Pronunciation guide in Burmese phrasebook

Read Romanized signs properly

Burmese, similar to French, rarely has consonant endings, because most become glottal stops (like the break in uh-oh!) or nasalised. Burmese names written using Latin letters include these endings to denote the fact that the endings are written. These endings include:

• -'k'

such as in Kyaiktiyo (a Buddhist pilgrimage site), which is pronounced chaih-TEE-ou.

• -'ne'

such as Mawlamyine (a city in Myanmar), which is pronounced mau-la-myain.

• -'ng'

such as in Sagaing (a city in Myanmar), which is pronounced za-gainh.

• -'m'

such as in dhamma (a Buddhist term), which is pronounced dha-MA. (A special case accompanies -m. For example, lam, which means "street", is pronounced lan, with an -n.)

• -'r'

such as in Myanmar, which is pronounced myan-MA.

• -'t'

such as in Thatbyinnyu (a temple in Bagan), which is pronounced thah-BYIN-nyu.