Orthography Comparison
How Ingglish spellings compare to other languages. Nearly every choice has precedent in at least one major language.
For why we chose these spellings, see Design Decisions. For how these choices compare to other contemporary spelling reform proposals, see Community Landscape.
Languages Compared
This document compares Ingglish spellings against ~35 languages, listed here by approximate total speakers (L1+L2). Romanized languages (marked ®) use Latin-script transliteration of a non-Latin script. In the tables below, languages are always listed in this speaker-count order.
| Language | Speakers | Script |
|---|---|---|
| English | 1.5B | Latin |
| Mandarin (Pinyin) | 1.1B | Latin romanization ® |
| Hindi/Urdu (rom.) | 600M | Latin romanization ® |
| Spanish | 560M | Latin |
| French | 310M | Latin |
| Arabic (rom.) | 310M | Latin romanization ® |
| Indonesian/Malay | 300M | Latin |
| Portuguese | 260M | Latin |
| Russian (rom.) | 260M | Latin romanization ® |
| German | 130M | Latin |
| Japanese (Romaji) | 125M | Latin romanization ® |
| Swahili | 100M | Latin |
| Turkish | 85M | Latin |
| Vietnamese | 85M | Latin |
| Korean (rom.) | 80M | Latin romanization ® |
| Hausa | 75M | Latin |
| Italian | 65M | Latin |
| Yoruba | 50M | Latin |
| Polish | 45M | Latin |
| Ukrainian (rom.) | 40M | Latin romanization ® |
| Dutch | 25M | Latin |
| Romanian | 24M | Latin |
| Azerbaijani | 23M | Latin |
| Somali | 20M | Latin |
| Czech | 13M | Latin |
| Swedish | 13M | Latin |
| Hungarian | 13M | Latin |
| Catalan | 10M | Latin |
| Albanian | 8M | Latin |
| Croatian/Serbian | 7M | Latin |
| Danish | 6M | Latin |
| Finnish | 5M | Latin |
| Norwegian | 5M | Latin |
| Slovenian | 2M | Latin |
| Welsh | 1M | Latin |
| Estonian | 1M | Latin |
| Icelandic | 0.4M | Latin |
Vowels
Short Vowels
Short 'A' Sound (/æ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| a (Ingglish) | English, Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic |
| ä | German, Swedish, Finnish |
| æ | Danish, Norwegian |
Notes:
- English /æ/ is more front than most languages' /a/, but 'a' is still the intuitive choice
- Old English had a dedicated letter 'æ' (ash) for this sound; we simplify to 'a'
- Germanic languages often use ä for similar sounds; Finnish ä is exactly /æ/
- Danish and Norwegian have æ as a letter in their alphabet (distinct from a)
- Hungarian 'a' = /ɒ/ (a rounded back vowel), quite different from /æ/, but it is still spelled 'a'
Short 'E' Sound (/ɛ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| e (Ingglish) | English, Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic |
| è | Italian, Catalan |
| é | Portuguese |
| ä (short) | German |
Notes:
- Universal across Latin-script languages
- Portuguese, Italian, and Catalan use accent marks to distinguish open /ɛ/ from close /e/
- German short ä represents /ɛ/, overlapping with 'e'
Short 'I' Sound (/ɪ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| i (Ingglish) | English, Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic |
| y (/ɨ/ ≈ /ɪ/) | Polish, Ukrainian |
| ı (dotless, /ɯ/) | Turkish |
Notes:
- Standard across all Latin-script languages
- English /ɪ/ is slightly more open than the /i/ of most other languages, but 'i' works for both
- Polish 'y' represents /ɨ/ (a central vowel near /ɪ/); Ukrainian romanization uses 'y' for и /ɪ/
- Turkish has a distinctive dotless ı for /ɯ/, keeping dotted i for /i/
Short 'O' Sound (/ɑ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| o (Ingglish) | English, Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic |
| a (/ɒ/) | Hungarian |
Notes:
- Nearly all Latin-script languages use 'o' for back vowels
- American English "hot" uses /ɑ/ (open back unrounded), which is more open than the /o/ or /ɔ/ of most other languages, but 'o' is the conventional match
- Hungarian reverses convention: plain 'a' = /ɒ/ (close to British "lot"), while 'á' = /aː/
- English "father" also has this sound, spelled 'a' in English, 'o' in Ingglish
Short 'U' Sound (/ʌ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| uh (Ingglish) | English (interjection) |
| u | English (traditional: "but", "cup") |
| eo | Korean |
| ă | Romanian, Vietnamese |
Notes:
- The English /ʌ/ sound is relatively rare across languages; most of the 37 compared languages lack it entirely
