The transcription is mostly based on ALA-LC romanization.

• ā (ا) is a long a, between "hat" and "father"
• ī (ي) is a long i, like in "feel"
• ū (و) is a long u, as in "goose"
• ei only occurs in Arabic dialects, I use it for the sound in "hey" or "great"
• The apostrophe (') stands for the hamza/glottal stop (ء), like the oh sound in uh-oh (a'o)
• The grave accent (`) stands for the letter `ayin (ع). It's similar to a glottal stop but from further back in the throat
• q (ق) is like "k" but from further down in the throat
• ḥ (ح) is like "h" but from the back of your throat (are you starting to see a pattern?)
• kh (خ) is similar to the ch in Scottish "loch"
• dh (ذ) is like the "th" sound in "this"
• gh (غ) is a bit like the French or German "r" sound