Romanization of Burmese explained

Romanization of the Burmese alphabet is representation of the Burmese language or Burmese names in the Latin alphabet.

Official transcription systems

The MLC romanization system (1980) is promoted inside Myanmar. Inside and outside Myanmar several other systems may also be used. Replicating Burmese sounds in the Latin script is complicated.

• MLC Transcription System (MLCTS), of the Myanmar Language Commission is the government recommended transliteration system for rendering Burmese in the Latin alphabet. This system is used in many linguistic publications regarding Burmese, and is used in all MLC publications as the primary form of transcription for Burmese. It is loosely based on the widely accepted academic romanization of Pali, and has some similarities to the Library of Congress' ALA-LC Romanization index system for Burmese publications. MLCTS transcribes sounds in formal Burmese and is based on the orthography rather than the phonology.^[1]
• BGN/PCGN romanization of Burmese (1970) is the BGN/PCGN romanization adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN).
• ALA-LC romanization for Burmese is used by the Library of Congress for cataloguing Burmese language book holdings.^[2]

Academic and language-teaching transcription systems

Academic and language-teaching transcription systems include:

• Mendelson's system: i.e. E. Michael Mendelson (1975)^[3]
• Cornyn-Roop system: i.e. William S. Cornyn, D. Haigh Roop Beginning Burmese (1968)^[4]
• John Okell A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese (2002) - conventional transcription with accented tones.^[5]
• Minn Latt The Prague method romanization of Burmese (1958) - method was created as author was teaching burmese in Charles University in Prague. Method is based on system of William Cornyn (1944).^[6]

Personal names

Several colloquial transcription systems have been proposed, but none is overwhelmingly preferred over others. Transcription of Burmese is not standardized, as seen in the varying English transcriptions of Burmese names. For instance, a Burmese personal name like (in Burmese pronounced as /wɪ́ɴ/) may be variously romanized as Win, Winn, Wyn, or Wynn, while (in Burmese pronounced as /kʰàɪɴ/) may be romanized as Khaing, Khine, or Khain.

Notes and References

1. J. Okell A Guide to the Romanization of Burmese 2002- Page 7 "3. SURVEY OF THE THREE METHODS OF ROMANIZATION 3.l Transliteration The Burmese use for writing their language a script which is also used for Pali, and as there is a widely accepted romanization system for Pali this can be applied ..."
2. https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/burmese.pdf Library of Congress table for romanization of Burmese
3. John P. Ferguson Essays on Burma 1981 Page 77 "4 Romanization of Burmese in this paper follows Mendelson's system in cases of commonly used terms, with a romanization given in parentheses based upon a modification of the Cornyn-Roop system (for details, see Ferguson 1975, ..."
4. Bardwell L. Smith Religion and legitimation of power in Thailand, Laos, and Burma - Page 83 1978 "... by Mendelson (1975). For those trained under the American system, Burmese words will also, on first mention, be romanized on the basis of a literal (as opposed to aural) transcription of written Burmese according to the Cornyn and Roop .."
5. V. I. Braginskiĭ Classical Civilisations of South East Asia: An Anthology University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies - 2002 Page 57 " ... Burmese is romanized in this article according to John Okell's system of ' conventional transcription with accented tones "
6. Minn Latt. The Prague method romanization of Burmese. In Archiv Orientální: journal of the Czechoslovak Oriental Institute, Prague, 26, 1958, pp. 145-167.