- Most languages use 'u' for /u/ (as in "too") or /ʊ/ (as in "book"), not /ʌ/
- 'uh' is the English interjection for this exact sound, and everyone knows how "uh" sounds
- This frees 'u' for /ʊ/, aligning with most world languages
- English inconsistently spells this as 'o' in "son", "love", "come"; Ingglish uses 'uh' consistently
- Korean romanization uses 'eo' for ㅓ /ʌ/; Romanian and Vietnamese 'ă' represent /ə/ (close to /ʌ/)
- The unstressed schwa (/ə/) also maps to 'a'; see Schwa section below
Long Vowels
'AY' Sound (/eɪ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| ay (Ingglish) | English |
| ei | Pinyin, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Icelandic |
| ej | Polish, Czech, Croatian, Swedish |
| ai | Indonesian |
| ey | Turkish |
Notes:
- Most languages have monophthong /e/ or /eː/ rather than the diphthong /eɪ/
- 'ay' matches English: "say", "day", "play", "way"
- German/Dutch 'ei' and Pinyin 'ei' represent very similar diphthongs
- Spanish, French, Italian, Swahili, Finnish, and many other languages simply use 'e' for their monophthong /e/
'EE' Sound (/iː/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| ee (Ingglish) | English |
| i (no length distinction) | Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Swedish, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh |
| ii | Somali, Finnish, Estonian |
| ie | German, Dutch |
| í | Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic |
Notes:
- Finnish/Estonian use doubled vowels for length; we follow this principle
- Finnish tuuli (wind) vs. tuli (fire) shows minimal pairs distinguished only by length
- 'ee' already exists in English ("bee", "see", "tree")
- Most languages don't distinguish vowel length, using 'i' for both short and long
- Dutch/German use 'ie' for /iː/; Czech/Hungarian/Icelandic use accent marks
'AI' Sound (/aɪ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| ai (Ingglish) | Pinyin, Hindi, Arabic, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Italian |
| ei | German, Dutch |
| ij | Dutch |
| aj | Polish, Czech, Swedish, Albanian, Croatian |
| ay | Turkish, Hausa, Somali |
| ae | Icelandic |
| i-e, igh, y | English |
Notes:
- Pinyin, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian all use 'ai' for this sound
- German 'ei' is /aɪ/, but German 'ie' is /iː/, which is confusing for learners
- Dutch uses both 'ij' and 'ei' for /ɛi/ ≈ /aɪ/
- English 'ai' words (rain, paint) use /eɪ/, so 'ai' is available for /aɪ/ in Ingglish
- Many languages (Spanish, French, Finnish, Swahili) lack this diphthong entirely
'OH' Sound (/oʊ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| oh (Ingglish) | — |
| oo | Dutch, Finnish, Estonian |
| ó | Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic |
| ou | Pinyin |
| o, oa, ow, o-e | English |
Notes:
- The diphthong /oʊ/ is largely English-specific; most languages have monophthong /o/ or /oː/ spelled simply as 'o'
- 'o' alone is used for /ɑ/ in Ingglish (hot), so we need a digraph for /oʊ/
- 'oh' matches the English interjection "oh!" which has this exact sound
- Dutch/Finnish/Estonian double the vowel for length (oo = /oː/); Czech/Hungarian/Icelandic use accent marks
'OO' Sound (/uː/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| oo (Ingglish) | English |
| u | Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Swedish, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh |
| uu | Finnish, Estonian |
| oe | Dutch |
| ú/ů | Czech, Icelandic |
| ú | Hungarian |
| oo, ou, ew | English |
Notes:
- Matches English convention: "too", "food", "moon", "cool", "school" all use 'oo' for /uː/
- Most languages use 'u' without distinguishing vowel length
- Dutch uses 'oe' for /u/ (boek = book, goed = good)
- Czech uses both 'ú' (word-initial) and 'ů' (elsewhere) for /uː/
- Finnish/Estonian use 'uu' for /uː/; Ingglish previously followed this but switched to 'oo' to match English
Diphthongs
'OU' Sound (/aʊ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| ou (Ingglish) | English, Dutch |
| au | Indonesian, Portuguese, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Czech, Albanian, Croatian |
| ao | Pinyin |
| aw | Arabic, Hausa, Somali |
| á (before certain consonants) | Icelandic |
Notes:
- Dutch also uses 'ou' for this sound (oud = old), giving us international precedent
