Transcription Rules from English to Orish

In the transcription from English to Orish, these letters will remain the same as long as they are pronounced like that:

Some digraphs are still pronounced just like in Orish, so they will remain the same in the transcription to Orish as long as they are pronounced like that:

 OW
 OY

## Same Pronunciation, Different Spelling

### /k/

In English, the sound of the letter K is always /k/ as long as it's not silent, but the letter K is not the only spelling of the sound /k/. This sound is also known in the spellings ⟨C⟩, ⟨Q⟩ and ⟨CK⟩. This sound is also sometimes spelles as ⟨CH⟩, probably as a trace to the pronunciation as /x/. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨K⟩, unless it's spelled as ⟨CH⟩ in English and in this case it can also be transcribed as ⟨X⟩.

### /f/

In English, the sound of the letter F is always /f/ except in the word "of", but the letter F is not the only spelling of the sound /f/. This sound is also known in the spelling ⟨PH⟩, especially in words borrowed from Greek, and rarely in the spelling ⟨GH⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨F⟩.

### /s/

In English, /s/ is probably the most common sound of the letter S, but not only it's not the only sound of the letter S, the letter S is also not the only spelling of the sound /s/. This sound is also known in the spelling ⟨C⟩ before E, I or Y, that is commonly called "soft C". It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨S⟩.

### /z/

In English, the sound of the letter Z is normally /z/, but the letter Z is way too rare for its sound in English. This sound is most often spelled as ⟨S⟩ precisely. When this sound is spelled with the letter Z in English there is no doubt that in the transcription to Orish this letter should remain the same, but when this sound is spelled with the letter S, the transcription depends both on the spelling and the pronunciation. If the pronunciation is more important the letter S will be replaced with the letter Z, and if the spelling is more important than the pronunciation the letter S will be pronounced as /s/.

### /ʃ/

In English, the letter Ʃ doesn't exist at all, but its sound exist. This sound is normally spelled with the digraph ⟨SH⟩, that Orish never uses for this sound. This sound is also known in the spellings ⟨S⟩, ⟨T⟩, ⟨C⟩ and ⟨CH⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨Ʃ⟩, unless this sound is a part of a unique suffix that has a special transcription rule.

### /ʒ/

In English, not only the letter Ʒ doesn't exist, but while its sound exist, it doesn't even have a normal spelling. This sound is also very rare, and exists mainly as the sound of the letter S in the suffixed SION, SUAL and SURE, and as a sound of the letter G or J in some words borrowed from French. If the word is borrowed from French this sound is transcribed to Orish as ⟨Ʒ⟩ and if this sound is a part of one of the suffixes above it is transcribed to Orish by the transcription rules of the suffixes.

### /ej/

In English, /ej/ is the long sound of the letter A. This sound is known in the spellings just ⟨A⟩, ⟨A⟩ and magic E, ⟨AI⟩, ⟨AY⟩ ⟨EI⟩, ⟨EY⟩ and ⟨EA⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨EY⟩.

### /i/

In English, /i/ is the long sound of the letter E. This sound is known in the spellings just ⟨E⟩, ⟨E⟩ and magic E, ⟨EE⟩, ⟨EA⟩, ⟨EI⟩, ⟨IE⟩, ⟨I⟩ and ⟨Y⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨I⟩.

### /e/

In English, /e/ is the short sound of the letter E. its normal spelling is relatively common, but sometimes it's also spelled as ⟨EA⟩, and in very few words as ⟨A⟩ or ⟨U⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨E⟩.

### /aj/

In English, /aj/ is the long sound of the letter I. This sound is known in the spellings as just ⟨I⟩, ⟨I⟩ and magic I, ⟨IG⟩, ⟨IGH⟩, just ⟨Y⟩, ⟨Y⟩ and magic E, and some rarer spellings. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨AY⟩.

### /ow/

In English, /ow/ is the long sound of the letter O. This sound is known in the spellings as just ⟨O⟩, ⟨O⟩ and magic E, ⟨OW⟩, ⟨OA⟩, ⟨OE⟩ and ⟨OU⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨OW⟩, except when it's spelled as just ⟨O⟩, and in this case it can also be transcribed as ⟨O⟩, but the pronunciation will be changed into /o/.

### /ju/

In English, /ju/ is the long sound of the letter U. This sound is known in the spellings as just ⟨U⟩, ⟨U⟩ and magic E, ⟨UE⟩ and ⟨EW⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨YU⟩.

### /u/

In English, /u/ is spelled as ⟨U⟩, ⟨OO⟩, ⟨OU⟩, ⟨UE⟩, ⟨EW⟩, ⟨O⟩ ⟨UI⟩ and some rarer spellings. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨U⟩.

### /j/

In English, at the beginning of words the sound /j/ is normally spelled as ⟨Y⟩ while in the middle of words it's normally spelled as ⟨I⟩. another much rarer spelling of this sound is ⟨j⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨Y⟩, unless it comes before or after I and in this case it disappears.

### /w/

In English, the sound /w/ is normally spelled as ⟨W⟩, but sometimes also as ⟨U⟩, especially after the letter Q. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨W⟩, unless it comes before or after U and in this case it disappears, or alternatively it is replaced with ⟨V⟩.

### /t͡ʃ/

In English, the sound /t͡ʃ/ is normally spelled as ⟨CH⟩ or ⟨TCH⟩, and sometimes as ⟨T⟩ or ⟨C⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨T͡Ʃ⟩, unless it's spelled as ⟨T⟩, and in this case transcribing it as ⟨T⟩ is recommended.

