What is the national language of Romania. How did the Romanian language appear? Substrate influences of the pre-Romanesque period

). A shortened version of this text was published about a year ago in the journal “Foreign Languages and Study Abroad.” I hope for your comments, remarks, additions, corrections.
One request - let's not discuss the issue "Romanian language vs. Moldovan language" here. There are many other places to discuss it.

The Romanian language, as you can read in any reference book, belongs to the Romance group of languages, the ancestor of which was Latin. The name of the people - Romanians - comes from the word romanus"Roman". It is easy to verify the relationship between Latin and Romanian by comparing Latin and Romanian words.

porta"door" poarta
locus"place" loc
caput"head" cap
ferrum"iron" fire
decem"ten" zece
dicere"say" zice
lingua"language" limba
aqua"water" apa
octo"eight" opt
quattuor"four" patru
sex"six" şase

However, how did a Romance language arise in Eastern Europe, surrounded by Slavic and Hungarian languages? The fact is that after the wars, during which the Roman Empire conquered Dacia (most of the territory of modern Romania), the local population was almost completely destroyed, and the lands were settled by colonists from the west, whose native language was Latin. As a result, the Dacian language that existed up to that time completely disappeared. Only a few words from it survive in modern Romanian. These are the names of the rivers Dunaris, Siret, Prut, and: buză"lip", brad"spruce", copac"tree", mal"shore", copil"child". The most famous of these words is brînză"brynza", which was later borrowed into the Russian language.

Not only the Romanian language was formed on the basis of the Romance speech of the population of the Balkan Peninsula. Somewhat further south arose Aromanian(Macedonoromanian), Istro-Romanian And Megleno-Romanian languages. People of Aromanian origin now number about 300 thousand in Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, data on the number of people who speak this language vary. According to 1985 data, Historic Romanian was spoken by 555 people in Croatia. Megleno-Romanian is now spoken by about five thousand people in Greece and Macedonia. When this group of languages is considered, Romanian is often called Daco-Romanian. In the Romanian linguistic tradition, all the Romance languages of the Balkans are often called dialects.

The oldest surviving text in Romanian is a letter from the boyar Neaksu, in which he warns the judge in the city of Brasov about the movement of Turkish ships along the Danube. Judging by the events described in the letter, it was created in 1521. Already from the second half of the 16th century, a fairly large number of documents in Romanian have been preserved. It is curious that at that time the Cyrillic alphabet was used to write in this language; only in the 1860s did the Romanians switch to the Latin alphabet.

The Latin alphabet was supplemented with several letters to reflect Romanian sounds: ă - denotes a sound close to e, â And î - denote a sound close to s, ţ - ts, ş - w. Letter j in Romanian it is read as zh, With- like h before e, i and like k in other cases, g- as j before e, i and as g in other cases. To convey the sounds k and g before the vowels e, i, combinations are used ch, gh: Chişinău"Kishinev". From the post-war years until 1994, the letter â was written only in words with the root Roman- and some proper names, but according to the new rules they returned to the pre-war norm - î at the beginning of the word, â - in other places. Letter i at the end of a word after a consonant is not pronounced without stress, but only indicates the softness of the consonant: lupi"wolves" is read as [lup"]. If i comes after a vowel, then it is read as th.

As we have already said, most Romanian words are of Latin origin. More often than not, Latin words retain their meaning in Romanian, but the meaning of some changes, often in unexpected ways. Latin word barbatus"bearded" in Romanian has become bărbat"man", anima"soul" in inimă"heart", conventus"agreement" in cuvănt"word", * sufflitus"blow" in suflet"soul". Here are some more examples:

paludem"swamp" > *padulem > pădure"forest"
passer"sparrow" > pasăre"bird" (similar to Spanish pajaro"bird")
lucrum"profit, gain" > lucru"work", "thing"
pavimentum"rammed earth with crushed stone, stone floor" > pământ"Earth"
languorem"weakness, lethargy", later "illness"> lăngoare"typhoid"
viridia"green" > varză"cabbage"
granum"grain" > grâu"wheat"
torquere"twirl" > toarce"to spin" (from lat. torquere fusum"turn the spindle")
întuneca"to darken" (from "to dress in a tunic")
Inlemni"to be dumbfounded" (from lat. lignum"tree")
monumentum"monument" > mormont"grave"

