How to pronunciation Bengali Alphabet in English
Bengali is one of the official languages of India and is quite popular language in the whole world. It is spoken mainly in West Bengal state of India and in some parts of the neighboring states of West Bengal. Bengali and Oriya languages have many things in common.
Microsoft Windows allow the usage of this language and support the font for Bengali. Below is the list of alphabets used in Bengali with the guide to pronounce it as the sounds are present in the English language.
The alphabet ends with h. The following three letters, each with a diacritical subscript dot beneath it, indicate 'allophones' of letters already listed in the alphabet.
Vowels of Bengali Alphabet
অ | As ‘a’ in mal |
আ | Stressed অ |
ই | As ‘I’ in ill |
ঈ | As ‘e’ in eke |
উ | As ‘u’ in Ubuntu |
ঊ | As ‘ou’ in you |
ঋ | As ‘ri’ in risk |
ৠ | Double sound of “ri” |
এ | As ‘e’ in par se |
ঐ | As ‘a’ in as |
ও | As ‘o’ in go |
ঔ | Stressed and long sound of ‘o’ |
Consonants of Bengali Alphabet
ক | As ‘k’ in kite |
খ | Coupled sound of ‘k’, ‘h’= ‘kh’ |
গ | As ‘g’ in gun |
ঘ | Coupled sound of ‘g’, ‘h’= ‘gh’ |
ঙ | As ‘gn’ in gnome. Does not produce a particular sound: Just used for articulation of tongue while pronouncing the next word |
চ | As ‘ch’ in chair |
ছ | This sound is not available in English. The tongue touches a bit away (to the inner side) from the teeth while pronouncing ‘ch’ as in chair. |
জ | As ‘j’ in jug |
ঝ | This sound is not available in English. This is produced using the naval sounds while the tongue touches the upper part of mouth cavity. |
ঞ | Just like ‘gn’ of gnome with a slight up movement of tongue. No particular sound just articulation while speaking. |
ট | As ‘t’ in top |
ঠ | Hard sound of ‘t’. Not available in English. |
ড | As ‘d’ in dark |
ঢ | Coupled sound of ‘d’ and ‘h’= ‘dh’. Not available in English but as ‘dh’ in Indian musical instrument ‘dhol’. |
ণ | Nasal sound when the tongue touches a bit away from teeth. In ন, the tongue touches the roots of the teeth. |
ত | Soft sound of ‘t’ as used in the name of country Bharat |
থ | As ‘th’ in thermo |
দ | As ‘th’ in the |
ধ | Not available in English. Again, naval sound produced by coupling soft ‘d’ and ‘h’= ‘dh’. |
ন | As ‘n’ in man |
প | As ‘p’ in push |
ফ | Sound of ‘f’ if pronounced with closed lips. ‘f’ of German language. |
ব | As ‘b’ in ban |
ভ | Not available in English. Coupled sound of ‘b’ and ‘h’= ‘bh’. |
ম | As ‘m’ in mass |
য | As ‘y’ in yacht |
র | As ‘r’ in run |
ল | As ‘l’ in love |
শ | As ‘sh’ in shot |
ষ | Sound of ‘sh’ when the tongue touches the roots of the teeth. In শ, the tongue touches the upper part of mouth cavity. |
স | As ‘s’ in sound |
হ | As ‘h’ in has |
জ্র | Coupled sound of ‘j’ and ‘n’= ‘jn’ |
ত্র | Coupled sound of soft ‘t’ and ‘r’—‘tr’. |
ক্ষ | Coupled sound of ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘h’= ‘ksh’. A bit similar to ‘x’ |
শ্র | coupled sound of ‘s’, ‘h’, ‘r’=’shr’. As ‘shr’ in shroud |
Variations of consonants in Bengali
ক় | Sound of ‘k’ produced from the throat: equal to ‘q’ of English. |
খ় | Sound of ‘kh’ produced from the throat. As ‘kh’ used in the name of ‘khan’. |
গ় | Sound of ‘g’ produced from the throat. |
জ় | As ‘z’ in zebra |
ড় | Next variation of ‘d’. Not available in English and very difficult to produce for foreigners. As ‘re’ in Crore. |
ঢ় | Not available in English. Next variation of coupled sound of ‘dh’. |
ফ় | As ‘f’ in fast. As ‘v’ in German language |
Symbols used in Bengali
ঁ | Sound of ‘n’ with the previous consonant along with some other symbols used for that consonant |
