Meeting of the UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems
Tallinn, 9–10 October, 2006

Local romanization systems: case of Estonian

The aim of the Working Group on Romanization Systems is to promote one single romanization system for each language, but the WG could also collect information on various other conventional systems that are used in a specific language to render foreign-script names, as this information could be useful for translation and reference purposes. Perhaps countries could be urged to give an overview of their existing conventional conversion (romanization) systems in their reports to UNGEGN sessions and UN conferences.

Below is a short overview of how non-Roman script names are rendered in Estonian texts. As a rule, the systems approved by United Nations conferences on the standardization of geographical names, are followed, but there are two exceptions. For Greek there exists also a system of rendering Classical Greek names, based on traditional Latin transcription. (For modern Greek names the ELOT 743 system is recommended.) For Russian there is a traditional Estonian transcription system used since the 1920’s and for preserving the stability in rendering personal names in passports, etc. it has been considered appropriate not to change this system. However, the UN-approved system (1987) for Russian is also given an official status: by application of the person concerned, this system may be used to record a Russian personal name in a passport; also in order to record the original spelling of a Russian geographical name in Estonia, this system can be used.

Decisions on adopting various romanization systems into Estonian use are made by the Language Board at the Mother Tongue Society (Emakeele Seltsi keeletoimkond), this authority has lately been confirmed by the Government based on the Language Act. Earlier, in the 1960’s and 1970’s decisions were made by the Orthological Committee (VÕK) that was working under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences.

First systems of rendering non-Roman-script names were approved in 1926 (Greek and Russian), most other systems followed in the 1970’s. As a rule, in these systems only those letters are used that occur in Estonian standard alphabet and have a fixed pronunciation (a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, š, z, ž, t, u, v, õ, ä, ö, ü).

Armenian [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1976]

1	Ա ա	a
2	Բ բ	b
3	Գ գ	g
4	Դ դ	d
5	Ե ե	e, jeA
6	Զ զ	z
7	Է է	e
8	Ը ը	õ
9	Թ թ	th
10	Ժ ժ	ž
11	Ի ի	i
12	Լ լ	l
13	Խ խ	h, hhB
14	Ծ ծ	ts
15	Կ կ	k
16	Հ հ	h
17	Ձ ձ	dz
18	Ղ ղ	gh
19	Ճ ճ	tš
20	Մ մ	m
21	Յ յ	j
22	Ն ն	n
23	Շ շ	š
24	Ո ո	o, voC
25	Չ չ	tšh
26	Պ պ	p
27	Ջ ջ	dž
28	Ռ ռ	r
29	Ս ս	s
30	Վ վ	v
31	Տ տ	t
32	Ր ր	r
33	Ց ց	tsh
34	Ու ու	u
35	Փ փ	ph
36	Ք ք	kh
37	ԵՒ և	ev, jevA
38	Օ օ	o
39	Ֆ ֆ	f

^A Word-initially and after a vowel.
^B Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel.
^C Word-initially, usually.

Byelorussian [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1976, because of language affinity contains many similarities with Russian-Estonian transcription system]

1	А а	a
2	Б б	b
3	В в	v
4	Г г	g
5	Д д	d
6	Е е	e, jeA
7	Ё ё	jo
8	Ж ж	ž
9	З з	z
10	І і	i, jB, jiC
11	Й й	i
12	К к	k
13	Л л	l
14	М м	m
15	Н н	n
16	О о	o
17	П п	p
18	Р р	r
19	С с	s, ssD
20	Т т	t
21	У у	u
22	Ў ў	v
23	Ф ф	f
24	Х х	h, hhD
25	Ц ц	tsE
26	Ч ч	tšF
27	Ш ш	š
28	’	()
29	Ы ы	õ
30	Ь ь	()
31	Э э	e
32	Ю ю	ju
33	Я я	ja

^A Word-initially, after a vowel or apostrophe.
^B Word-initially before a vowel.
^C After an apostrophe or ь.
^D Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel (excluding cases when the character starts a new component in a compound word).
^E цц = tts.
^F чч = ttš.

Georgian [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1976]

1	ა	a
2	ბ	b
3	გ	g
4	დ	d
5	ე	e
6	ვ	v
7	ზ	z
8	თ	th
9	ი	i
10	კ	k
11	ლ	l
12	მ	m
13	ნ	n
14	ო	o
15	პ	p
16	ჟ	ž
17	რ	r
18	ს	s
19	ტ	t
20	უ	u
21	ფ	ph
22	ქ	kh
23	ღ	g
24	ყ	k
25	შ	š
26	ჩ	tš
27	ც	ts
28	ძ	dz
29	წ	ts
30	ჭ	tš
31	ხ	h, hhA
32	ჯ	dž
33	ჰ	h

^A Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel.

Greek [originally approved by the Language Board for Classical Greek names in 1926. later confirmed in 1964]

1	Α α	a
	αι	aA
	αυ	au
2	Β β	b
3	Γ γ	g
	γγ	ng
	γκ	nk
	γξ	nx
	γχ	nch
4	Δ δ	d
5	Ε ε	e
	ευ	eu
6	Ζ ζ	z
7	Η η	e
8	Θ θ	th
9	Ι ι	i
10	Κ κ	k
11	Λ λ	l
12	Μ μ	m
13	Ν ν	n
14	Ξ ξ	x
15	Ο ο	o
	οι	oA
	ου	u
16	Π π	p
17	Ρ ρ	r
18	Σ σ ς	s
19	Τ τ	t
20	Υ υ	y
21	Φ φ	ph
22	Χ χ	ch
23	Ψ ψ	ps
24	Ω ω	o

^A At the end of a geographical name.

