Transliteration of Catalan
A correspondence table between the Catalan script and Latin letters: 35 letters, with names and sounds. The rendering is practical — it exists so you can read aloud and be understood, not to meet a scholarly standard.
Catalan character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | ah; unstressed — a muffled "uh" | A clean "ah" under stress. Unstressed it collapses into a short neutral sound, like the a in English "about" |
| B b | be alta | b; sounds like p at the end of a word | An ordinary b. At the end of a word it devoices: club comes out "kloop" |
| C c | ce | k; s before e and i | K before a, o, u; a plain s before e and i — no interdental th anywhere in it |
| Ç ç | cé trencada | s (always) | Always s, in any position. The name means "broken ce" |
| D d | de | d; t at the end of a word | An ordinary d; it devoices at the end of a word: Madrid comes out close to "Madrit" |
| E e | e | eh; unstressed — a muffled "uh" | Under stress an e, open or closed. Unstressed, the same neutral sound as an unstressed a |
| F f | efa | f | An ordinary f |
| G g | ge | g before a, o, u; zh before e and i | G before a, o, u; before e and i a voiced "zh", like the s of "pleasure" |
| H h | hac | silent | Always silent — it has no sound of its own |
| I i | i | ee | A clean ee; on its own, the word i means "and" |
| J j | jota | zh | A voiced "zh", like the s of "measure" |
| K k | ka | k (loanwords only) | An ordinary k; native words never use it |
| L l | ela | l | A light l, thinner than the dark l at the end of English "full" |
| Ll ll | ella | a soft "ly" said as one sound | A soft ly pronounced as a single fused sound, as in the middle of "million" |
| L·L l·l | ela geminada | a long (doubled) l | Two l sounds in a row: you start the first and finish the second — the sound stretches |
| M m | ema | m | An ordinary m |
| N n | ena | n | An ordinary n; almost inaudible at the end of a word |
| Ny ny | enya | ny | A soft ny in one sound, as in the middle of "canyon" |
| O o | o | o; unstressed — u | A clean o under stress. Unstressed it turns into a u: casa comes out "KAH-zoo" |
| P p | pe | p | An ordinary p, with no puff of air |
| Q q | cu | k (always with a silent u) | Always k, and the u after it is not sounded: què sounds like "keh" |
| R r | erre | r; usually silent at the end of a word | A short tapped r inside a word. In a final -r it all but disappears: mar sounds like "mah" |
| Rr rr | erra doble | a rolled r (between vowels) | A long trill |
| S s | esse | s; z between vowels | S at the start and the end of a word. Between vowels it voices into z: casa comes out "KAH-zuh" |
| Ss ss | essa doble | s (always voiceless) | The double s keeps the plain s even between vowels |
| T t | te | t | An ordinary t, the tip of the tongue at the teeth |
| U u | u | oo | A clean oo. Silent in qu and gu before e, i |
| V v | uve baixa | v (sounds almost like b) | Sounds like b: the lips never press against the teeth |
| W w | ve doble | w or oo (loanwords only) | In borrowed words it is a w or an oo; native words never use it |
| X x | ics | sh; ks between vowels | At the start of a word and after a consonant it is sh: xocolata comes out "shoo-shuh-LAH-tuh". Between vowels it is ks: examen |
| Y y | i grega | y or ee (loanwords only) | Native words almost never use it: yoga, yate are Greek and English borrowings |
| Z z | zeta | z | A voiced z, the z of "zoo" — never a th |
| Tx tx | te ics | ch | An ordinary ch |
| Tz tz | te zeta | a voiced dz | One fused voiced dz: dotze sounds like "DOHD-zuh" |
| Ig ig | i ge | ch after i (word-final) | At the end of a word after i it sounds like ch: maig comes out "mach" |
How practical transliteration differs from the scholarly kind
Any script has several Latin renderings, and they solve different problems. The scholarly one (ISO, GOST) is reversible: the original spelling can be restored character for character — which is why it is full of marks that are not on any keyboard and that nobody ever reads aloud correctly.
The practical one solves the reverse problem: a person reads it aloud and is understood. That is what the table above uses, and that is what our courses use.
What to watch out for
Signs of its own. ç is the only letter with a cedilla, l·l the only mid-word dot. The combinations are not letters, but no menu can be read without them.
Five vowels — eight sounds. The main difficulty of Catalan is not the letters. Unstressed vowels lose themselves: a and e merge into one muffled sound, o turns into u. This is the norm, and it is how you recognize a native speaker.
The letters that mislead. Here Catalan parts ways with Spanish and with what the eye expects. j is a zh, s between vowels is a z, and a final r goes silent.
Read exactly as they look. Nothing to learn here: the sound is exactly the one you expect.
Frequently asked
How to write Catalan text in Latin letters?
Using the table above, character by character. The practical rendering records sound, not spelling, so the original text cannot always be restored from it backwards.
Why do transliterations differ across sources?
Because they solve different problems: the scholarly one is reversible and precise, the practical one is readable, the passport one is fixed by the country's rules. They are not required to agree.