ং | Sound of ‘m’ with the previous consonant |
ঃ | Sound of ‘h’ with the previous consonant |
া | Sound of stressed ‘a’ with the previous consonant |
ি | Sound of ‘i’ as in ill with the previous consonant |
ী | Sound of ‘e’ as in eke with the previous consonant |
ু | Sound of ‘u’ as in Ubuntu with the previous consonant |
ূ | Sound of ‘ou’ as in you with the previous consonant |
ৃ | Sound of ‘rhy’ as in rhythm with the previous consonant |
ে | Sound of ‘ai’ as in aim with the previous consonant |
ৈ | Sound of ‘a’ as in as with the previous consonant |
ো | Sound of ‘o’ as in go with the previous consonant |
ৌ | Stressed sound of ‘o’ |
্ | Halant. This is used to make the consonant half making it disjointed from the sound of অ. |
. | Symbol of ‘.’ Full stop in English. |
Numeric symbols of Bengali (0-9)
০
১
২
৩
৪
৫
৬
৭
৮
৯
১
২
৩
৪
৫
৬
৭
৮
৯
Apart from these symbols, there are two types of half-sound of ‘r’ that is used in Hindi. One after the bearing consonant and one before the bearing consonant. The symbol is not present as such in the Vrinda Font but can be made by pressing the Shift+3 keys. This symbol will put the half-sound of ‘r’ in the foot of the consonant and its sound would come after the consonant. Typing র and then using the key ‘d’ to make it half and then pressing the next consonant would make the symbol of ‘r’ that is sounded before the bearing consonant. This symbol will be placed above the consonant.
Microsoft uses “Vrinda” font for Bengali language.
Related
Comments
comments
Bengali is an eastern Indo-Aryan language with around 300 million speakers mainly in Bangladesh, and in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and South Assam. Bengali is the national and official language of Bangladesh, and one of the official languages in India. It is also spoken in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Bengali at a glance
- Native name: বাংলা (Bangla) [ˈbaŋla]
- Linguistic affliation: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern Zone (Magadhan), Bengali–Assamese
- Number of speakers: c. 300 million
- Spoken in: Bangladesh and India
- First written: 11th century
- Writing system: Brahmi and Bengali alphabets
- Status: official language in Bengali, and one of the official languages of India
There are some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between the Bengali of Bangladesh and the Bengali spoken in India.
Written Bengali
The Bengali alphabet (বাংলা লিপি - Bangla lipi) is derived from the Brahmi alphabet. It is also closely related to the Devanagari alphabet, from which it started to diverge in the 11th Century AD. The current printed form of Bengali alphabet first appeared in 1778 when Charles Wilkins developed printing in Bengali. A few archaic letters were modernised during the 19th century.
Bengali has two literary styles: one is called Sadhubhaṣa (সাধুভাষা - 'elegant language') and the other Chôlitôbhasha (চলিতভাষা 'current language'). The former is the traditional literary style based on Middle Bengali of the sixteenth century, while the later is a 20th century creation and is based on the speech of educated people in Calcutta. The differences between the two styles are not huge and involve mainly forms of pronouns and verb conjugations.
Some people prefer to call this alphabet the Eastern Nagari script or Eastern Neo-Brahmic script
Notable features
- The Bengali alphabet is a syllabic alphabet in which consonants all have an inherent vowel which has two different pronunciations, the choice of which is not always easy to determine and which is sometimes not pronounced at all.
