September 30. On this date in 1949, Shoghi effendi wrote Adelbert Mühlschlegel that "He fully appreciates your point about certain well-known names of Persian and other Oriental cities being spelt according to the general usage in German literature. However, he feels that it is necessary to follow in full the transliteration used in God Passes By, even for the names of famous cities, etc., which have in European languages an accepted way of being spelt. Only by doing this can confusion be avoided in our Bahá'í translations and uniformity be maintained.

 

September 30. On this date in 1949, Shoghi effendi wrote Adelbert Mühlschlegel that "He fully appreciates your point about certain well-known names of Persian and other Oriental cities being spelt according to the general usage in German literature. However, he feels that it is necessary to follow in full the transliteration used in God Passes By, even for the names of famous cities, etc., which have in European languages an accepted way of being spelt. Only by doing this can confusion be avoided in our Bahá'í translations and uniformity be maintained.

30 September 1949 [to Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel]

He fully appreciates your point about certain well-known names of Persian and other Oriental cities being spelt according to the general usage in German literature. However, he feels that it is necessary to follow in full the transliteration used in God Passes By, even for the names of famous cities, etc., which have in European languages an accepted way of being spelt. Only by doing this can confusion be avoided in our Bahá'í translations and uniformity be maintained.

A key to pronunciation should be printed, in order to coordinate it with the German language, and also an explanation of the reason for this system being used: namely that it was adopted by an international Congress as being the most practical and universal means of spelling these oriental names in the latin alphabet.

He hopes that the fact that two people translated different parts of this book will not be noticeable in the style, and thus detract from its literary value in German?

Your labours, and those of the other friends concerned in getting this valuable history ready to be printed in German, are deeply appreciated....

In the Guardian's own handwriting:

May the Beloved of our hearts, whose Faith you are serving with distinction, zeal and loyalty, reward you a thousandfold for your constant and notable services, aid you to extend continually the range of your activities, and win still greater victories for its institutions,

Your true and grateful brother,

Shoghi

Bahá'í orthography is peculiar for a several reasons. Despite a purported purpose of systematizing pronunciation, Bahá'í orthography fails to accomplish this goal for the very name of the religion itself. While the accent and phonemic diacritic marks in the word "Bahá'í" indicate a three syllable pronunciation as [bæhɒːˈʔiː], the official pronunciation guide of the Bahá'í World News Service gives a two syllable pronunciation of "Ba-High," /bəˈhaɪ/. Amin Banani's A Bahá'í Glossary and Pronunciation Guide notes that the exact realization of the English pronunciation varies. The Oxford English Dictionary has /bæˈhɑːiː/ ba-HAH-ee, Merriam-Websterhas /bɑːˈhɑːiː/ bah-HAH-ee, and the Random House Dictionary has /bəˈhɑːiː/ bə-HAH-ee, all with three syllables.

For many common names, the Bahá'í orthographic transliteration can often differ markedly from more common standard transliterations presently in use.

Bahá'í Orthography	Standard Transliteration	Persian pronunciation	Arabic pronunciation	Perso-Arabic Spelling
Ádhirbáyján	Azerbaijan	[ɒzeɾbɒːjˈdʒɒːn]	[ʔæðeɾbiːˈdʒæːn]	آذربایجان
Fátimih	Fatima	[fɒːteˈme]	[fɑːˈtˤɪmæ, ˈfɑːtˤɪmæ]	فاطمه
Shoghi	Shawki	[ˈʃoːɣi]	[ˈʃæwʔi, ˈʃɑwqi]	شوقی
Siyyid	Sayyid	[sejˈjed]	[ˈsæjjɪd]	سید