latin transcription of persian

In this blog we took some convensions in order to transcribe persian text with latin alphabet. Basically we try to stay the closest to phonetic transcription. The difficulty is on the one hand not to be too complicated or counter-intuitive and on the other hand easily understandable for people brought up in english, french, german, italian, spanish, ... speaking environment. The basis is phonetic alphabet (the one in dictionnaries).

obvious sounds: b, d, e, f, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t

specific persian sounds and letters pronounced differently amongst western languages which may lead to confusion.

[ ' ] like in the word "sham' " (candle); stands for the letter "ein"
[ â ] like in the word "havâ" (air); stands for the letter "alef" with its kolâh
[ a ] like in the word "aks" (picture); stands also for the letter "alef" but with the upperscript accent the pronounciation is like in the western word "action"
[ dj ] like in the word "djavân" (young); stands for the letter "djim"
[ ch ] like in the word "chelow kabâb" (is there anything to translate? :o)); stands for the letter "che"
[ kh ] like in the word "khânum" (lady); stands for the letter "khe"
[ z ] like in the word "zanbur asal" (honeybee); stands for either "zâl", "zâd" or "zein" letters
[ j ] like in the word "jâleh" (dew); stands for the letter "je"
[ sh ] like in the word "sharbat" (sirop); stands for the letter "shin"
[ gh ] like in the word "ghâz" (goose); stands for either "ghein" or "ghâf" letters
[ g ] like in the word "gorbe" (cat); stands for the letter "gâf"
[ u ] like in the word "kuh" (mountain); stands for the letter "vâv"
[ v ] like in the word "varzesh" (sports); stands for the letter "vâv" this would usually be pronounced w in afghanistan as far as we know
[ w ] would stand for vâv when it is pronounced ow like in the english word snow. examples: "now" (new), or "chelow" (cooked white rice)
[ y ] we could avoid using this sign and most often replace it with i or ii but sometimes it is more elegant to use y. it is often used at the end of a word like in "ney" (straw) or "melliyat" (nationality) or for the "i" at the beginning of a word
Finally, doubling consonants is to stress on that consonant as does the "tashtid" in written persian like in the word "avval" (first) or "tavallod" (birthday)

From time to time we might leave a final h at the end of a word and write "eh" instead of "e" because we have the persian writing in our mind instead of the phonetic writing. We hope this will not confuse anyone.

Of course each persian speaking community (within or outside Iran) has its own pronounciation. We chose ours which is quite close to the pronouciation in Tehran.