Transliteration of Valencian
A correspondence table between the Valencian 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.
Valencian character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | a as in "father", never "uh" | A clean open a, stressed or not — the vowel never fades to "uh" the way an English unstressed vowel does |
| B b | be alta | b as in "best"; p at the end of a word | An ordinary b. Word-final it devoices: club comes out "cloob", with a p at the end |
| C c | ce | k as in "kite"; s before e and i | K before a, o, u; a plain s before e and i — no th sound anywhere in it |
| Ç ç | cé trencada | s as in "sun", in any position | Always s, wherever it stands. The name means "broken cé" |
| D d | de | d as in "door"; t at the end of a word | An ordinary d. Word-final it devoices: Madrid comes out "Madrit" |
| E e | e | e as in "met", never muted | Always e — open or closed under stress, a plain e without. An unstressed e never goes mute |
| F f | efa | f as in "fun" | An ordinary f |
| G g | ge | g as in "go"; j before e and i | G before a, o, u; a voiced j as in "jam" before e and i — never a kh |
| H h | hac | silent, never pronounced | Silent always — it has no sound of its own |
| I i | i | ee as in "see" | A clean ee; as its own little word, i means "and" |
| J j | jota | a voiced j, between "jam" and the s of "vision" | A voiced j, by ear between the j of "jam" and the zh of "vision" |
| K k | ka | k as in "kite", loanwords only | An ordinary k; native words never use it |
| L l | ela | l as in "lamp" | A light l, a shade softer than the l of "lamp" |
| Ll ll | ella | a soft ly, one whole sound | A soft ly said as one fused sound, like the "lli" of "million" |
| L·L l·l | ela geminada | a long doubled l, held | Two l in a row: start the first, finish the second — the sound stretches |
| M m | ema | m as in "map" | An ordinary m |
| N n | ena | n as in "no" | An ordinary n, word-final too |
| Ny ny | enya | ny as in "canyon" | A soft ny in one sound, as in the middle of "canyon" |
| O o | o | o as in "more", never "uh" | Always a clean o, word-initial and word-final alike: pa amb tomaca comes out "pam-tomaka", with no changes along the way |
| P p | pe | p as in "pen" | 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 comes out "keh" |
| R r | erre | a tapped r — and final -r is pronounced | A short tapped r inside a word — and a final -r is pronounced here: cantar keeps its r, mar is "mar" |
| Rr rr | erra doble | a long trilled r | A long trill, held noticeably longer than the tapped r |
| S s | esse | s as in "sun"; z between vowels | S at the start of a word and at the end. Between vowels it voices to z: casa comes out "kaza" |
| Ss ss | essa doble | s as in "sun", always voiceless | Two s restore the voiceless s even between vowels |
| T t | te | t as in "top" | An ordinary t, tip of the tongue at the teeth |
| U u | u | oo as in "food" | A clean oo. Silent inside qu and gu before e and i |
| V v | uve baixa | a soft b, lips never pressed | Sounds like b: the lips never press against the teeth |
| W w | ve doble | w or v, loanwords only | W or v in borrowed words; native words have none |
| X x | ics | sh at the start of a word; ks between vowels | Sh at the start of a word and after a consonant: xocolata comes out "shocolata". Between vowels — ks: examen |
| Y y | i grega | y as in "yes", loanwords only | Native words almost never use y: yoga, yate are all borrowed |
| Z z | zeta | z as in "zoo" | A voiced z, the z of "zoo" — never a th |
| Tx tx | te ics | ch as in "church" | An ordinary ch |
| Tz tz | te zeta | a voiced dz, one fused sound | One fused voiced dz: dotze comes out "dotzeh" |
| Ig ig | i ge | ch after i, word-final only | At the end of a word after i it sounds ch: maig comes out "match" |
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
The signature signs. ç is the only letter with a cedilla, l·l the only mid-word dot in Europe. The letter pairs are not letters, but without them you cannot read so much as a menu.
Five vowels, five sounds. The great mercy of Valencian: every vowel sounds the same stressed or unstressed. A final -o never turns into oo, a final -a never fades. What makes the central norm hard on the ear simply is not here. Think of the vowels of Spanish casa — steady all the way through.
Letters that deceive. This is where Valencian parts ways with Spanish. j is a j as in "jam", s between vowels voices to z, and h is silent. Yet hui and huit are not written without it.
Read as they look. Nothing to learn: the sound is exactly the one you expect.
Frequently asked
How to write Valencian 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.