As this is a learning site, we use transliteration of Hebrew words to Latin letters, to provide the reader a "feeling" of how the Hebrew words sound. This might be a good idea for beginners to use transliteration like this. One may also use the transliteration rules as pronunciation reference.
However, if you're fluent in reading Hebrew prayer, for example, and you are familiar with modern Israeli pronunciation, we would recommend you to stay away of transliteration. After all, one's proficiency in a language is determined by the ability to read this language too.
Consonants:
-
Consonants corresponding to English ones are
written exactly like they sound.
- Consonants that do not have a corresponding single letter in English alphabet are the following:
| Letter |
Corresponding |
Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| sh | Shin | a in father or traffic |
| tz | Tzadi | tz in chutzpah, or zz in pizza or mozzarella |
|
ch or kh |
Khaf | ch in chutzpah, like ch in German |
| ch or kh | Khet | guttural ch-sound; but you may pronounce it same way as Khaf |
| ' | Alef |
as a "stop" between the syllables in Uh-oh!
Almost not pronounced, "leave it blank". |
| ` | Ain [aa-yin] |
A guttural sound, specific to Semitic languages.
Not always pronounced even by Israelis. You
may either pronounce it |
Special cases:
- g always means g in get
- English sound W does not exist in modern Israeli Hebrew, however, it is used in English and Arabic words. The appropriate letter for it is ו (Vav), usually pronounced as V and sometimes as W.
- Semitic guttural sound ח (Chet) will always be transliterized as ch (chutzpe), even if common English transliteration is h. I.e., for learning purposes we'll rather write Chaifa than Haifa, as it's reflecting the pronunciation of most Israelis.
Therefore, letters which have different pronunciation under different circumstances, will be transliterated the way they sound. Again, we transliterate sounds, not letters.
- Bet / Vet - b / v
- Kaf / Khaf - k / kh
- Pei / Fei - p / f
Transliteration for Tet and Tav, Kaf and Kuf, Sin, and Samech will be absolutely indistinguishable, as it is undistinguishable in modern pronunciation.
"Silent" Alef will be considered the filling of preceding vocalization and will not be reflected in transliteration: ראש - rosh, ראשון - rishon, מאזניים - moznayim, צאן - tzon
Vowels:
Note, that modern Hebrew pronunciation does not distinguish between shorter vowels (i as in sick) and longer ones (ee as in seek). The two words would sound the same.
Also, note the ultra-short vowels (the Chatafs). They sound shorter indeed, however, in modern pronunciation that is not a rule, and they may sound exactly like corresponding "normal" sounds.
| Letter |
Corresponding |
Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| a | Kamatz, Patach | a in father or traffic |
| e | Segol, Tzeire | e in get |
| i | Khirik | e in zebra |
| o | Kholam, Kamatz katan | o in both, |
| u | Shuruk, kubutz | oo in book |
| ei, ey | Tzeire | as a in face or ey in hey! |
| [_]a | Khataf-Patach | shorter a |
| [_]o | Khataf-Kamatz | shorter o |
| [_]e | Khataf-Segol, Schva Na | shorter e |
Stress would be noted by either bold underlined character: boker vs boker.
