Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide The following simplified guide to pronunciation of Sanskrit phonemes is largely from the work of Charles Wikner, with help from Indian friends Vikas Alathur and Anima Pundeer. I then simplified the scheme based on my (mis)understanding and for ease of recall. Sanskrit sounds are produced primarily from one of five parts of the mouth cavity: guttural (from the back of the mouth as it narrows to form the throat; the 'a' vowel is an example) and successively toward the front of the mouth, palatal ('i'),  cerebral ('r'), dental (behind the teeth; 'l'), and labial (with the lips; 'u').  Wikner lumps the cerebral and dental consonants together, since the sounds are difficult for the Westerner to distinguish. (Cerebrals are written with a dot under them in Sanskrit and are capitalized in the ITRANS representation, which Wickner otherwise follows.) See A Practical Sanskrit Introductory by Charles Wikner for more detailed information. You may also be interested in taking a look at a Sanskrit dictionary (for which you'll need the alphabetical order described by Wickner).
Eng.	Phon.	Approximate pronunciation:
a	u	u as in but; NOT bat; final 'a' is not pronounced
a	aa	a as in arm, harm; NOT ham; long-a, sometimes written as a with a horizontal line over it; indicates duration, NOT two syllables
ai	ai	i as in fight, aisle, pie
au	au	down, hound
b	b	be, cab, imbibe; labial
bh	bh	clubhouse ('club-bhouse'); labial
c, ch	ch	cello, chair, church; palatal
ch	chh	like the 'chh' in coach-horse ('coa-chhorse'); palatal
d	d	day, dog, god; cerebral, dental
dh	dh	redhead ('red-dhead'); cerebral, dental
e	e	English long-a as in fate, fair, eight
g	g	goal, give, bug; guttural
gh	gh	loghouse ('log-ghouse'); guttural
h(a)	h	unvoiced aspirate: like the initial release of breath before the 'h' in hurry; or, following a consonant with a puff of audible breath before the next sound begins, as in pit and kit
h	H	an unvoiced breath following a vowel; e.g., aH would be pronounced as the 'uh' in uhh!
i	i	i as in bit, pink
i, ee	ee	ee as in peep, meet; long-i, sometimes written as i with a horizontal line over it; indicates duration, NOT two syllables
j	j	just, jolly, joy; palatal
jh	jh	hedgehog ('hej-jhog'); palatal
jn	j^n	whenever j is followed by palatal ^n, they are pronounced as one syllable j^n (the 'j' much like the French j in 'Jean', along with the strongly nasalized ^n); NOT ja-na (two syllables)
k	k	kiss, kiln, back; guttural
kh	kh	bunkhouse ('bung-khouse'); guttural
ksh	k^sh	whenever k is followed by cerebral sh, they are pronounced as one syllable k^sh; NOT ka-sha (two syllables)
l, li	l^	table for the vowel 'l'; l^d would be uld, NOT lid
l(a)	l	luck for the consonant (partial vowel); dental
m	m	amble, mumble; labial
m	M	a nasal sound following a vowel; e.g., aM would be pronounced as the 'um' in numb
n	n	gentle, hand, gain; cerebral, dental
n	^n	enjoy, canyon, pinch; palatal; sometimes written with a tilde (~) over the n or as N^
n, ng	ng	sing, long, tongue; guttural; sometimes written as n with a dot under it or as JN
o	o	between owe and awe
p	p	pick, pat, tap; labial
ph	ph	uphill ('up-phill'); labial; NOT 'ph' as in phone
r, ri	r^	acre for the vowel 'r'; r^d would be urd, NOT rid
r(a)	r	rum for the consonant (partial vowel); cerebral
s	s	seek, kiss; dental
s	sh^	like the German ich, reich; palatal; sometimes written as an s with an acute accent over it
sh	sh	ship, wish; cerebral; sometimes written as s with a dot under it
t	t	tub, top, cut; cerebral, dental
th	th	anthill ('an-thill'); cerebral, dental; NOT 'th' as in this
u	u	u as in put
u, oo	oo	oo as in boot; long-u, sometimes written as u with a horizontal line over it
v(a)	v	water (labial); somewhat between the English 'v' and 'w' sounds; sometimes written as w in the English
y(a)	y	yum; palatal

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