Lessing-Othmer

Chinese romanisation
Mandarin
Standard Chinese Hanyu Pinyin (ISO standard) EFEO Gwoyeu Romatzyh Spelling conventions Latinxua Sin Wenz Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II Chinese Postal Map Romanisation Tongyong Pinyin Wade–Giles Yale romanisation Lessing-Othmer Legge romanisation Simplified Wade Comparison chart
Sichuanese Mandarin Sichuanese Pinyin Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz
Wu
Shanghai and Suzhou dialects Long-short
Wenzhounese Wenzhounese romanisation
Yue
Cantonese Guangdong Romanisation Hong Kong Government Jyutping Meyer-Wempe Sidney Lau S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols) S. L. Wong (romanisation) Cantonese Pinyin Standard Romanisation Yale romanisation Barnett–Chao
Southern Min
Taiwanese, Amoy and related Pe̍h-ōe-jī Modern Literal Taiwanese Phofsit Daibuun Bbínpīn Hōngàn Daighi tongiong pingim TLPA Tâi-lô Comparison chart
Hainanese Hainanhua Pinyin Fang'an
Teochew Peng'im
Eastern Min
Fuzhou dialect Foochow Romanised
Northern Min
Jian'ou dialect Kienning Colloquial Romanised
Pu-Xian Min
Putian dialect Hinghwa Romanised
Hakka
Moiyan dialect Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an Hagfa Pinyim
Siyen dialect Pha̍k-fa-sṳ TLPA
Gan
Nanchang dialect Pha̍k-oa-chhi
See also
Other transliterations General Chinese Cyrillisation Xiao'erjing 'Phags-pa script Bopomofo Taiwanese kana Taiwanese Phonetic Symbols Mongolian transliteration of Chinese characters Manchu transliteration Transcription into Chinese
By place Romanisation in Hong Kong Romanisation in Singapore Romanisation in Taiwan

Lessing-Othmer is a romanisation of Mandarin Chinese that was once used by Germans written by F. Lessing and Dr. W. Othmer, who in 1912 printed their book "Lehrgang der nordchinesischen Umgangssprache" (Course in the North Chinese Colloquial Language) in Qingdao (Chinese: 青島; pinyin: Qīngdǎo) whilst it was a German colony in 1912 through the "Deutsch-Chinesische Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt."

In 1979, the State Council of the People's Republic of China for Romanisation ruled that translations of foreign-language publications should use Lessing romanisation 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	j [ʐ] ㄖ r	hs [ɕ] ㄒ x	h [x] ㄏ h
Lateral						l [l] ㄌ l

Finals

Nucleus		a					ə						∅
Coda		∅	i	u	n	ŋ	∅	i	u	n	ŋ	ɻ	∅
Medial	∅	a [ɑ] ㄚ a	ai [aɪ̯] ㄞ ai	au [ɑʊ̯] ㄠ ao	an [ɑn] ㄢ an	ang [ɑŋ] ㄤ ang	ö [ɯ̯ʌ] ㄜ e	e [eɪ̯] ㄟ ei	ou [ɤʊ̯] ㄡ ou	ën [ən] ㄣ en	ëng [əŋ] ㄥ eng	örl [ɑɻ] ㄦ er	ï [ɨ] ㄭ -i
	i	ia [i̯ɑ] ㄧㄚ ia		iau [i̯ɑʊ̯] ㄧㄠ iao	iän [i̯ɛn] ㄧㄢ ian	iang [i̯ɑŋ] ㄧㄤ iang	iä [i̯ɛ] ㄧㄝ ie		iu [i̯ɤʊ̯] ㄧㄡ iu	in [in] ㄧㄣ in	ing [iŋ] ㄧㄥ ing		i [i] ㄧ i
	u	ua [u̯ɑ] ㄨㄚ ua	uai [u̯ɑɪ̯] ㄨㄞ uai		uan [u̯ɑn] ㄨㄢ uan	uang [u̯ɑŋ] ㄨㄤ uang	o [u̯ɔ] ㄨㄛ uo	ui [u̯eɪ̯] ㄨㄟ ui		un [u̯ən] ㄨㄣ un	ung [ʊŋ] ㄨㄥ ong		u [u] ㄨ u
	y				üan [y̯ɛn] ㄩㄢ üan		üä [y̯œ] ㄩㄝ üe			ün [y] ㄩㄣ ün	iung [i̯ʊŋ] ㄩㄥ iong		ü [y] ㄩ ü

References

↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004 edition, "Pinyin romanization" article