- German/Portuguese use 'au' (Haus, mau); Pinyin uses 'ao' (hǎo = good)
- Many languages (Spanish, French, Finnish, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean) lack this diphthong entirely
- Some English words are already spelled phonetically for this sound: "out", "loud", "sound"
'OI' Sound (/ɔɪ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| oi (Ingglish) | English, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Italian, Dutch, Romanian, Albanian |
| oy | English, Turkish, Somali |
| eu/äu | German |
| oj | Polish, Czech, Swedish, Croatian, Finnish, Slovenian |
Notes:
- 'oi' or 'oy' is the most common spelling worldwide
- German is the outlier using 'eu' (Freude) and 'äu' (Häuser) for /ɔʏ/ ≈ /ɔɪ/
- French 'oi' represents /wa/, not /ɔɪ/
- Many languages (Spanish, Pinyin, Japanese, Swahili, Hindi, Arabic) lack this diphthong
'AW' Sound (/ɔ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| aw (Ingglish) | English |
| o | Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Czech, Hungarian, Albanian, Croatian, Finnish, Slovenian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic |
| å | Swedish, Danish, Norwegian |
| ò | Catalan |
| ọ | Yoruba |
Notes:
- English has wildly inconsistent spellings for this sound: "law", "caught", "thought", "all"
- Ingglish uses 'aw' consistently, matching English "law", "saw", "raw"
- Scandinavian languages use the dedicated letter å for this sound
- Catalan distinguishes open ò /ɔ/ from close ó /o/; Yoruba uses ọ (dot below) for /ɔ/
- We reserve plain 'o' for /ɑ/ (father, hot) to avoid collision
'U' Sound (/ʊ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| u (Ingglish) | Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian, German, Japanese, Swahili, Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Italian, Yoruba, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Somali, Czech, Swedish, Hungarian, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Welsh, Estonian, Icelandic |
| oo | English ("book", "good", "look") |
| oe | Dutch |
Notes:
- 'u' is the standard vowel letter for this sound across virtually all Latin-script languages
- English distinguishes "too" /uː/ from "book" /ʊ/; we preserve this with oo vs. u
- Dutch uses 'oe' for this sound: boek (book), goed (good)
- Most languages worldwide don't distinguish /ʊ/ from /uː/, using 'u' for both
Schwa (/ə/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| a (Ingglish) | — |
| a, e, i, o, u | English |
| e (unstressed) | Indonesian, Portuguese, German, French, Dutch, Catalan |
| ă | Romanian |
| ë | Albanian |
| ơ | Vietnamese |
| y (in some positions) | Welsh |
| unstressed vowel reduction | Russian, Ukrainian |
Notes:
- The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English, the unstressed "uh" in many syllables
- English spells it with any vowel letter depending on etymology
- Ingglish uses 'a' for unstressed schwa (AH0) and 'uh' for stressed /ʌ/ (AH1/AH2, as in "but")
- This creates many identical words (about, banana, again, around) while preserving the schwa/STRUT distinction
- Romanian 'ă' and Albanian 'ë' are dedicated letters for /ə/
- Indonesian 'e' (called "e pepet") represents /ə/ in many common words
- Portuguese and Catalan reduce unstressed vowels to schwa; Russian/Ukrainian reduce unstressed 'o' and 'a' to /ɐ/ (near-schwa)
- Many languages (Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Turkish, Polish, etc.) lack schwa entirely: every vowel is pronounced fully regardless of stress
R-Colored Vowels
R-colored vowels (also called rhotic vowels) are rare across world languages (Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, The Sounds of the World's Languages). Of the 37 languages compared here, only English and Mandarin Chinese have r-colored vowels. They're hard to spell because the vowel and /r/ merge into a single sound. All other compared languages lack these sounds entirely.
'ARR' Sound (/æɹ/)
| Language | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ingglish | arr | arroh, karrat, barral |
| Ingglish (naive) | ar (a + r) | aroh, karat, baral |
| English | arr, ar | arrow, carrot, barrel |
Notes:
- Using regular Ingglish vowel rules, /æ/ + /r/ would be 'ar', but 'ar' is already used for /ɑɹ/ (star). The doubled 'rr' avoids the collision.
