音訳

Possibly coined by Japanese scientist Udagawa Yōan in 1837 in his book 舎密開宗 (Seimi Kaisō, “Introduction to Chemistry”),[1] from Middle Chinese-derived elements as a compound of 音 (on, “sound”) +‎ 訳 (yaku, “translation”).

First cited to Udagawa's book, dated 1837.[2]

• (Tokyo) おんやく [òń'yákú] (Heiban – [0])[3][4]
• IPA^(key): [õ̞ɰ̃ja̠kɯ̟ᵝ]

音(おん)訳(やく) • (on'yaku) 

1. [from circa 1837] transcription, transcribing: spelling out foreign words in native script; historically, often using kanji for their phonetic values

   Synonyms: 音写 (onsha), 転写 (tensha), 音声表記 (onsei hyōki)

2. [from circa 1837] a word spelled out this way

   Synonym: 借字 (shakuji, literally “borrowed character”)

3. [from ???] text-to-speech, reading text aloud, speech synthesis: the act of turning text into sound

   Synonyms: 音声訳 (onseiyaku), 音声化 (onseika), 音声合成 (onsei gōsei)

音(おん)訳(やく)する • (on'yaku suru) transitive suru (stem 音(おん)訳(やく)し (on'yaku shi), past 音(おん)訳(やく)した (on'yaku shita))

1. [from circa 1837] to transcribe: to spell out foreign words in native script; historically, often using kanji for their phonetic values

   Synonyms: 音写 (onsha), 転写 (tensha), 音声表記 (onsei hyōki)

2. [from ???] to read text aloud, to synthesize speech: to turn text into sound

   Synonyms: 音声訳 (onseiyaku), 音声化 (onseika), 音声合成 (onsei gōsei)

The Japanese term 音訳 (on'yaku) is often loosely translated as transliteration. Strictly speaking, transliteration is the act of replacing letters in one script with letters in another, whereas 音訳 (on'yaku, “transcription”) is the act of rendering the sounds of the source term in the characters of the target language. Examples:

• Transliteration:

Greek Ελληνική Δημοκρατία (Ellinikí Dimokratía) → Ellēnikḗ Dēmokratía

(possibly) English cocoa → Japanese ココア (kokoa)

This is a letter-per-letter transformation based on written forms.

• Transcription:

Ελληνική Δημοκρατία (Ellinikí Dimokratía) → [elinikí ðimokratía]

Portuguese filhós → Japanese 飛竜頭 (hiryūzu, “deep-fried glutinous rice balls, or fried tofu balls with mixed vegetables”, as spelled, literally “flying dragon heads”)

This is a sound-by-sound transformation based on spoken forms.

• 翻字 (honji, “transliteration”)

• Transliteration#Difference_from_transcription on Wikipedia