Romanization of Foreign Languages
There are several foreign languages that use different alphabets from the English language. When a language like Japanese or Chinese is written in a format so an English speaker can read it, it is called Romanization. Romanization is a form of Transliteration. Transliteration is converting one writing system into another; Romanization is when a writing system is being converted into the Roman alphabet. (The alphabet used for English.)
The Library of Congress has tables that show how various foreign languages are Romanized. This information is on the Library of Congress web site at: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html