- Vowels can be written as independent letters, or by using a variety of diacritical marks which are written above, below, before or after the consonant they belong to.
- When consonants occur together in clusters, special conjunct letters are used. The letters for the consonants other than the final one in the group are reduced. The inherent vowel only applies to the final consonant.
Bengali alphabet
Vowels (স্বরবর্ণ)
How to write Bengali vowels:
Consonants (ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ)
How to write Bengali consonants:
A selection of conjunct consonants
Other symbols
Numerals
Download a spreadsheet with these charts (Excel)
Sample text in Bengali
Transliteration
Sômôstô manush shadhinbhabe sôman môrjada ebông ôdhikar niye jônmôgrôhôn kôre. Tãder bibek ebông buddhi achhe; sutôrang sôkôleri êke ôpôrer prôti bhratrittôsulôbh mônobhab niye achôrôn kôra uchit.
Transcription (IPA)
ʃɔmost̪o manuʃ ʃad̪ʱinbʱabe ʃɔman mɔɾd͡ʒad̪a eboŋ od̪ʱikaɾ nije d͡ʒɔnmogɾohon kɔɾe. t̪ãd̪eɾ bibek eboŋ bud̪ːʱi at͡ʃʰe, ʃut̪oɾaŋ ʃɔkoleɾi ɛke ɔpoɾeɾ pɾot̪i bʱɾat̪ɾit̪ːoʃulɔbʱ monobʱab nije at͡ʃɔɾon kɔɾa ut͡ʃit̪.
Transliteration and IPA transcription by Abu Saleh Mohammad Sultan
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Sample video in Bengali
Information about Bengali | Phrases | Numbers | Kinship words | Telling the time | Tower of Babel | Learning materials
Links
Information about Bengali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
http://www.betelco.com/bd/bangla/bangla.html
http://www.viswayan.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
http://www.betelco.com/bd/bangla/bangla.html
http://www.viswayan.com/
Online Bengali lessons
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bengali_index.html
http://mylanguages.org/learn_bengali.php
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.bangalinet.com/learn_bangla.htm
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/bengali_index.html
http://mylanguages.org/learn_bengali.php
http://www.bangla-online.info
http://www.bangalinet.com/learn_bangla.htm
Numbers in Bengali
http://mylanguages.org/bengali_numbers.php
http://www.connect-bangladesh.org/bangla/Numbers.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQtAKx8K40
http://mylanguages.org/bengali_numbers.php
http://www.connect-bangladesh.org/bangla/Numbers.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iQtAKx8K40
Bengali phrases
http://www.17-minute-world-languages.com/en/bengali/
http://mylanguages.org/multimedia/bengali_audio_phrases.php
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/c/p/o/Bengali
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Basic_Bengali_phrases
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bengali/Common_phrases
https://www.memrise.com/course/971816/bangla-100-basic-banglabengali-phrasesnotyping/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bengali_phrasebook
http://www.17-minute-world-languages.com/en/bengali/
http://mylanguages.org/multimedia/bengali_audio_phrases.php
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/c/p/o/Bengali
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Basic_Bengali_phrases
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bengali/Common_phrases
https://www.memrise.com/course/971816/bangla-100-basic-banglabengali-phrasesnotyping/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bengali_phrasebook
Online Bengali Dictionaries
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
http://www.bdword.com/english-to-bengali-dictionary
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/biswas-bengali/
http://ovidhan.org
http://www.aldictionary.com/dictionary/english-to-bengali.html
http://www.bengali-dictionary.com
http://www.bdword.com/english-to-bengali-dictionary
