Transliteration of Slovenian
A correspondence table between the Slovenian script and Latin letters: 25 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.
Slovenian character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | a as in father | A clean “a”. An unstressed one never wilts into “uh”, the way unstressed vowels do in English |
| B b | be | b as in bed | An ordinary b |
| C c | ce | ts as in cats | Always “ts”. Never “k” and never “s” |
| Č č | če | ch as in church | An ordinary ch |
| D d | de | d as in door | An ordinary d |
| E e | e | e as in met, often a faint murmur | Mostly “e” as in met. In an unstressed syllable it often dissolves into a barely audible schwa, the first vowel of “about” |
| F f | ef | f as in fish | An ordinary f |
| G g | ge | hard g as in go | Always the hard g of “go”. Before i and e it never softens and never becomes a “j” sound |
| H h | ha | breathy h as in hat | An ordinary h, always pronounced |
| I i | i | ee as in machine | A clean “ee” |
| J j | je | y as in yes | Like the y of “yes”, never like the j of “jam” |
| K k | ka | k as in kite | An ordinary k |
| L l | el | l as in lip, but u at the end of a syllable | Before a vowel it is l; at the end of a syllable it turns into a short u |
| M m | em | m as in map | An ordinary m |
| N n | en | n as in net | An ordinary n |
| O o | o | o as in ordain, always pure | A clean “o”, stressed or not |
| P p | pe | p as in pen | An ordinary p |
| R r | er | a tapped r, a syllable of its own between consonants | An ordinary r. But with no vowel around, r itself becomes the syllable: a tiny “uh” sneaks in before it |
| S s | es | voiceless s as in sun | Always the voiceless s. Between vowels it does not buzz into z |
| Š š | eš | sh as in ship | An ordinary sh |
| T t | te | t as in top | An ordinary t |
| U u | u | u as in put | A clean “oo” |
| V v | ve | v as in van, but u at the end of a syllable | Before a vowel it is v; at the end of a syllable and before a consonant it becomes u |
| Z z | ze | z as in zoo | An ordinary z |
| Ž ž | že | zh as in vision | The soft “zh” of “vision” |
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
Three letters of its own. The little roof is called strešica — “a little roof”. Nothing else in the alphabet carries one.
Familiar to the eye, foreign to the ear. Seven letters where your English reading habit will betray you.
Read exactly as they look. Fifteen letters with nothing to learn: the sound is exactly what you expect.
Frequently asked
How to write Slovenian 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.