| IPA |
Tibetan |
English approximation
|
|---|
| Consonants
|
|---|
| b
|
བ
|
bog [p] on a low tone
| | c
|
|
church
| | cʰ
|
|
church
| | ɕ
|
ཞ ཤ
|
sheep
| | d
|
ད
|
dog ([t] on a low tone)
| | dz
|
ཛ
|
adz ([ts] on a low tone)
| | dʑ
|
ཇ |
jeep ([tɕ] on a low tone)
| | ɡ
|
ག
|
gone ([k] on a low tone)
| | h
|
ཧ |
head
| | j
|
ཡ |
yes
| | ɟ
|
|
judge, (UK) dew ([c] on a low tone)
| | k
|
ཀ |
scat
| | kʰ
|
ཁ ག |
cat
| | l
|
ལ |
leap
| | l̥
|
|
(voiceless l, like hl)
| | m
|
མ |
moon
| | n
|
ན |
noon
| | ɲ
|
ཉ |
canyon
| | ŋ
|
ང |
song
| | p
|
པ |
spin
| | pʰ
|
ཕ བ |
pin
| | ɹ
|
ར |
the r in drink
| | s
|
ཟ ས |
song
| | ʂ
|
|
like first part of shrew [ʂɹu]
| | t
|
ཏ |
stop
| | tʰ
|
ཐ ད |
top
| | ʈ ~ ʈʂ
|
|
stream
| | ʈʰ ~ ʈʂʰ
|
|
trunk
| | tɕ
|
ཅ |
beach
| | tɕʰ
|
ཆ ཇ |
cheer
| | ts
|
ཙ |
cats
| | tsʰ
|
ཚ ཛ |
tsunami
| | w
|
ཝ |
water
| | z
|
ཟ |
zoo ([s] on a low tone)
| | ʑ
|
ཞ |
genre ([ɕ] on a low tone)
| | ʔ
|
ཨ |
oh-oh!
| | ʕ
|
འ |
like ɦ but more pharyngeal
|
|
| IPA
|
Tibetan |
English approximation
|
|---|
| Vowels
|
|---|
| a
|
|
between fat and father
| | e
|
|
Spanish e (in Sp. open syllables)
| | ɛ
|
|
bed
| | i
|
|
see
| | ɪ
|
|
sit but more centralised
| | o
|
|
Spanish o (in Sp. open syllables)
| | ø
|
|
French eu, German ö
| | ɔ
|
|
dawn (mid-west US accent)
| | u
|
|
moon
| | ʊ
|
|
good but more centralised
| | ʌ
|
|
cup
| | y
|
|
French u, German ü
| | ̃
|
|
nasal vowel
|
| Tones
|
|---|
| IPA |
Description
|
|---|
| sí
|
high level: si˥
| | sî
|
high falling: si˥˧
| | sǐ
|
low rising: si˩˧
| | sì
|
low level: si˩
|
|
