Russian Transliteration: Cyrillic to Latin
Paste or type Russian Cyrillic and get clean, readable Latin letters instantly - the romanization you see on passports, maps and news sites. Flip the mode to type Latin phonetically and get Cyrillic back. It is free, runs in your browser, and gives the same result every time.
How the converter works
Type or paste Cyrillic into the left box and the Latin appears on the right as you type. Press Copy to grab the result. Switch to reverse mode to do the opposite: type Latin the way the word sounds and watch it become Cyrillic. The tool never sends your text anywhere - the conversion happens entirely on your device, so it is instant and private.
Because the rules are fixed, the output is deterministic: the same input always produces the same transliteration. That makes it reliable for names, addresses and study notes, where you want a consistent spelling rather than a guess.
Which transliteration scheme this uses
This tool uses a practical, BGN/PCGN-style romanization - the scheme most English readers actually recognize, because it is what passports, road signs and English-language news outlets use. It favors readability over strict reversibility, so the result looks the way you would expect a Russian name to be spelled in English.
A few letters are worth knowing: ж becomes zh, х becomes kh, ц becomes ts, ч becomes ch, ш becomes sh, and щ becomes the four-letter shch. The vowel е is rendered ye at the start of a word or after another vowel (so Елена is Yelena) and e elsewhere. The hard sign ъ and soft sign ь are dropped, since they have no Latin sound. The full letter-by-letter chart is below.
Reverse mode is best-effort
The Latin-to-Cyrillic direction is a convenience, not a perfect inverse. The romanization above is lossy on purpose - the same Latin letter can map back to more than one Cyrillic letter (a bare "e", for example, could be е or э) - so reverse mode makes sensible choices and matches the longest spelling first (shch before sh before s). It is great for quickly typing a Russian word phonetically, but always proofread the Cyrillic it produces.
If you need to type accurate Cyrillic rather than approximate it, use the on-screen Russian keyboard instead, which gives you every letter exactly.
Full transliteration chart
Every Cyrillic letter and the Latin it maps to in this scheme. The contextual and silent letters are noted.
| Cyrillic | Latin | Note |
|---|---|---|
| А а | a | |
| Б б | b | |
| В в | v | |
| Г г | g | |
| Д д | d | |
| Е е | ye / e | ye at word start / after a vowel, e elsewhere |
| Ё ё | yo | |
| Ж ж | zh | |
| З з | z | |
| И и | i | |
| Й й | y | |
| К к | k | |
| Л л | l | |
| М м | m | |
| Н н | n | |
| О о | o | |
| П п | p | |
| Р р | r | |
| С с | s | |
| Т т | t | |
| У у | u | |
| Ф ф | f | |
| Х х | kh | |
| Ц ц | ts | |
| Ч ч | ch | |
| Ш ш | sh | |
| Щ щ | shch | |
| Ъ ъ | (dropped) | silent (hard sign) - dropped |
| Ы ы | y | |
| Ь ь | (dropped) | silent (soft sign) - dropped |
| Э э | e | |
| Ю ю | yu | |
| Я я | ya |
FAQ
How do I convert Russian Cyrillic to English letters?
What transliteration standard does this use?
Is transliteration the same as translation?
Can I convert Latin back into Cyrillic?
How is щ transliterated?
Free to start
Read the real thing, not just the romanization
Transliteration is a crutch - the real win is reading Cyrillic directly. Learn the alphabet and build vocabulary with audio flashcards, just minutes a day.
