing multiple renderings if necessary. Our list of scripts can be found here.

If you're not sure on the script, simply tell us what era or historical figure (for example the Persian Empire, Jesus of Nazereth, Daniel, Ezra, etc.) you're interested in and we'll pick a dialect and script suiting to them.

Remember! Connect the lines of text this way.

Where English and many other languages are written left-to-right, Aramaic, like Hebrew and Arabic is written Right-To-Left (RTL). This is the source of many, many incorrect Aramaic tattoos, as most computer systems will not display Aramaic, Hebrew, or Arabic characters in the proper order without being properly configured beforehand.

Remember, that even if you have RTL support enabled on your computer that some programs (such as Microsoft Word) handle their RTL support differently. For those programs, be exceedingly careful and read the directions provided with them.

Aramaic Designs gets around this entire problem by giving you your translation as a series of images, so no matter what happens, it will read in the proper direction. But if your translation has to be broken up into more than one line, remember to connect each image in the order outlined above.

When getting a tattoo done, one needs to have a template or stencil that the tattoo artist can work from. A stencil serves as a reference for the artist to work from to ensure that when your design is inked that it is done so properly. As such, they are very important. The website "Tattoo Johnny" has a great article on the subject detailing how stencils work which we highly recommend reading.

Our tattoo stencils cost an additional $20 per order, are delivered digitally through a secure login section of our website, and more information about how our tattoo stencil system works can be found here.

With such a wide range of options, it sometimes takes some time and effort to complete a translation, especially when rendering modern concepts or using specialized vocabulary. When we're experiencing our normal order volume, standard orders can take up to 2 weeks to be completed, but sometimes our waiting list can stretch up to 6 weeks during Christmas, Easter, and over the summer. Because of this, we have two ways to expedite your order:

• Same Week Rush ($25) - Your order is delivered digitally through our website within 7 days from the receipt of payment.
• Same Day Rush ($50) - Your order is delivered digitally through our website within 24 hours of the receipt of payment.

If your order contains any items that must be physically shipped (such as jewelry, a framed print, etc.) the moment that the translation is done and the items are forged, they are sent along their way via the United States Postal Service Priority Mail, which takes a few days to arrive.

So when you decide to order from us, keep in mind that we'll need to know the following:

1. What text you want translated.
2. What scripts and dialects you want it translated into.
3. Whether you want a tattoo stencil and/or an audio recording of the text.
4. Whether you want to rush your order, and if so, how quickly.

Once we have these four things, we'll be able to give you an accurate quote, and one of the easiest ways we can get that information from you is by going to our Online Quote System, which steps you through each of these requirements:

If at any time you get lost or need further assistance, don't hesitate to email in to Information@AramaicDesigns.com; we're here to help you understand what you're after.

Looking Forward,

-Steve Caruso, Translator