Semitic romanization is the process (generally called romanization) by which Semitic languages are transliterated into the Latin alphabet. The Semitic languages emerged in the Middle East during prehistory. Contemporary Semitic languages are almost all natively written in various abjads or alphabets such as the Arabic, Amharic, and Hebrew scripts. A notable exception is Maltese, which is the only Semitic language with a standard native form written in the Latin script.