- Matches English spelling pattern in "arrow", "carrot", "barrel"
'AIR' Sound (/ɛɹ/)
| Language | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ingglish | air | air, kair, dhair |
| Ingglish (naive) | er (e + r) | er, ker, dher |
| English | air, are, ear, ere | air, care, bear, there |
Notes:
- Using regular rules, /ɛ/ + /r/ would be 'er', but 'er' is already used for /ɝ/ (her). "care" and "her" would both become "ker"/"her".
- Ingglish uses 'air' consistently, matching the word "air" itself
- This spelling fixed 204 collisions
'EER' Sound (/ɪɹ/)
| Language | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ingglish | eer | beer, beerd, feer |
| Ingglish (naive) | ir (i + r) | bir, bird, fir |
| English | eer, ear, ere, ier | beer, beard, fear, here, pier |
Notes:
- Using regular rules, /ɪ/ + /r/ would be 'ir', but "beard" would become "bird", colliding with the animal
- Ingglish uses 'eer' consistently, matching the word "beer" itself
- The NEAR vowel (/ɪɹ/) is distinct from the KIT vowel (IH /ɪ/): "beer" vs "bit"
'AR' Sound (/ɑɹ/)
| Language | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ingglish | ar | star, kar, far |
| Ingglish (naive) | or (o + r) | stor, kor, for |
| English | ar | star, car, far |
Notes:
- Using regular rules, /ɑ/ + /r/ would be 'or' (since Ingglish uses 'o' for /ɑ/), but 'or' is already used for /ɔɹ/ (store). "star" and "store" would both have 'or'.
- Instead, Ingglish uses 'ar', matching English spelling exactly. "star" → "star" is identical.
'OR' Sound (/ɔɹ/)
| Language | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ingglish | or | stor, mor, for |
| Ingglish (naive) | awr (aw + r) | stawr, mawr, fawr |
| English | ore, or, our, oar | store, more, four, oar |
Notes:
- Using regular rules, /ɔ/ + /r/ would be 'awr' (since Ingglish uses 'aw' for /ɔ/), but 'awr' is awkward and unfamiliar
- 'or' is intuitive and available (since /ɑɹ/ uses 'ar' instead)
- Clearly distinct from 'ar' (star vs stor)
'ER' Sound (/ɝ/)
| Language | Spelling | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ingglish | er | berd, her, tern |
| English | ir, er, ur, ear, or | bird, her, turn, earth, work |
| Mandarin Chinese | er | 二 èr (two), 儿 ér (son) |
Notes:
- No naive spelling conflict: 'er' works as-is for this merged vowel+r sound
- English uses five different spellings for the same sound; Ingglish uses 'er' consistently
- Mandarin is one of few languages with r-colored vowels (called erhua 儿化)
Consonants
Stops
The stop consonants (p, b, t, d, k, g) use standard single-letter spellings that are virtually universal across Latin-script languages.
| Ingglish | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|
| p | /p/ | pat, happy, cup |
| b | /b/ | bat, about, cab |
| t | /t/ | top, better, cat |
| d | /d/ | dog, ladder, bed |
| k | /k/ | cat, backer, back |
| g | /g/ | go, bigger, big |
Notes:
- Ingglish uses 'k' instead of 'c' for the /k/ sound (no "soft c")
- 'g' is always hard /g/, never /dʒ/ as in English "gem"
Fricatives
The simple fricatives (f, v, s, z, h) use standard single-letter spellings, universal across Latin-script languages.
