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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/18820
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/18820
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I wasn't sure how to phrase the title, so it may be a bit confusing. Feel free to edit it if you can phrase it better.

This question may be better suited for Worldbuilding SE. However, it is about how to specifically write a constructed language in _English_, so I put it here.

**Question:** I have constructed a language. Being a new language however, it is pronounced differently than English. This means I have to take a few liberties with the spelling when translating it, so that readers will pronounce it correctly when they see it. This has given rise to a few problems with certain words.

For example, the letter `Y`, which we can pronounce as a vowel, is used only as a consonant in my language. This means that the word `Syan`, when seen, will likely be pronounced `See-ahn` when in reality it should be pronounced `S yahn`.

**How can I get my reader to pronounce the word the proper way?** One obvious method would be to spell the word in question as `S'yan`. I am hesitant to do this, however, because apostrophes are disturbingly over-used in constructed languages, and I am trying to stay as far away from cliches as possible.

Any ideas? Has this problem perhaps been encountered before by someone here?

EDIT: Further examples:

The word `Seic`. Likely pronounced `Sayk` or `seyek`. Should be pronounced `Say-ik`.

The word `Ashe`. Likely pronounced `Aysh`. Should be pronounced `Ahs-hay`.

Original score: 4