How to Learn Romanian

Pronouncing the Romanian Alphabet

Start with Romanian vowels. Romanian has a total of 7 vowels. Of these, the letters a, e, o, and u will likely give you the least trouble, so those vowel sounds are a good place to start. Pay attention to the position of your lips and tongue – this will help you pronounce unique Romanian vowel sounds. A sounds like the a in the English word "father." As you make this sound, keep your lips open and unrounded, with your tongue lying in the bottom of your mouth. E sounds like the e in the English word "bed." Your lips are slightly open, less open than when you made the a sound, with your tongue up slightly and stretched towards the front of your mouth. O sounds like the aw in the English word "yawn." Your lips should be rounded when you make this sound, the same as they would be if you were making the o sound in English. U sounds like the oo in the English word "boot." Your lips should be rounded, the same as they would be when making this sound in English.Exception: The letter e is pronounced like the ye in the English word "yet" at the beginning of the personal pronouns eu (I), ea (she), el (he), ele (they; female), and ele (they; male). Use the same pronunciation for the e at the beginning of forms of the verb "to be": e, eşti, eram, erai, era, eraţi, and erau.

Practice unique Romanian vowel sounds. The i in Romanian may be more difficult for you to pronounce, as it has a unique sound that doesn't exist in English. The Romanian alphabet also has 2 more vowels: ă and î or â (which both make the same sound). The letter i makes an ee sound, similar to the ee in the English word "free." Ă, also called a schwa or an A-breve, makes an uh sound, similar to the a in the English word "about." Â and Î, also known as A-circumflex and I-circumflex, are pronounced exactly the same way. Typically, î is used at the beginning of a word, while â is used in the middle. There is no equivalent sound in the English language, but it sounds similar to the u sound in the French word "rue."

Move on to Romanian consonants. Most Romanian consonants sound the same in Romanian as they do in English or in other Romance languages. There are also 2 consonants that are unique to Romanian: ţ and ş. The ş makes an sh sound, similar to the sh in the English word "she." The ţ makes a ts sound, similar to the ts in the English word "cats," or the zz in the Italian word "pizza." The letter g usually sounds like the g in the English word "goat." If it is in front of an e, however, it sounds like the g in the English word "general." The letter j always makes a zh sound, similar to the s in the English word "pleasure." The letters k, q, w, and y are foreign letters, so they are pronounced the way the foreign or imported word would be pronounced in its original language. The letter h is silent if it falls between the letters c or g and e or i, as in the combinations che, chi, ghe, and ghi.Tip: Despite the occasionally silent h, Romanian is for the most part a phonetic language. Words are generally spelled exactly how they sound.

Memorize groups of letters that make a unique sound together. There are some combinations of letters in Romanian that make a different sound when they appear together than the individual letters that make up the group. These sounds aren't particularly tricky – you just have to remember that those letters combine to produce a different sound. Ce and ci are pronounced with a ch sound, similar to the ch in the English words "check" or "chin." Ge and gi are pronounced similarly to the ge in the English word "gem," or the gi in the English word "gin." Che and chi are pronounced with a k sound, similar to the k in the English word "kit." Ghe and ghi are pronounced similarly to the g in the English words "guest" or "give."

Having Basic Conversations

Greet people by saying "salut" in most situations. Salut! is the most common way to say "hello" in Romanian. This word is also a common greeting in French, and is pronounced the same way. Bună ziua is a more formal way to say "hello." It literally means "good day." Notice that the word bună is similar to the Spanish bueno or the Italian bene.

Follow up by asking Ce mai faceţi? This phrase means "How are you?" in Romanian. It's a more formal version, which you would use when talking to people older than you or in a position of authority. In more informal situations, you would ask Ce mai faci? If the other person asks you first, you might reply mulțumesc, bine, which means "fine, thank you." [1]

Use the phrase numele meu e to introduce yourself. After exchanging general greetings, you might say numele meu e, which means "my name is," followed by your name. If you're speaking to someone older than you or in a position of authority, use Cum vă numiți? This is the formal way of asking someone's name. You can also use the phrase mă numesc, followed by your name, to introduce yourself.Tip: When someone introduces themselves to you in Romanian, you might reply încântat, which essentially means "pleased." You might note a similarity between this word and the French response in the same situation: enchanté.

