The ALA-LC Romanization tables comprise a set of standards for romanization of texts in various languages, written in non-Latin writing systems. These romanization systems are intended for bibliographic cataloguing, and used in US and Canadian libraries, by the British Library since 1975,[1] and in many publications worldwide.
The romanization tables were first discussed by the American Library Association in 1885,[2] and published in 1904 and 1908,[3] including rules for romanizing some languages written in Cyrillic script: Church Slavic, Serbo-Croatian, and Russian in the pre-reform alphabet.[4] Revised tables including more languages were published in 1941,[5] and a since-discontinued version of the entire standard was printed in 1997.[6] The system for Russian remains virtually unchanged from 1941 to the latest release, with the current Russian table published online in 2012.[7]
Table
The formal, unambiguous version of the system requires some diacritics and two-letter tie characters which are often omitted in practice.
The table below combines material from the ALA-LC tables for Russian (2012)[8] and, for some obsolete letters, Church Slavic (2011).[9]
Romanization table
Russian letter
Romanization
Examples
А
а
A
a
Азов = Azov Тамбов = Tambov
Б
б
B
b
Барнаул = Barnaul Кубань = Kubanʹ
В
в
V
v
Владимир = Vladimir Ульяновск = Ulʹi͡anovsk
Г
г
G
g
Грозный = Groznyĭ Волгодонск = Volgodonsk
Д
д
D
d
Дзержинский = Dzerzhinskiĭ Нелидово = Nelidovo
Е
е
E
e
Елизово = Elizovo Чебоксары = Cheboksary
Ё
ё
Ë
ë
Ёлкин = Ëlkin Озёрный = Ozërnyĭ
Ж
ж
Zh
zh
Жуков = Zhukov Лужники = Luzhniki
З
з
Z
z
Звенигород = Zvenigorod Вязьма = Vi͡azʹma
И
и
I
i
Иркутск = Irkutsk Апатиты = Apatity
Й
й
Ĭ
ĭ
Йошкар-Ола = Ĭoshkar-Ola Бийск = Biĭsk
К
к
K
k
Киров = Kirov Енисейск = Eniseĭsk
Л
л
L
l
Ломоносов = Lomonosov Нелидово = Nelidovo
М
м
M
m
Менделеев = Mendeleev Каменка = Kamenka
Н
н
N
n
Новосибирск = Novosibirsk Кандалакша = Kandalaksha
^Cutter, Charles Ammi (1885). "Report of the A.L.A. Transliteration Committee, 1885". Library Journal. 10: 302–309.
^Cutter, Charles Ammi (1908). "Report of the A.L.A. Transliteration Committee". Catalog Rules: Author and Title Entries. Chicago, IL: American Library Association and the (British) Library Association. pp. 65–73.
^Gerych, G. (1965). Transliteration of Cyrillic Alphabets (master's dissertation). Ottawa: University of Ottawa.
^Gjelsness, Rudolph, ed. (1941). A.L.A. Catalog Rules: Author and Title Entries. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. pp. 335–36.