### /d͡ʒ/

In English, the sound /d͡ʒ/ is normally spelled as ⟨J⟩, or as ⟨G⟩ before E I or Y, or as ⟨DGE⟩, and rarely as ⟨D⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨D͡Ʒ⟩, unless it's spelled as ⟨D⟩, and in this case transcribing it as ⟨D⟩ is recommended.

### /aw/

In English, the sound /aw/ is normally spelled as ⟨OW⟩ or as ⟨OU⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨AW⟩.

### /oj/

In English, the sound /oj/ is normally spelled as ⟨OY⟩ or as ⟨OI⟩. It doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨OY⟩.

### /ks/, /gz/

In English, the letter X has a role that no letter in Orish has, it represents the consonant clusters /ks/ and /gz/. This letter will be replaced with ⟨KS⟩ or ⟨GZ⟩, depending on its pronunciation.

## Same Spelling, Different Pronunciation

### /ɝ/, /ɚ/

In English, the sounds /ɝ/ and /ɚ/ exist, but in Orish they don't. These sounds usually have a spelling of a vowel followed by R: ⟨AR⟩, ⟨ER⟩, ⟨IR⟩, ⟨OR⟩ and ⟨UR⟩. Sometimes they are spelled with two vowel letters and R: ⟨EAR⟩ and ⟨OUR⟩ In the transcription to Orish, if they are spelled with a single vowel letter and R they remain the same in the spelling but change in their pronuncation to match it to the spelling, while ⟨EAR⟩ is transcribed into ⟨ER⟩ and ⟨OUR⟩ is transcribed into ⟨UR⟩.

### /ŋ/

In English, the sound /ŋ/ is the sound of the digraph NG at the end of words and the sound of the letter N before velar consonants. In the transcription to Orish, if this sound is followed by a velar consonant it's transcribed into ⟨N⟩ and if it's not it's transcribed as ⟨NG⟩, but unlike in English, in Orish it's less important to pronounce the letter N as /ŋ/ before velar consonants and more important to pronounce the letter G after the letter N even at the end of words.

### /ə/

In English, the sound /ə/ is the most common vowel and probably the most common sound, but in Orish this sound is not as common as in English. Also, the letter Ə doesn't exist in English, and this sound can be spelled either as ⟨A⟩, ⟨E⟩, ⟨I⟩, ⟨O⟩ and ⟨U⟩ and comes in more than half of the unstressed syllables, while in Orish this is always spelled as ⟨Ə⟩ and comes only to deal with pronunciation difficulties. If this sound is spelled as a single vowel letter the spelling remains the same and the pronunciation changes to match it to the spelling. But sometimes this sound is not spelled with any letter, and it's difficult to pronounce the word without it; a striking example for that is words that end in LE after a consonant, that is pronounced as a syllabic /l/.

## Different Spelling and Pronunciation

### /θ/, /ð/

In English, both /θ/ and /ð/ are spelled as ⟨TH⟩, but they don't exist in Orish. However, /s/ and /z/ are quite similar to them, so /θ/ is transcribed as ⟨S⟩ and /ð/ is transcribed as ⟨Z⟩.

### /æ/

In English, /æ/ is the short sound of the letter A. This sound is probably always spelled as ⟨A⟩, but it doesn't exist in Orish. However, this sound is quite similar to the sound /a/, the sound of the letter A in Orish, so this sound is normally transcribed to Orish as ⟨A⟩. But some non-native English speakers hear this sound as /e/, so transcribing this sound to Orish as ⟨E⟩ is not a mistake.

### /ɪ/

In English, /ɪ/ is the short sound of the letter I. This sound is normally spelled as ⟨I⟩, but sometimes it's spelled as ⟨Y⟩, ⟨E⟩ and rarelier as ⟨A⟩ or ⟨U⟩, but it doesn't exist in Orish. However, this sound is quite similar to /i/, the sound of the letter I in Orish, so this sound is normally transcribed to Orish as ⟨I⟩. Exceptionally, when this sound is unstressed and spelled as ⟨E⟩, ⟨A⟩ or ⟨U⟩, it's commonly heard as /e/, especially by non-native English speakers, so in these cases transcribing it to Orish as ⟨E⟩ is recommended.

### /ɒ/

In English, /ɒ/ is the short sound of the letter O. This sound is almost spelled as ⟨O⟩, with some exceptions that this sound is spelled as ⟨A⟩. This sound can be transcribed to Orish either as ⟨A⟩ or as ⟨O⟩ regardless of its spelling. its transcription can also depent on the pronunciation of this sound in American English.

### /ʌ/

In English, /ʌ/ is the short sound of the letter U. This sound is normally spelled as ⟨U⟩, but sometimes it's spelled as ⟨O⟩ or ⟨OU⟩, but it doesn't exist in Orish. This sound is quite tricky to transcribe to Orish because there is no similar sound in Orish. Many non-native English speaker hear this sound as /a/ and many others hear it as /o/, but its spelling makes the transcription really difficult, because there is a big gap between the way non-native English speakers see the letter U and the way they hear it.

### /ʊ/

In English, /ʊ/ is another short vowel. This sound is quite rare, and normally spelled as ⟨U⟩ or ⟨OO⟩, spelling forms that can also represent /u/, but it doesn't exist in Orish. However, this sound is quite similar to /u/, the sound of the letter U in Orish, so it doesn't matter how this sound is spelled in English, in the transcription to Orish this sound is always transcribed to Orish as ⟨U⟩.

## Silent Letters

In English there are many silent letters, and they make the transcription from English to Orish even harder. Here are some tips for transcribing to Orish silent letters:

* Never transcribe silent E to Orish, always remove it.
* Remove silent letters that are really difficult to pronounce.
* If pronouncing the silent letter can beautify the pronunciation of the word - keep the silent letter as it is and pronounce it like in Orish.
* Remove letters that were never pronounced.