Transliteration

In different humanities disciplines it is common to refer to certain concepts from languages written in non-Roman scripts. In Western philosophical works, Ancient Greek is often referenced, whereas works engaging Eastern philosophy and religion often use terms from Japanese, Mandarin, Sanskrit, and Tibetan.

As a rule, we prefer that uniform transliteration (romanization) standards. Moreover, in the case on non-alphabetical writing systems we prefer also the original orthography to be included. As an example of proper practice, see, for example A Buddha Land in This World by Lajos Brons.

For any scripts not mentioned here, we follow ALA-LC romanization.

Ancient Greek

For Greek we use the ALA-LC romanization standard, without indication of tone.

Greek	ALA-LC (2010)
α	a
αι	ai
β	b
γ	g
	n (before velar stop)
δ	d
ε	e
ει	ei
ζ	z
η	ē
θ	th
ι	i
κ	k
λ	l
μ	m
ν	n
ξ	x
ο	o
οι	oi
ου	ou
π	p
ρ	rh (word-initially)
	r
σ	s
ς
τ	t
υ	y
	u (in diphthongs)
υι	ui
φ	ph
χ	ch
ψ	ps
ω	ō

Japanese

For Japanese, we follow Hepburn romanization according to the ALA-LC romanization standard.

Mandarin

For Mandarin, we follow Pinyin romanization without tone marks, following the ALA-LC romanization standard. When other romanization standards for specific names (for example from Taiwan) are more common, these are used.

Russian

For Russian, we use the BGN/PCGN romanization.

А (а)	A (a)
Б (б)	B (b)
В (в)	V (v)
Г (г)	G (g)
Д (д)	D (d)
Е (е)	Ye (ye)	Word-initially; after vowels; after й; after ь; after ъ.
	E (e)	All other cases
Ё (ё)	Yë (yë)	Word-initially; after vowels; after й; after ь; after ъ.
	Ë (ë)	All other cases
Ж (ж)	Zh (zh)
З (з)	Z (z)
И (и)	I (i)
Й (й)	Y· (y·)	Before а, у, ы, or э. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional.
	Y (y)	All other cases
К (к)	K (k)
Л (л)	L (l)
М (м)	M (m)
Н (н)	N (n)
О (о)	O (o)
П (п)	P (p)
Р (р)	R (r)
С (с)	S (s)
Т (т)	T (t)
У (у)	U (u)
Ф (ф)	F (f)
Х (х)	Kh (kh)
Ц (ц)	Ts (ts)
Ч (ч)	Ch (ch)
Ш (ш)	Sh (sh)
Щ (щ)	Shch (shch)
Ъ (ъ)	ˮ	This letter does not occur at the beginning of a word.
Ы (ы)	Y· (y·)	Before а, у, ы, or э. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional.
	·y	After any vowel. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional.
	Y (y)	All other cases. This letter does not occur at the beginning of words of Russian origin.
Ь (ь)	ʼ	This letter does not occur at the beginning of a word.
Э (э)	·e	After any consonant except й. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional.
	E (e)	All other cases
Ю (ю)	Yu (yu)
Я (я)	Ya (ya)

Sanskrit & Pāli

For Sanskirt and Pāli we follow the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration.

Vowels and codas

Devanāgarī	Transcription		Category
अ	a	A	monophthongs
आ	ā	Ā
इ	i	I
ई	ī	Ī
उ	u	U
ऊ	ū	Ū
ऋ	ṛ	Ṛ	syllabic liquids
ॠ	ṝ	Ṝ
ऌ	ḷ	Ḷ
ॡ	ḹ	Ḹ
ए	e	E	diphthongs
ऐ	ai	Ai
ओ	o	O
औ	au	Au
ं	ṃ	Ṃ	anusvara
ः	ḥ	Ḥ	visarga
ँ	˜		chandrabindu[2]
ऽ	'		avagraha

Consonants

velars	palatals	retroflexes	dentals	labials	Category
क k  K	च c  C	ट ṭ  Ṭ	त t  T	प p  P	tenuis stops
ख kh  Kh	छ ch  Ch	ठ ṭh  Ṭh	थ th  Th	फ ph  Ph	aspirated stops
ग g  G	ज j  J	ड ḍ  Ḍ	द d  D	ब b  B	voiced stops
घ gh  Gh	झ jh  Jh	ढ ḍh  Ḍh	ध dh  Dh	भ bh  Bh	breathy-voiced stops
ङ ṅ  Ṅ	ञ ñ  Ñ	ण ṇ  Ṇ	न n  N	म m  M	nasal stops
ह h  H	य y  Y	र r  R	ल l  L	व v  V	approximants
	श ś  Ś	ष ṣ  Ṣ	स s  S		sibilants

Tibetan

For Tibetan, we follow the Wylie transliteration system, again according to ALA-LC standards.