Kazakh [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1977]

1	А а	a
2	Ә ә	ä
3	Б б	b
4	В в	v
5	Г г	g
6	Ғ ғ	g
7	Д д	d
8	Е е	e, jeA
9	Ё ё	..
10	Ж ж	ž
11	З з	z
12	И и	i
13	Й й	j
14	К к	k
15	Қ қ	k
16	Л л	l
17	М м	m
18	Н н	n
19	Ң ң	ng
20	О о	o
21	Ө ө	ö
22	П п	p
23	Р р	r
24	С с	s
25	Т т	t
26	У у	u
27	Ұ ұ	u
28	Ү ү	ü
29	Ф ф	f
30	Х х	h, hhB
31	Һ һ	h
32	Ц ц	ts
33	Ч ч	tš
34	Ш ш	š
35	Щ щ	štš
36	Ъ ъ	()
37	Ы ы	õ
38	І і	i
39	Ь ь	()
40	Э э	e
41	Ю ю	ju
42	Я я	ja

^A Word-initially and after a vowel.
^B Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel.

Kirghiz [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1977]

1	А а	a
2	Б б	b
3	В в	v
4	Г г	g
5	Д д	d
6	Е е	e, jeA
7	Ё ё	..
8	Ж ж	dž
9	З з	z
10	И и	i
11	Й й	j
12	К к	k
13	Л л	l
14	М м	m
15	Н н	n
16	Ң ң	ng
17	О о	o
18	Ө ө	ö
19	П п	p
20	Р р	r
21	С с	s
22	Т т	t
23	У у	u
24	Ү ү	ü
25	Ф ф	f
26	Х х	h, hhB
27	Ц ц	ts
28	Ч ч	tš
29	Ш ш	š
30	Щ щ	štš
31	Ъ ъ	()
32	Ы ы	õ
33	Ь ь	()
34	Э э	e
35	Ю ю	ju
36	Я я	ja

^A Word-initially and after a vowel.
^B Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel.

Russian [originally approved by the Language Board in 1926, major modifications in 1946, 1953 and 1995, last minor modification approved in 2005]

1	А а	a
2	Б б	b
3	В в	v
4	Г г	g
5	Д д	d
6	Е е	e, jeA
7	Ё ё	jo, oB
8	Ж ж	ž
9	З з	z
10	И и	i, jC
	ий	ii, iD
11	Й й	i, jC
12	К к	k
13	Л л	l
14	М м	m
15	Н н	n
16	О о	o
17	П п	p
18	Р р	r
19	С с	s, ssE
20	Т т	t
21	У у	u
22	Ф ф	f
23	Х х	h, hhE
24	Ц ц	ts
25	Ч ч	tš
26	Ш ш	š
27	Щ щ	štš
28	Ъ ъ	()
29	Ы ы	õ
30	Ь ь	(), jF
31	Э э	e
32	Ю ю	ju
33	Я я	ja

^A Word-initially, after a vowel, ь or ъ.
^B After ж, ч, ш, щ.
^C Word-initially before a vowel.
^D At the end of a word with two or more syllables.
^E Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel (excluding cases when the character starts a new component in a compound word).
^F Before a vowel (except е, ё, ю, я).

Tajik [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1977]

1	А а	a
2	Б б	b
3	В в	v
4	Г г	g
5	Ғ ғ	g
6	Д д	d
7	Е е	e
8	Ё ё	jo
9	Ж ж	ž
10	З з	z
11	И и	i
12	Ӣ ӣ	i
13	Й й	j
14	К к	k
15	Қ қ	k
16	Л л	l
17	М м	m
18	Н н	n
19	О о	o
20	П п	p
21	Р р	r
22	С с	s
23	Т т	t
24	У у	u
25	Ӯ ӯ	u
26	Ф ф	f
27	Х х	h, hhA
28	Ҳ ҳ	h
29	Ч ч	tš
30	Ҷ ҷ	dž
31	Ш ш	š
32	Ъ ъ	()
33	Э э	e
34	Ю ю	ju
35	Я я	ja

^A Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel.

Ukrainian [approved by the Orthological Committee in 1975, because of language affinity contains many similarities with Russian-Estonian transcription system]

1	А а	a
2	Б б	b
3	В в	v
4	Г г	g
5	Ґ ґ	..
6	Д д	d
7	Е е	e
8	Є є	je
9	Ж ж	ž
10	З з	z
11	И и	õ, iA
	ий	õi, iB, iiC
12	І і	i
	ій	ii, iD
13	Ї ї	i, jiE
14	Й й	i, jF
15	К к	k
16	Л л	l
17	М м	m
18	Н н	n
19	О о	o
20	П п	p
21	Р р	r
22	С с	s, ssG
23	Т т	t
24	У у	u
25	Ф ф	f
26	Х х	h, hhG
27	Ц ц	ts
28	Ч ч	tšH
29	Ш ш	š
30	Щ щ	štš
31	Ю ю	ju
32	Я я	ja
33	Ь ь	(), jF
34	’	()

^A After г, ж, к, х, ч, ш, щ.
^B After г, ж, к, х, ч, ш, щ in words with two or more syllables.
^C After г, ж, к, х, ч, ш, щ in monosyllabic words.
^D At the end of words with two or more syllables.
^E After ’ (apostrophe).
^F Before a vowel.
^G Between vowels and word-finally after a vowel (excluding cases when the character starts a new component in a compound word).
^H чч = ttš.