Lessing-Othmer is a romanization of Mandarin Chinese that was introduced by and Dr. W. Othmer, who in 1912 printed their book âÂÂLehrgang der nordchinesischen Umgangsspracheâ (âÂÂCourse in the North Chinese Colloquial LanguageâÂÂ) through the âÂÂDeutsch-Chinesische Druckerei und Verlagsanstaltâ in Qingdao while it was a German colony.
In 1979, the State Council of the People's Republic of China for Romanization ruled that translations of foreign-language publications should utilize Lessing-Othmer romanization in German-speaking countries, and Pinyin in English-speaking countries.
The sounds romanized differently from Pinyin are highlighted in blue.