Language

Romanian (limba română) is the official language of Romania. The Romanian language is thus a language of Latin roots to which Slavic, German and Turkish elements were added later on, all testifying the contacts with different ethnic groups that influenced this territory’s history. The Romanian alphabet contains 31 letters, the 26 of the Latin, plus 5 others, called 'diacritics': ă (like the 'a' in English word 'musical'), ș (pronounced as 'sh'), ț (pronounced 'ts'), â & î (both pronounced like [ɨ] ).

If you’ve studied other Romance language, such as Italian, Spanish, French or Portuguese, you may feel at home sooner than you think. Romanian is a phonetic language, so words are pronounced as they are spelled.

English has quickly overtaken French as the country’s second language, especially with the young people. Communicating in English in Bucharest should not be a problem. French and German can also be useful. Other Romance languages (especially Spanish and Italian) are also studied by most people in schools and are therefore spoken with a pretty good level of fluency.

English

Romanian

Phonetic

Hi/Hello

Salut/ Bună /Ceau

sa lut/ bu.n / tʃe au

Goodbye

La revedere

la re.ve'de.re

Yes

Da

da

No

Nu

nu

And

Și

ʃi

I

Eu

jew

Thank you

Mulţumesc

mul. tsu mesk

You're welcome

Cu plăcere

ku pl tʃe.re

Please informally

Te rog

te 'rog

Excuse me

Scuză-mă

sku.z .m

I'm sorry

Îmi pare rău

ɨmʲ pa.re r w

How are you?

Ce faci?

tʃe fa tʃʲ

OK/fine/well

Bine

'bi.ne

bad

Rău

r w

Good day

Bună ziua

bun zi.wa

Good morning

Bună dimineaţa

bu.n di.mi ne a. tsa

My name is...

Mă numesc...

m nu mesk

Nice to meet you

Încântat de cunoştinţă

ɨn.kɨn tat de ku.noʃ. tin. ts

Help

Ajutor

a.ʒu tor

I love you

Te iubesc

te ju'besk

Cheers

Noroc

norok