History and ethnography help explain some of the changes in meaning. Lat. pavitum"paved" > * pavatum> rum. pat"bed". At first, this word denoted a place lined with boards and slabs, and then a kind of elevation made of boards on which they lay down to sleep. Word rostrum"beak, mouth" turned into growth"speech, order, attitude." This meaning, as the philologist-novelist E. Boursier writes, “is associated with the spread of weaving among the Romanians, where this word denoted the angle formed by the threads through which the shuttle is passed.”

From the Latin verb plicare"to roll up, fold" is a Romanian verb a pleca"to depart", and Spanish llegar"arrive". E. Bourcier writes that the Spanish meaning arose from the language of sailors (cf. applicare navis ad terram"to moor ships to the ground"), and the Romanian - from the soldier's expression "to give traction (to roll up belongings)."

Word mergere"immerse" has become a merge"go". This meaning arose from Late Latin uses of the verb in phrases like: sol mergit"The sun sinks into the sea." The meaning developed as follows: "immerse" > "disappear" > "remove" > "go".
The fate of the Latin verb is especially interesting invite"to corrupt", which in Romanian gave the word Invăţa"learn". It is believed that it changed its meaning in this way: “to corrupt” > “acquire bad habits” > “get used to” > “teach, learn.”

There are many words of Slavic origin in Romanian. Brazda"furrow", ceas"hour", nădejde"hope", drag"Expensive", a city"read", sticlă"glass jar, bottle" a iubi"be in love", time"time". Some of them also changed their meaning when borrowed into Romanian: război"war" ( Al Doilea Război Mondial- The Second World War), zăpadă"snow" (from the verb fall), a munci“to work” (cf. Russian to torment), a lovi"to hit" (cf. catch), scump"dear" (cf. stingy), prost"stupid" (cf. simple), mandru"proud" (cf. wise). Some words of Latin origin, under the influence of Slavic languages, developed additional meanings. Word lume“light” also began to mean “peace” (like the Slavic word: lamp light And become famous throughout the world), word parte“part” also acquired the meaning “fate.”

Slavic languages also influenced Romanian in word formation. For example, the word rum. bun"good" (from Latin bonus), A nebun"mad" (lit. "bad"). It is easy to recognize the Slavic negative prefix here. There is also an influence in the syntax. It was from the Slavic languages that Romanian borrowed constructions with the dative case, meaning state. Compare mi-e frig And I'm cold.

You can also find a number of borrowings from Hungarian among Romanian words. These are the words belşug"abundance" oraş"city", a cheltui"spend", gând"thought" and others. Romanian also contains borrowings from Turkish, Greek and other languages.

Old football fans should remember the football team" Constructor wheel", which played in the USSR championships, it still exists in Chisinau. The name of the team means “builder”, the Latin basis is easily guessed in it, but what does it mean - st at the end? Here we come to one feature of the Romanian language. It contains articles. And the definite article in Romanian is different from the articles in the languages you are familiar with (English). the, German der, fr. le, Spanish el). These articles precede the word; the Romanian definite article is attached to the back of the word in many cases. Linguists call this article postpositive. Let's see what Romanian words with articles look like.
lup"wolf" lupi"wolves"
lupul"wolf (def.)" lupii"wolves (def.)"
lupului"wolf (def.)" lupilor"wolves (def.)"
The vocative form of Romanian nouns is also derived from the form with the article. lupule"Oh, wolf!"

How did such an article, which seems unusual to us, come about? The fact is that word order in Latin was relatively free. There, for example, the phrase “this person” could be rendered as ille homo, and how could it be homo ille. Gradually, in the western part of the Latin language area, the first variant began to predominate, and in the eastern part, the second. From the Latin pronoun ille and articles arose in Romance languages, French le and Spanish el- before the word, and the Romanian article - after.

