Romanian 101: Romanian language lessons - part 1

Although learning Romanian can be challenging at first, it’s a worthwhile experience that will improve your stay in Romania. Gaining fluency in a few fundamental phrases can significantly improve the ease of your interactions with others during your Erasmus experience.

Given that Romanian has Latin roots and is related to languages like Italian, French, and Spanish, you may notice some similarities if you have studied any of these languages before. In Romanian, words are often read as written, but there are a few exceptions. For instance, some letters can have something on them or beside them and this changes the pronunciation:

• ă is pronounced differently than a normal a;
• ș is said like sh in she;
• ț like ts in cats;
• the groups ce and ci sound like che and chi somehow;
• on the other hand, ge and gi are pronounced as je and ji (soft j).

One of the first things that you might want to know is how to say the easiest but most used words like:

• yes = DA;
• no = NU;
• bus = AUTOBUZ;
• subway = METROU;
• thank you = MULȚUMESC.

A second important step is to know how to say the basic phrases that can help you in case you want to find something or ask for help like:

• How are you? = Ce mai faci?
• I’m fine, thank you. = Sunt bine, mulțumesc.
• I don’t understand. = Nu înțeleg.
• Can you help me? = Mă poți ajuta?
• Where? = Unde?

Also, notice that IEȘIRE = exit, INTRARE = entrance, ÎNCHIS = closed and DESCHIS=open.

Practice, make mistakes, and embrace the language as an instrument for your experience in Romania!

Good luck!