Add polite words and phrases to mind your manners. Native speakers will naturally be more friendly and patient with you if you're polite. Always use vă rog (please) and mulțumesc (thank you) when asking questions or engaging in conversation. Other polite words and phrases you might need include: Pardon! (sorry; excuse me – also used when getting someone's attention). Mersi (thank you – pronounced just like merci in French). Cu plăcere (you're welcome/my pleasure – response to "thank you"). Scuzați-mă! (excuse me).

Explain how well you understand Romanian. Especially if you're in Romania, native speakers may start speaking rapidly to you in Romanian after you manage to start a basic conversation. If you want to continue practicing, you might encourage them to speak to you in Romanian. However, you still need to be able to tell them when you don't understand what they're saying. Nu înțeleg means "I don't understand." Nu is the Romanian word for "no" (da means "yes"), so this phrase is constructed similarly to the Spanish no entiendo. If you're having a hard time understanding the person, you might say poți să repeți, te rog? which means "please say that again," or poți să vorbești mai rar? which means "please speak more slowly." You might also say nu vorbesc bine românește, which means "I don't speak Romanian well." If you don't think you're going to be able to communicate any further in Romanian, you can always say vorbiți engleza? which means "do you speak English?"

Say la revedere when you are ready to part ways. La revedere is a somewhat formal but general way to tell anyone "goodbye" in Romanian. Note how similar this is to the Italian arrivederci (which more accurately means "see you later"). You can also say pa, which is more equivalent to "bye." If you're going to be seeing the person again soon, try pe curând, which means "see you soon."

Increasing Your Fluency

Identify cognates to easily add to your vocabulary. As a Romance language, Romanian has a lot in common with other Romance languages. Romanian vocabulary is 77 percent similar to Italian, and 71 percent similar to Spanish. If you speak either of those languages, you likely already know quite a few Romanian words and phrases. For example, the Romanian word for "city" is cetate. Compare this word to the English word "city," the French word "cité," the Italian word "città," the Portuguese word "cidade," and the Spanish word "cuidad." There are thousands of cognates among all Romance languages and English if you look at combinatorial forms – words that end with a suffix, such as -tion, -ent, or -able. For example, any English word that ends in -tion has a cognate in a Romanian word that ends in -tune. By learning these forms, you can add thousands of words to your vocabulary.

Listen to Romanian music. The rhythm and repetition of music make it an easy way to learn simple phrases in a language. You can find Romanian music on most streaming services, as well as on YouTube videos. You can also find a list of Romanian radio stations that stream online for free at https://www.101languages.net/romanian/romanian-radio/.Tip: The song Dragostea Din Tei is a Romanian dance song, made popular by the "Numa Numa" viral video. The song is performed by the Moldovan pop band O-Zone. You can listen to their albums on major music streaming services.

Watch Romanian films and television. Film and television are a great way to listen to native speakers conversing in Romanian. Search online for free films and television shows that you can watch. You may also be able to find Romanian films in the foreign language section of your favorite video-streaming service. You likely won't pick up a lot of Romanian just by passively watching a movie or a television show. It can help to start with English-language captions, so you understand what's going on. Through time and repetition, you'll start understanding more Romanian words. At that point, you can turn the captions off. You can also turn on closed-captioning in Romanian to learn more about what the spoken words look like when written out.

Download US Peace Corps lessons from the Live Lingua Project. The Live Lingua Project makes US government language learning materials available for free online. For Romanian, the project has 4 different Peace Corps packages, including a 126-page eBook on Romanian grammar. The materials are relatively dated but can help you get a better understanding for the language and how it's structured. There are also exercises and quizzes that can help you practice what you've learned.

Read some children's books in Romanian. Reading children's books is a great way to learn basic grammar and vocabulary in any language. While there aren't many Romanian children's books available for free online, there are some available for purchase at major retailers, such as Amazon. Project Gutenberg has a few Romanian ebooks available to download for free at http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/languages/ro. Once you have a little more reading skill, you might try to read Romanian newspapers. There's a list of Romanian newspapers available online at https://www.101languages.net/romanian/newspapers/.

Practice vocabulary with word games and crosswords. There are many websites and smartphone apps that offer flash cards and other word games that can help you develop and expand your Romanian vocabulary. Crossword puzzles may also help improve your spelling. Many of these are available for free, while others require you to purchase a subscription. The website Surface Languages has Romanian crosswords, word searches, and other word games available for free.