The postpositive article is one of the features that includes it in the so-called “Balkan Language Union”. Over centuries of coexistence, the various languages of the Balkan peoples - Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian, Romanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian - have developed a number of common features. Thus, the postpositive article is also found in Bulgarian and Macedonian. Look at Bulgarian examples: I see my wife that "I see a woman" shit"tree", shit"tree, the tree".

If a noun has dependent words, the article does not come after the noun itself, but after the leftmost of these words. Compare: băiatul"youth" băjatului"young men (genus)", frumosul băjat"handsome young man" frumosului băjat"handsome young man" In Old Romanian, a postpositive article accompanied every word in the noun phrase. Here are some examples: preasfinţitu lui parinte lui patriarhu lui "Holy Father Patriarch" au dat dzile Tom ei vornicu luişi lui Iordachie vistiernicu lui “saved the lives of Toma the vornik and Iordaka the treasurer,” icoana Maic ii Precist ei "Icon of the Most Pure Mother" In modern Romanian these phrases look like preasfinţitu lui părinte patriarh, vornicu lui Toma, vistiernicu lui Jordan, Maic ii Preciste. A similar phenomenon is typical for the Bulgarian language: zima "winter" - zimata "this winter" - studentata zima "this cold winter" - bulgarskata studena zima "this cold Bulgarian winter".

Another striking feature of the Balkan linguistic union, which is also found in the Romanian language, is the formation of the future tense using the auxiliary verb “to want”. The verb that serves this purpose in Romanian goes back to Latin volere"want". The future forms are as follows:
voi cânta I'll sing
vei cânta will you sing
va cânta he will sing and so on.
However, the Balkan linguistic union, its emergence and the characteristic features of the languages included in it are a topic for a separate discussion.

Romanian is spoken by about 25 million people, mainly in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania and the autonomous region of Vojvodina (Serbia). In Moldova it is called both Romanian and Moldavian. During the 2004 census, 16.5% of Moldovan residents named Romanian as their native language, and 60% named Moldovan. Romanian speakers live in many different countries around the world: Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the United States, Canada, Israel, Great Britain, France and Germany.

Romanian is the official or administrative language of various organizations and institutions, including the Latin Union and the European Union. In addition, it is one of the five languages in which services are held in the monasteries on Mount Athos.

Romanian belongs to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family and has many similarities with French, Italian and Portuguese. Of the Romance languages, Italian is closest to Romanian. These two languages have a certain degree of asymmetrical mutual understanding: it is much easier for a Romanian to understand an Italian than for an Italian to understand a Romanian. In addition, the Romanian language has obvious grammatical and lexical similarities with French, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese.

In ancient times, the territory of present-day Romania was inhabited by Dacians. In 106 they were conquered by the Romans, and part of Dacia (Oltenia, Banat and Transylvania) became a Roman province. This province, rich in gold and silver ores, was soon colonized by the Romans, who brought with them vulgar Latin, which became the language of administration and trade. On its basis, the Romanian language began to form.

Scholars speculate that numerous Romanian dialects coalesced into Old Romanian around the 7th to 10th centuries, when what is now Romania came under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. At the same time, the Romanian language was influenced by Greek and Slavic languages, especially in the area of vocabulary.

Due to the geographical isolation of what is now Romania, Romanian was probably the first Romance language to split from Latin. Until the mid-19th century, it experienced virtually no influence from other Romance languages, and therefore can be considered one of the most unified languages of Europe.

For the same reason, the phonetic evolution of the Romanian language proceeded completely differently than that of other Romance languages. However, some changes occurred in exactly the same way as in Italian (for example: Latin clarus - Romanian chiar - Italian chiaro). Notable phonetic processes include iotation (Latin herba – Roman iarba, “grass”), rhotacism (Latin caelum – Roman cer, “sky”) and softening of alveolar sounds (Latin deus – Roman zeu, “god”) ").

Nominal morphology in Romanian is much more archaic than in other Romance languages. The Latin system of declensions has been partially preserved, however, of the six cases of the Latin language, only three remain - nominative-accusative, genitive-dative and vocative. In addition, Romanian nouns retain their neuter form.