| Ingglish | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|
| f | /f/ | fat, after, laugh |
| v | /v/ | van, over, love |
| s | /s/ | sat, missing, miss |
| z | /z/ | zoo, buzzing, is |
| h | /h/ | hat, ahead, behind |
Notes:
- 's' is always /s/, never /z/ as in English "rose" (Ingglish: rohz)
- These five consonants need no special treatment
The following fricatives require digraphs and have cross-linguistic variation:
"SH" Sound (/ʃ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| sh (Ingglish) | English, Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Swahili, Korean, Hausa, Ukrainian, Somali, Albanian |
| ch | French, Portuguese |
| sch | German, Dutch |
| ş/ș | Turkish, Romanian, Azerbaijani |
| sc (before e/i) | Italian |
| sz | Polish |
| š | Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Estonian |
| sj/sk (before front vowels) | Swedish, Norwegian |
| s | Hungarian |
| x | Catalan |
| x (≈ /ɕ/) | Pinyin |
Notes:
- We follow English convention with 'sh', also used by Albanian (official letter) and many romanization systems
- German's 'sch' is three letters; Polish 'sz' might confuse English readers
- Hungarian reverses convention: plain 's' = /ʃ/, while 'sz' = /s/ (the opposite of Polish)
- Languages with diacritics (š, ş/ș) achieve single-letter representation
- Pinyin 'x' represents /ɕ/ (alveolopalatal), a close relative of /ʃ/
- Vietnamese, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Welsh, and Yoruba lack /ʃ/ entirely (or use it only in loanwords)
"ZH" Sound (/ʒ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| zh (Ingglish) | Hindi, Russian, Ukrainian, Albanian |
| j | French, Portuguese, Turkish, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Catalan |
| ż/rz | Polish |
| zs | Hungarian |
| ž | Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Estonian |
Notes:
- English has no consistent spelling for /ʒ/; we create one with 'zh'
- 'zh' parallels 'sh' (voiceless) vs 'zh' (voiced), a logical pair
- Cyrillic romanization uses 'zh' for Ж
- Polish has two spellings: ż (a letter) and rz (a digraph), both = /ʐ/
- Many languages lack /ʒ/ entirely: English (has it but spells it inconsistently), Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, Indonesian, Swahili, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Hausa, Yoruba, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Welsh
"TH" Sound (/θ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| th (Ingglish) | English, Arabic, Albanian, Welsh |
| þ (thorn) | Icelandic |
| c/z (Castilian) | Spanish |
Notes:
- Only ~4% of languages have /θ/ (PHOIBLE 2.0, Moran & McCloy 2019). It is one of the world's rarest consonants.
- Icelandic uses þ (thorn) for /θ/; in Old English, þ and ð were used interchangeably for both /θ/ and /ð/
- Castilian Spanish uses 'c' (before e/i) and 'z' for /θ/, though Latin American Spanish lacks this sound
- Ancient Greek /tʰ/ shifted to /θ/ in Modern Greek, giving us the IPA symbol
- None of the other ~30 compared languages have this sound
"DH" Sound (/ð/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| dh (Ingglish) | Arabic, Albanian |
| th | English |
| ð (eth) | Icelandic |
| dd | Welsh |
| d (allophonic) | Spanish |
Notes:
- We use 'dh' to distinguish voiced /ð/ from voiceless /θ/
- Albanian uses 'dh' as an official alphabet letter for /ð/
- Icelandic uses ð (eth) for /ð/; the voiced/voiceless split is a modern Icelandic convention, not an Old English one
- Welsh uses 'dd' for /ð/; we considered this but 'dh' is more intuitive
- Spanish has an allophonic [ð] between vowels (nada), but it is not a distinct phoneme
- Only ~7% of languages have /ð/, even rarer than /θ/ as a deliberate phonemic choice
Affricates
"CH" Sound (/tʃ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| ch (Ingglish) | English, Pinyin, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hausa, Ukrainian |
| c (before e/i) | Italian, Romanian |
| ç | Turkish, Azerbaijani |
| cz | Polish |
| cs | Hungarian |
| č | Czech, Albanian, Croatian, Slovenian, Estonian |
| tsch | German |
| tx | Catalan |
Notes:
- 'ch' for /tʃ/ is used in many major Latin-script languages (Spanish, English, Portuguese)
- French 'ch' = /ʃ/ and Czech 'ch' = /x/; the same digraph has different values across languages
- Hungarian 'cs' follows its pattern of reversals (compare: 's' = /ʃ/, 'sz' = /s/)
- Pinyin 'ch' represents /tʂʰ/ (aspirated retroflex), close to /tʃ/
- Vietnamese, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Dutch, and Swahili lack /tʃ/
"J" Sound (/dʒ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| j (Ingglish) | English, Hindi, Indonesian, Swahili, Hausa, Somali |
| g (before e/i) | Italian, Romanian |
| c | Turkish, Azerbaijani |
| dż | Polish |
| dzs | Hungarian |
| dž | Czech, Croatian, Slovenian |
| xh | Albanian |
Notes:
- 'j' for /dʒ/ matches English convention
- Widely adopted in Southeast Asia (Indonesian/Malay), East Africa (Swahili, Somali), and Indian romanization
- Italian uses 'g' before front vowels (giorno); Turkish reverses convention: 'c' = /dʒ/, 'j' = /ʒ/
- Albanian 'xh' = /dʒ/, while Albanian 'x' = /dz/, a distinctive system
- French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Vietnamese, Icelandic, and Welsh lack /dʒ/
Nasals
The simple nasals (m, n) use standard single-letter spellings, universal across Latin-script languages.
