Vowels: The line on top of a vowel indicates that it is long.
a (short) as the u in but
ā (long) as the a in far
i (short) as the i in sit
ī (long) as the ee in sweet
u (short) as the u in put
ū (long) as the oo in cool
r with a dot is a vowel like the i in first or u in fūrther
e is always a long vowel like a in mate
o is always long as the o in pole
ow as the ow in owl
The visarga, two vertically lined points ‘:’ is translitrated into roman as an ‘h’ and sounded like the ‘h’ in ‘loch’ e.g. pramattah, bhartuh, Duhṣanta.
Also note, the final’i’ in feminine nouns are long in the nominative case but short in the vocative case; e.g. Vetravatī and Vetravati (when she is addressed by name).
Consonants: K is the same as in English as in kitten
kh is aspirated
g as in goat
gh is aspirated
c is ch as in church or cello ch is aspirated
j as in jewel
jh is aspirated
ṭ and ḍ are hard when dotted below as in talk and dot
ṭṭ is the aspirated sound
ḍḍ is aspirated
ṇ when dotted is a dental; the tongue has to curl back to touch
the palate.
t undotted is a th as in thermal th is aspirated
d undotted is a soft sound—there is no corresponding English sound, the Russian ‘da’ is the closest.
dh is aspirated
p and b are the same as in English ph and bh are aspirated
The Skt v is an English w
There are 3 sibilants in Skt: S as in song, S as in shover and a palatal Ś which is in between, e.g. Śiva.