Articles, like most adjectives and pronouns, agree in gender, number and case with the noun to which they refer. Romanian is the only Romance language that uses enclitic (i.e. attached to the end of a noun) definite articles, which developed from Latin demonstrative pronouns.

Verb morphology is characterized by the same processes of development of the compound perfect and future tense as other Romance languages. In general, during the evolution of the Romanian language, the original Latin system of grammatical tenses was greatly simplified - in particular, the absence of a sequence of tenses was lost. Verbs, as in all Romance languages, vary in person, number, tense, mood and voice. The usual word order in a sentence is Subject-Predicate-Object.

The Romanian language lexicon contains many words of common Romance (Latin) origin. The degree of its lexical similarity with Italian is estimated at 77%, with French - at 75%, with Spanish - at 71%, with Portuguese - at 72%. The Romanian language has also experienced significant influence from Slavic languages, which can be traced not only at the lexical, but also at the phonetic, morphological and syntactic levels. Approximately 14% of words in the Romanian language are of Slavic origin. This is due to the migration of Slavic tribes that passed through the territory of what is now Romania during the initial period of language evolution.

The first mention of the Romanian language is found in a chronicle written in the 6th century and telling about a military campaign against the Avars. Its author, the Byzantine saint Theophan the Preacher, mentions how a mule driver accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that a load was falling from the back of one of the animals, and shouted to his comrade: Torna, torna fratre! (“Turn around, turn around, brother!”).

Most tourists who come to Romania are greatly impressed by this country. For some reason, many residents of Western Europe and the United States have a not very good opinion of Romania, but it changes in the opposite direction after they personally visit it. Indeed, one cannot remain indifferent to the beautiful Carpathian Mountains, to the unique ancient churches and castles, to the Romanian beach, thermal and ski resorts.

Geography of Romania

Romania is located at the crossroads of many European roads. In the west, Romania borders on Serbia and Hungary, in the northeast and east on Ukraine and Moldova, and in the south on Bulgaria. In the east, Romania is washed by the warm Black Sea. The total area of this country is 238,400 square kilometers, and the total length of the state border is 3,195 km.

The territory of Romania is geographically divided into three types of landscape: mountainous in the central part of the country (Carpathians), as well as hilly and flat (Pannonian and Wallachian plains). The country's highest peak is Mount Moldoveanu in the Southern Carpathians (2,5444 meters).

Several large rivers flow through Romania: the Danube, Prut, Siret, and Olt.

Capital

The capital of Romania is Bucharest, which is home to more than 1.7 million people. According to legend, a settlement on the site of modern Bucharest was built in 1368 by a shepherd named Bucur.

Official language

The official language in Romania is Romanian, which belongs to the Eastern Romance group of the Indo-European language family. In Transylvania, some cities and communes have Hungarian as their second official language.

Religion of Romania

About 87% of the Romanian population consider themselves Orthodox Christians belonging to the Greek Catholic Church. In addition, 5.2% of Romanians profess Protestantism, and another 5% profess Catholicism.

State structure

Romania, according to the 1991 Constitution, is a parliamentary republic. The president of the country is elected every 5 years.

The country's parliament is a bicameral National Assembly, consisting of the Senate (140 people) and the Chamber of Deputies (346 people).

Climate and weather in Romania

In Romania, the climate is intermediate between temperate and continental. In different regions of Romania, the climate differs quite significantly from each other. The average air temperature is +11.5C. The warmest months are July and August, when the air temperature rises to +30%, and the coldest is January (the average temperature is -6C). Winter in Romania is cold, with most snow falling in the mountains.

Sea in Romania

In the east, Romania, as we have already said, is washed by the waters of the Black Sea. The length of the Black Sea coast of Romania is 245 kilometers. The beach season lasts from May to September.

In July, the water temperature on the Black Sea coast in Romania is +16-20C, in July and August - +20-28C, and in September - about +20C.

Rivers and lakes

The Danube, the largest river in this country, flows from west to east along the border of Romania with Bulgaria. Other major Romanian rivers are the Prut, Siret, Arges, Olt, Timis, and Mures.

