NirvanaBuddhism

Nirvana is an English transliteration/spelling of a Sanskrit term meaning extinction or "blowing out" (like a candle).  Nirvana is a frequently used term in BuddhIsm--very roughly it is the state of being when ego-centered/craving consciousness is extinguished.  See the EncyclopaediaBritannica [http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/8/0,5716,57318+1+55914,00.html?kw=nirvaunua entry for nirvana] for a more detailed definition.

Many of the Pali language Buddhist scriptures use a word translated as "nibbana", which appears to describe the same word/concept.

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Do "nirvana" and "nibbana" actually denote the same thing?  In English, "nirvana" seems to have won out. But what about the words in other forms of Buddhist text in many other languages, in different alphabets yet again?  Do the standard transliterations of these terms in Chinese translations of earlier Pali and Sanskrit texts use the same transliteration for each, for example?  

:Serious students of Buddhist texts seem to prefer "nibbana", although "nirvana" is often listed as a (transliteration of the) Sanskrit version.  A more detailed definition is [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/glossary.html#n here], with several uses of "nibbana" [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/nibbana.html here], and a talk on "nibbana" [http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/modern/thanissaro/nibbana.html here].  Finally, a Google search for [http://www.google.com/search?q=nirvana+nibbana+Pali+Sanskrit&num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off nirvana nibbana Pali Sanskrit] found over a hundred links which seem to equate the two terms.