| Ingglish | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|
| m | /m/ | man, hammer, come |
| n | /n/ | no, running, pen |
The velar nasal requires a digraph:
"NG" Sound (/ŋ/)
| Spelling | Languages |
|---|---|
| ng (Ingglish) | English, Pinyin, Indonesian, German, Vietnamese, Korean, Hausa, Yoruba, Dutch, Somali, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Welsh, Icelandic |
| ng' (with apostrophe) | Swahili |
| ngh (before i, e) | Vietnamese |
| n (allophonic before g/k) | Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Turkish, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, Azerbaijani, Czech, Hungarian, Catalan, Albanian, Croatian, Finnish, Slovenian, Estonian |
Notes:
- Nearly universal use of 'ng' for this sound
- Swahili uses 'ng'' (with apostrophe) to distinguish /ŋ/ from the /ŋɡ/ cluster
- Vietnamese uses 'ngh' before front vowels (e, i) for the same /ŋ/ sound
- In many languages, /ŋ/ occurs only allophonically before /k/ or /g/ and is not a distinct phoneme
- Polynesian languages treat /ŋ/ as a single letter, often written 'g' or 'ng'
Liquids & Glides
The liquids (l, r) and glides (w, y) use standard single-letter spellings, universal across Latin-script languages.
| Ingglish | IPA | Example |
|---|---|---|
| l | /l/ | let, bellow, well |
| r | /ɹ/ | run, carry, car |
| w | /w/ | wet, away, always |
| y | /j/ | yes, beyond, canyon |
Notes:
- 'l' and 'r' are standard liquids in virtually all languages
- 'w' is less common in some European languages but widely understood
- 'y' for /j/ follows English/German/Scandinavian convention (Spanish uses 'y' for a different sound)
Summary: Where Ingglish Aligns and Diverges
Following Convention
- sh for /ʃ/: used by English plus 9 other languages' romanizations
- ch for /tʃ/: used by English, Spanish, Portuguese, Pinyin, and others
- ng for /ŋ/: nearly universal
- ee/oo for long vowels: doubling principle
- ai for /aɪ/: Pinyin, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, IPA
- oi for /ɔɪ/: English, Italian, Dutch, Indonesian, and others
- ou for /aʊ/: English and Dutch
Solving Problems English Never Did
- dh for /ð/: English uses "th" for two different sounds (think vs. the). Albanian already uses 'dh' officially.
- zh for /ʒ/: English hides this sound in "measure", "vision", "beige". We give it a proper spelling that parallels sh/zh like s/z. Used by Cyrillic romanization and Albanian.
- u/oo for /ʊ/ vs /uː/: "book" and "too" sound different. Now they look different: buk vs too.
- oh for /oʊ/: since 'o' alone is used for /ɑ/, we need a digraph: go → goh.