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/biswas-bengali/
http://ovidhan.org
http://www.aldictionary.com/dictionary/english-to-bengali.html
Bengali fonts
http://scriptsource.org/scr/Beng
http://www.omicronlab.com/bangla-fonts.html
http://www.nongnu.org/freebangfont/
http://banglafont.com
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Bengali.html
http://scriptsource.org/scr/Beng
http://www.omicronlab.com/bangla-fonts.html
http://www.nongnu.org/freebangfont/
http://banglafont.com
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Bengali.html
Online radio in Bengali
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bengali/
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,615,00.html
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/bengali/top/
http://www.banglaradio.org.au
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bengali/
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,615,00.html
http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/bengali/top/
http://www.banglaradio.org.au
Online Bengali news
http://www.parabaas.com
http://www.kheyal.com
http://ajantrik.8m.net
http://www.abasar.net
http://www.parabaas.com
http://www.kheyal.com
http://ajantrik.8m.net
http://www.abasar.net
Bengali and Sylheti Language Services
http://www.bengaliandsylheti.com
http://www.bengaliandsylheti.com
ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font specifically designed for ancient scripts, including classical & medieval Latin, ancient Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi, Glagolitic, Old Cyrillic, Phoenician, Avestan, Ugaritic, Linear B, Anatolian scripts, Coptic, Cypriot, Brahmi, Old Persian cuneiform: http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html
Indo-Aryan languages
Awadhi, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Chakma, Dhivehi, Domari, Fiji Hindi, Garhwali, Gujarati, Hajong, Hindi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Kotia, Kutchi, Magahi, Maithili, Marathi, Marwari, Modi, Nepali, Odia, Palula, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Rohingya, Romani, Saraiki, Sarnámi Hindustani, Sindhi, Sinhala, Shina, Sourashtra, Sugali, Sylheti, Torwali, Urdu
Languages written with the Eastern Nagari (Bengali) alphabet
- Atong,
- Bengali,
- Garo,
- Hajong,
- Manipuri,
- Mundari,
Also used to write: Bishnupriya, Bodo, Chakma, Chiru, Koda, Nisi, Deori, Dimasa, Koch, Khasi, Kudmali, Tiwa, Sauria Paharia, Miri, Chothe Naga, Thangal Naga, Moyon Naga, Maring Naga, Rabha, Rangpuri, Santali, Sadri, Oraon Sadri, Sulung, Panchpargania, Tippera, Kok Borok, Toto and Usui.
Syllabic alphabets / abugidas
- Ahom,
- Badaga,
- Balinese,
- Batak,
- Baybayin (Tagalog),
- Bengali,
- Bilang-bilang,
- Bima,
- Blackfoot,
- Brahmi,
- Buhid,
- Burmese,
- Carrier,
- Chakma,
- Cham,
- Cree,
- Dehong Dai,
- Devanagari,
- Ditema,
- Dives Akuru,
- Ethiopic,
- Evēla Akuru,
- Fraser,
- Gondi,
- Grantha,
- Gujarati,
- Gupta,
- Gurmukhi,
- Hanifi,
- Hanuno'o,
- Inuktitut,
- Javanese,
- Jenticha,
- Kaithi,
- Kannada,
- Kawi,
- Kerinci,
- Kharosthi,
- Khmer,
- Khojki,
- Kulitan,
- Lampung,
- Lanna,
- Lao,
- Lepcha,
- Limbu,
- Lontara/Makasar,
- Lota Ende,
- Malayalam,
- Manpuri,
- Meroïtic,
- Modi,
- Mon,
- Mongolian Horizontal Square Script,
- Ojibwe,
- Odia,
- Pahawh Hmong,
- Pallava,
- Phags-pa,
- Ranjana,
- Redjang,
- Sasak,
- Satera Jontal,
- Shan,
- Sharda,
- Siddham,
- Sindhi,
- Sinhala,
- Sorang Sompeng,
- Sourashtra,
- Soyombo,
- Sundanese,
- Syloti Nagri,
- Tagbanwa,
- Takri,
- Tamil,
- Thaana,
- Telugu,
- Thai,
- Tibetan,
- Tigalari (Tulu),
- Tikamuli,
- Tocharian,
- Tolong Siki,
If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.
If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.
Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.