Memorials of the Faithful/Guide to Persian pronunciation

Guide to Persian pronunciation

a           as in hat

á           rhymes with mom; or awe

a           as in Harry

aw       rhymes with no

ch        as in church

ḍ          like z in zebra

dh        like z in zebra

gh        sounds like a French r

h          as in hat

ḥ          as in hat

            N.B.  Always pronounce the h.  Example:

            Teh-ron (Ṭihrán)

i           rhymes with bet

í           rhymes with meet

kh        sounds like ch in Scottish loch

Q          sounds like a French r

s           like s in yes

ṣ           like s in yes

t           as in tea

ṭ           as in tea

th         like s in yes

u          as “o” in short

ú          sounds like moot

               N.B.  Equal emphasis on each syllable:  Ṭá-heh-reh

               Apostrophe denotes a pause:  Bahá’ ... í

The Arabic-Persian alphabet not only represents sounds for which there is no Western equivalent, but contains four differ- ent z’s, three s’s, etc. This means that arbitrary marks, letters, and combinations of letters must be used to transliterate Arabic and Persian words into Western tongues. Pronunciation varies all over the Middle East, and heretofore Western spelling has gone according to the nationality of the orientalist, the English- man writing shah, the Frenchman, chah, the German schah, each nation contributing its own accent as well. To bring order out of chaos, the above system was devised by orientalists, and adopted by the Guardian for Bahá’í use. With it a uniform Western spelling is achieved, and a student can tell at a glance how the word is written in the original. Letters not shown are pronounced as in English.