Trade-offs
- We prioritize English reader familiarity over cross-linguistic patterns
- We use digraphs rather than diacritics for ASCII compatibility
- For more on the diphthong choices, see Design Decisions: Diphthongs
Commonality Ratings Summary
Each spelling is rated by how widely it's used across world languages:
- Universal: Used by most of the 37 compared languages for this sound
- Common: Used by multiple language families (5+ languages)
- Regional: Used by a specific language family or region (2–4 languages)
- Rare: Used by few languages (1 or unique to Ingglish)
Vowels
Short Vowels
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | /æ/ | Universal | All 37 languages use 'a' for an open front vowel |
| e | /ɛ/ | Universal | All 37 languages |
| i | /ɪ/ | Universal | All 37 languages |
| o | /ɑ/ | Universal | All 37 languages use 'o' for back vowels; English /ɑ/ is more open than most |
| uh | /ʌ/ | Rare | English interjection "uh"; frees 'u' for /ʊ/ (Universal) |
Long Vowels
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ay | /eɪ/ | Regional | English "say, day, play"; most languages have monophthong /e/ instead |
| ee | /iː/ | Common | Finnish/Estonian doubling principle; English "bee, see" |
| ai | /aɪ/ | Common | Pinyin, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Arabic, Japanese (7+ languages) |
| oh | /oʊ/ | Rare | Unique to Ingglish; needed because 'o' is used for /ɑ/. Most languages have monophthong /o/ |
| oo | /uː/ | Common | English "too, food, moon, cool"; matches existing English convention |
Diphthongs
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ou | /aʊ/ | Common | English "out, loud, sound" + Dutch "oud" |
| oi | /ɔɪ/ | Common | English, Italian, Dutch, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Romanian, Albanian (7+ languages) |
| aw | /ɔ/ | Regional | English "law, saw"; most other languages use plain 'o' for /ɔ/ |
| u | /ʊ/ | Universal | Most world languages use 'u' for this vowel; previously 'oo' (Regional) |
R-Colored Vowels
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ar | /ɑɹ/ | Rare | English-only; rhotic dialects only |
| or | /ɔɹ/ | Rare | English-only; rhotic dialects only |
| air | /ɛɹ/ | Rare | English-only; rhotic dialects only |
| arr | /æɹ/ | Regional | Doubled 'r' after short vowel; matches English "carrot", "barrel" |
| er | /ɝ/ | Regional | English and Mandarin erhua |
| eer | /ɪɹ/ | Rare | English-only; rhotic dialects only |
Note: R-colored vowels are absent from 35 of the 37 compared languages. Only English and Mandarin have them.
Consonants
Stops
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | /p/ | Universal | |
| b | /b/ | Universal | |
| t | /t/ | Universal | |
| d | /d/ | Universal | |
| k | /k/ | Universal | Ingglish uses 'k' instead of 'c' |
| g | /g/ | Universal | Always hard /g/, never /dʒ/ as in English "gem" |
Fricatives
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| f | /f/ | Universal | |
| v | /v/ | Universal | |
| th | /θ/ | Regional | Only ~5 of 37 languages have this sound; English, Arabic, Welsh, Albanian, Icelandic |
| dh | /ð/ | Rare | Only ~5 of 37 languages; Albanian uses 'dh' officially |
| s | /s/ | Universal | Always /s/, never /z/ as in English "rose" |
| z | /z/ | Universal | |
| sh | /ʃ/ | Common | English, Albanian, Somali, Hausa, Swahili + 5 romanization systems (10 languages) |
| zh | /ʒ/ | Common | Cyrillic romanization (Russian, Ukrainian), Albanian, Hindi romanization |
| h | /h/ | Universal | Standard; silent in some languages but letter is universal |
Affricates
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ch | /tʃ/ | Common | English, Spanish, Portuguese, Pinyin, Hausa + 3 romanizations (8 languages) |
| j | /dʒ/ | Common | English, Indonesian, Swahili, Hausa, Somali, Hindi romanization (6 languages) |
Nasals
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| m | /m/ | Universal | |
| n | /n/ | Universal | |
| ng | /ŋ/ | Universal | Used by 15+ languages; allophonic in many others |
Liquids & Glides
| Ingglish | Sound | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| l | /l/ | Universal | |
| r | /ɹ/ | Universal | Letter universal; exact sound varies by language |
| w | /w/ | Common | Less common in some European languages |
| y | /j/ | Common | Used for /j/ in English, German, Scandinavian |
Takeaways
- Nearly every Ingglish spelling has precedent in at least one major language
- sh, ch, ng, j are Common or Universal across the 37 compared languages
- 'dh' for /ð/ has real precedent: Albanian uses it as an official alphabet letter
- Doubled vowels (ee, oo) follow length patterns
- 'ai' for /aɪ/ is used by 7+ major languages including Pinyin, Italian, Vietnamese
- 'u' for /ʊ/ matches virtually all world languages
- 'arr' for /æɹ/ matches English "carrot", "barrel", "arrow"
- 'oh' for /oʊ/ is the most unusual choice, but necessary because 'o' is used for /ɑ/
Phonemic Orthographies That Work
For why previous reforms failed and succeeded, see Spelling Reform History.
