Lessing-Othmer

Transliteration of Chinese
Mandarin
Modern Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Gwoyeu Romatzyh Spelling conventions Latinxua Sin Wenz Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II Tongyong Pinyin Wade–Giles Yale romanization Lessing-Othmer Simplified Wade Comparison chart
Late imperial Mandarin Morrison romanization Legge romanization Postal romanization EFEO
Sichuanese Sichuanese Pinyin Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz
Wu
General Wu Romanization of Wu Chinese
Wenzhounese Wenzhounese romanization
Yue
Cantonese Jyutping Yale romanization Guangdong Romanization Hong Kong Government Macau Government Meyer–Wempe Sidney Lau S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols) S. L. Wong (romanization) Cantonese Pinyin Standard Romanization Barnett–Chao Comparison chart
Min
Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī Modern Literal Taiwanese Phofsit Daibuun Habhunwe Latinxua Sin Bhundzi Bbánlám pìngyīm Daighi tongiong pingim TLPA Tâi-lô Comparison chart
Teochew Peng'im Pe̍h-ūe-jī
Fuzhounese Foochow Romanized Fuzhou Transliteration Scheme
Northern Min Kienning Colloquial Romanized
Pu-Xian Min Hinghwa Romanized
Hainanese Hainan Romanized (Haikou dialect) Hainanese Transliteration Scheme (Wenchang dialect)
Shao–Jiang Min Romanized Shaowu (Shaowu dialect)
Gan
Nanchang-Duchang dialect Pinfa
Hakka
Meixian dialect Pinfa Hagfa Pinyim
Sixian dialect Pha̍k-fa-sṳ TLPA
Xiang
Chang–Yi dialects Pinfa
Polylectal
General Chinese Romanized General Chinese
See also
Other transliterations Character-based General Chinese Cyrillization Xiao'erjing ʼPhags-pa script Bopomofo Taiwanese kana Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols Transcription into Chinese
By place Romanization in Hong Kong Romanization in Singapore Romanization in Taiwan
v t e

Lessing-Othmer is a romanization of Mandarin Chinese that was introduced by F. Lessing [de] and Dr. W. Othmer, who in 1912 printed their book „Lehrgang der nordchinesischen Umgangssprache“ („Course in the North Chinese Colloquial Language“) through the „Deutsch-Chinesische Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt“ in Qingdao while it was a German colony.

In 1979, the State Council of the People's Republic of China for Romanization ruled that translations of foreign-language publications should utilize Lessing-Othmer romanization in German-speaking countries, and Pinyin in English-speaking countries.^[1]

Table

The tones romanized differently from Pinyin are highlighted in blue.

Initial

		Bilabial		Labiodental	Alveolar		Retroflex		Alveolo-palatal	Velar
		Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiced	Voiceless	Voiceless
Nasal			m [m] ㄇ m			n [n] ㄋ n
Plosive	Unaspirated	b [p] ㄅ b			d [t] ㄉ d					g [k] ㄍ g
Plosive	Aspirated	p [pʰ] ㄆ p			t [tʰ] ㄊ t					k [kʰ] ㄎ k
Affricate	Unaspirated				ds [ts] ㄗ z		dsch [ʈʂ] ㄓ zh		dj [tɕ] ㄐ j
Affricate	Aspirated				ts [tsʰ] ㄘ c		tsch [ʈʂʰ] ㄔ ch		tj [tɕʰ] ㄑ q
Fricative				f [f] ㄈ f	s [s] ㄙ s		sch [ʂ] ㄕ sh		hs [ɕ] ㄒ x	h [x] ㄏ h
Liquid						l [l] ㄌ l		j [ɻ~ʐ] ㄖ r

Finals

		Coda
		∅			/i/		/u/		/n/		/ŋ/			/ɻ/
Medial	∅	ï [ɨ] ㄭ -i	ö [ɤ] ㄜ e	a [a] ㄚ a	e [ei] ㄟ ei	ai [ai] ㄞ ai	ou [ou] ㄡ ou	au [au] ㄠ ao	ën [ən] ㄣ en	an [an] ㄢ an	ung [ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ ong	ëng [əŋ] ㄥ eng	ang [aŋ] ㄤ ang	örl [aɚ] ㄦ er
	/j/	i [i] ㄧ i	iä [je] ㄧㄝ ie	ia [ja] ㄧㄚ ia			iu [jou] ㄧㄡ iu	iau [jau] ㄧㄠ iao	in [in] ㄧㄣ in	iän [jɛn] ㄧㄢ ian	iung [jʊŋ] ㄩㄥ iong	ing [iŋ] ㄧㄥ ing	iang [jaŋ] ㄧㄤ iang
	/w/	u [u] ㄨ u	o [wo] ㄨㄛ uo	ua [wa] ㄨㄚ ua	ui [wei] ㄨㄟ ui	uai [wai] ㄨㄞ uai			un [wən] ㄨㄣ un	uan [wan] ㄨㄢ uan		ung [wəŋ] ㄨㄥ ueng	uang [waŋ] ㄨㄤ uang
	/ɥ/	ü [y] ㄩ ü	üä [ɥe] ㄩㄝ üe						ün [yn] ㄩㄣ ün	üan [ɥɛn] ㄩㄢ üan