Basic Transliteration Guide

Arabic Letter	Romanised Equivalent	Sounds Like
ذ	dh	‘th’ as in ‘there’
خ	kh	‘ch’ as in German ‘Bach’
غ	gh	close to a French ‘r’ as in ‘Paris’ — like a gentle gar
ع	ʿ	A constriction of the throat and an expulsion of the breath with the vocal cords vibrating
ح	ḥ	A harsh ‘h’, like exhaling fog on a mirror
ض	ḍ	A heavy ‘d’, pronounced deeper in the throat; pulling the middle of the tongue down.
ص	ṣ	A heavy ‘s’, pronounced deeper in the throat; pulling the middle of the tongue down.
ط	ṭ	A heavy ‘t’, pronounced deeper in the throat; pulling the middle of the tongue down.
ظ	ẓ	A heavy ‘th’, pronounced deeper in the throat; pulling the middle of the tongue down.
ش	sh	‘sh’ in ‘shoe’
ق	q	Like ‘k’, but pronounced deeper in the throat; compare ‘cough’ with ‘calf’
ء	ʾ	A glottal stop, like the pause in ‘uh-oh’

Vowels and Elongations

Arabic Vowel	Romanized Equivalent	Sounds Like
َ◌	a	‘a’ in ‘cat’; short vowel, not stressed
ُ◌	u	‘oo’ in ‘book; ‘ short vowel, not stressed
ِ◌	i	‘i’ in ‘bin’; short vowel, not stressed
ـَا	ā	‘a’ in ‘car’; long vowel, stressed
ـُو	ū	‘oo’ in ‘food’; long vowel, stressed
ـِي	ī	‘ee’ in ‘see’; long vowel, stressed