Some phonemic orthographies that use spellings similar to Ingglish:
Finnish
Finnish is often cited as having the most transparent orthography in Europe:
- Near-perfect phoneme-to-grapheme consistency (Seymour, Aro & Erskine 2003)
- Double letters indicate length (aa, ee, uu). Ingglish follows a similar principle (ee, oo)
- Finnish 'uu' for /uː/ inspired Ingglish's earlier 'uu'; now Ingglish uses 'oo' to match English conventions
- Finnish-speaking children achieve reading fluency significantly faster than English-speaking children (Seymour et al. 2003; Ziegler et al. 2010)
- Dyslexia prevalence is lower in transparent orthographies (Paulesu et al. 2001, "Dyslexia: Cultural Diversity and Biological Unity," Science)
Swahili
A successful African example using Latin script:
- Nearly 1:1 sound-to-letter correspondence
- 'ng'' represents /ŋ/ (similar to our 'ng')
- 'dh' represents a dental sound (used variously for /ð/ or /d̪/ in loanwords)
- 'sh' represents /ʃ/, same as Ingglish
Polish
A highly phonetic system despite its intimidating appearance:
- Consistent digraph system: sz = /ʂ/, cz = /tʂ/, rz = /ʐ/, dż = /dʐ/
- Once you learn the digraphs and diacritical letters (ą, ę, ć, ś, ź, ń, ł, ó, ż), pronunciation is almost perfectly predictable from spelling
- 7 vowel phonemes + nasal vowels (ą, ę)
- Only irregularities: ó = u (two spellings for /u/), rz = ż (two spellings for /ʐ/)
- Voicing assimilation is not written (e.g., "chleb" = /xlɛp/), but this is standard for Slavic languages
Hungarian
One of Europe's most phonetic orthographies, with a distinctive system:
- Highly consistent: every letter/digraph always represents the same sound
- Accent marks systematically indicate vowel length: a/á, e/é, i/í, o/ó, u/ú, ö/ő, ü/ű
- Unique reversed convention: plain 's' = /ʃ/ and 'sz' = /s/, the opposite of Polish and most other European languages
- Similarly: 'cs' = /tʃ/, 'zs' = /ʒ/, 'dzs' = /dʒ/
- Only irregularity: 'ly' is pronounced /j/ (same as 'j'), a historical spelling
- Hungarian children learn to read significantly faster than English children, demonstrating the benefits of transparent orthography
Phoneme Frequency: How Common Are These Sounds?
Not all phonemes are equally common across world languages. Approximate frequencies from PHOIBLE 2.0 (a database of 3,000+ language phoneme inventories). Exact percentages vary depending on which inventories are included and how allophones are counted; these figures are indicative rather than precise:
Consonants in Ingglish
| Sound | IPA | % of languages |
|---|---|---|
| m | /m/ | 96% |
| k | /k/ | 90% |
| n | /n/ | 88% |
| p | /p/ | 86% |
| t | /t/ | 85% |
| j (as in "yes") | /j/ | 84% |
| w | /w/ | 76% |
| s | /s/ | 75% |
| l | /l/ | 68% |
| h | /h/ | 62% |
| r | /r/ or /ɹ/ | 60% |
| ŋ (ng) | /ŋ/ | 51% |
| ʃ (sh) | /ʃ/ | 45% |
| tʃ (ch) | /tʃ/ | 44% |
| dʒ (j) | /dʒ/ | 30% |
| ʒ (zh) | /ʒ/ | 20% |
| ð (dh) | /ð/ | 7% |
| θ (th) | /θ/ | 4% |
English's dental fricatives (/θ/ and /ð/) are among the world's rarest consonants. Most spelling systems never need to represent them. This is why there's no "standard" Latin spelling: few languages have these sounds.
Vowel Systems
Most languages have 5–7 vowel phonemes. English has 14–15 depending on dialect and analysis (Ladefoged & Johnson 2014), making it unusually complex:
| Vowels | % of languages | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 5 vowels | ~32% | Spanish, Japanese, Swahili (most common category) |
| 6 vowels | ~14% | Arabic, many Bantu languages |
| 7+ vowels | ~29% | German, French |
| 10+ vowels | <5% | English, Danish |
(Data from Maddieson 2013, WALS Chapter 2.)
English spelling is hard because we're mapping ~15 vowel sounds onto 5 vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u).
See Design Decisions for how Ingglish handles this.