Transliteration of Armenian
A correspondence table between the Armenian script and Latin letters: 40 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.
Armenian character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ա ա | ayb | ah (as in father) | A pure ah, open and steady |
| Բ բ | ben | b (as in bed) | An ordinary b |
| Ր ր | reh | r (a light single tap) | A soft single-tap r, the tongue barely touching the ridge — like the tt in American butter |
| և | yev | yev (ev at word end) | Read 'yev', at the end of a word — 'ev' |
| Վ վ | vev | v (as in van) | An ordinary v |
| Լ լ | lyun | l (soft, near ly) | Softer than the English l — the tongue sits higher, closer to lyu |
| Ե ե | yech | ye at the start, e inside | Ye at the start of a word, plain e inside |
| Ի ի | ini | ee (as in see) | A pure ee |
| Ո ո | vo | vo at the start, o inside | Vo at the start of a word, plain o inside |
| Ս ս | se | s (as in sun) | An ordinary s |
| Ն ն | nu | n (as in nose) | An ordinary n |
| Տ տ | tyun | t (no puff of air) | A plain t without a puff of air — unlike the English t in top |
| Ու ու | u | oo (as in food) | A pure oo |
| Ւ ւ | yun | w (as in win) | It has no sound of its own in the modern language |
| Է է | e | e (plain, never ye) | Always a plain e, with no y-glide |
| Ը ը | yt | uh (the schwa) | A short muffled sound between uh and eh — like the a in English 'sofa' |
| Օ օ | o | o (plain, never vo) | A plain o, with no v |
| Մ մ | men | m (as in map) | An ordinary m |
| Կ կ | ken | k (no puff of air) | A plain k without a puff of air |
| Հ հ | ho | h (as in hello) | Just the light English h — not the raspy kh |
| Գ գ | gim | g (as in go) | An ordinary g |
| Դ դ | da | d (as in door) | An ordinary d |
| Շ շ | sha | sh (soft) | A soft sh — flatter and higher than the English one, closer to sh plus y |
| Ժ ժ | zhe | zh (as in measure) | As in vision or measure |
| Խ խ | khe | kh (as in Bach) | A real raspy kh, like ch in Bach or loch |
| Թ թ | to | t' (with a puff) | A t with a clear puff of air, like the English t in top |
| Փ փ | pyur | p' (with a puff) | A p with a puff of air, like the English p in pen |
| Պ պ | pe | p (no puff of air) | A plain p without a puff of air |
| Ք ք | ke | k' (with a puff) | A k with a puff of air |
| Ց ց | tso | ts' (with a puff) | A ts with a puff of air |
| Ծ ծ | tsa | ts (no puff of air) | A sharp ts without a puff of air |
| Չ չ | cha | ch' (with a puff) | A ch with a puff of air, like English ch in chin |
| Ձ ձ | dza | dz (one sound) | A single fused dz, one sound |
| Ղ ղ | ghad | gh (a throaty, gargled g) | A throaty sound from deep in the throat, as if gargling water |
| Ջ ջ | jheh | j (as in jam) | As in jam |
| Ռ ռ | ra | rr (fully rolled) | A full rolled r: the tongue tip drums against the ridge behind the teeth |
| Զ զ | za | z (as in zoo) | An ordinary z |
| Յ յ | yi | y (as in yes) | As in yes |
| Ճ ճ | che | ch (no puff of air) | A sharp ch without a puff of air |
| Ֆ ֆ | fe | f (loans only) | An ordinary f. Found only in loanwords |
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
Vowels. Eight signs. Two of them — ե and ո — are read with a y-glide and a v at the start of a word. Ես reads 'yes', Ոչ reads 'voch'. And ը is a fleeting murmur that in writing is often not written at all.
Triplets: voiced — voiceless — aspirated. The main difficulty of Armenian. Where you are used to two sounds (b and p), Armenian has three. Take բ 'b', պ 'p' without a puff, փ 'p' with a puff. Five such triplets, fifteen letters.
The other consonants. Sixteen signs, each with its own sound and no triplets anywhere. The pair ր and ռ differs by rolling: ր is a soft single tap, ռ is a full trill.
Ligature. ե and ւ grown together. It has no uppercase form: at the start of a word write Եվ.
Frequently asked
How to write Armenian 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.