Sanskrit
Vowels
Vowels are pronounced as in Italian or Spanish, but there is a distinction between long and short vowels; a line over a vowel makes it long:
short a as in siesta, but long ā as in car.
short i as in sit, but long ī as in feet.
short u as in put, but long ū as in loot.
The following vowels are always long:
e as in day.
ai as in pie.
o as in go.
au as in how.
ṛ is also a vowel (short), pronounced as a rolled r, rather like ri. Accent is usually placed on the penultimate syllable when this contains a long vowel; otherwise it is placed on the antepenultimate. Other syllables containing long vowels may be somewhat stressed; e.g., yoginī is pronounced yo-gi-nī, not yo-gi-nī.
Consonants
Most consonants are pronounced as in English. The aspirated consonants kh, gh, ch, jh, th, dh, ph, bh are considered single consonants in the Sanskrit syllabary. For example, the aspirated consonants th and ph must never be pronounced as in the words things and photo, but as in pothole and shepherd. The other aspirated consonants are pronounced similarly. Note also the following:
c is always pronounced ch.
g is always pronounced as in go, never as in gem.
ṅ is pronounced in the throat as in hanger.
ñ is pronounced as in lunch, or, before a vowel as in canyon.
ṭ, ḍ, ṇ are pronounced approximately as in English, but the tongue turns back along the palate.
t, d, n are pronounced with the tongue at the teeth, as in Italian or Spanish.
v may be pronounced w when it follows a consonant.
ś is pronounced as in shape.
ṣ is pronounced as in should or sugar.
ḥ is a breathing sound, generally at the end of a word.
ṃ is a nasal sound at the end of a word; if it comes before a consonant it is assimilated to it, becoming either ṅ, ñ, ṇ, n, or m. In principle, it nasalizes the preceding vowel.
Tibetan
We have utilized a system of Tibetan transcription based on an approximation of pronunciation. Our aim has been to transcribe Tibetan for the nonspecialist.
In general, vowels and consonants are pronounced as outlined above. There are the additional vowel sounds of ö and ü. The aspirated consonants kh, ch, th, and ph are pronounced as in Sanskrit. The consonant ts is pronounced as in hats; dz is pronounced as in words; and lh is pronounced as hl.
We have included the proper orthographic transliteration of all Tibetan words in the Glossary and/or Index. The rules for the pronunciation of this transliteration are too complex to be dealt with here, and such transcription is meant only for those knowledgeable in the Tibetan language.