There are more than 3.5 thousand lakes in Romania. The largest Romanian lakes are located on the Black Sea coast (estuaries) - Razim and Sinoe. In the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvanian Alps there are several very beautiful glacial lakes - Zanoaga, Bucura, Capra, Caltun, and Podragu.

History of Romania

In 3000 B.C. Romania is inhabited by Thracian tribes of Indo-European origin.

In the 1st century BC. The Dacian state was created on the territory of Romania (as the Romans called the Thracians). By about 100 AD. The Dacian state reaches its peak. However, in 106 AD. The Romans still managed to defeat the Dacians, and Romania (Dacia) became one of the provinces of Ancient Rome.

In the 12th century, the Romanian lands were divided into three parts: the principalities of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia.

In the 16th-17th centuries, Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania retained their autonomy, but paid tribute to the Ottoman Empire. In the 18th century, Transylvania and part of the Romanian lands became part of the Austrian Empire.

The national state of Romania was formed in 1862, as a result of the unification of Wallachia and Moldova. Almost twenty years later, Romania becomes a Kingdom.

During the First World War, Romania fights on the side of Germany, thus planning to regain Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina. In 1918, this, in fact, happened. However, in 1940, the above-mentioned territories were given to the Soviet Union.

In 1941, the dictatorship of Marshal Ion Antonescu was established in Romania, and the country entered World War II on the side of Germany to regain Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina.

After World War II, Romanian King Mihai I abdicated the throne. Soon the Romanian People's Republic was proclaimed (this happened in 1947).

At the end of 1989, as a result of the revolution, the Communist Party of Romania was deprived of its power, and its leader Nicolae Ceausescu was executed.

In 1991, the new Constitution of Romania was approved. In 2004, Romania was admitted to the NATO military bloc, and in 2007 - to the EU.

Romanian culture

Romanian culture is very rich in traditions and folklore. Romanians are very hospitable and are always ready to tell ancient legends to inquisitive travelers. The main one, of course, is the legend about the terrible Count Dracula, who, as it turns out, had a real historical prototype of Count Vlad III Dracula.

Tourists in Romania can take part in folk festivities and festivals that date back to the early Middle Ages. Folk holidays are associated primarily with religious holidays: Easter and Christmas.

However, Easter and Christmas are also celebrated in other countries. However, Ignatov Day is unique to Romania.

On Ignatov Day, December 20, a sacrificial animal is offered to the gods - a pig. It is believed that this will help protect a person, for example, from diseases. Romanians should not work on Ignatov Day. However, those Romanians who still need to work on December 20 must first take part in the sacrifice. As a last resort, you can simply inject the chicken, even a few drops of blood will protect against disease.

Ethnographers claim that the sacrifice of a pig on Ignatus Day dates back to ancient times, when human lives were sacrificed to the gods.

During the period from December 20 to January 8, Romanian women do not spin, knit or sew, because... You can reduce the days of your life.

During Ignatus Day, pumpkin has special powers. For some reason, Romanians believe that pumpkin cures a person from various skin problems.

Kitchen

Pork is most often used in Romanian cuisine, although, of course, Romanians love chicken, beef, lamb and fish. But what makes Romanian cuisine so unique? The fact is that it was greatly influenced by the Turks, Hungarians, Poles, Austrians, Bulgarians, and Russians.

In rural Romania, people still use earthenware to cook food, and this gives it a unique taste.

For tourists in Romania who want to experience traditional Romanian cuisine, we do not recommend relying on the taste of dishes prepared in restaurants. Authentic Romanian dishes are prepared only at home. If you are visiting Romanians, ask them to cook some traditional Romanian dishes, and they will not refuse you.

Tourists in Romania are definitely advised to try mititei (beef or pork sausages, grilled or pan-fried), frigărui (pork or chicken grilled on a spit, like a kebab), and şniţel (pork fillet stuffed with cheese and ham). Another traditional Romanian dish is mamaliga, a corn porridge.

Traditional alcoholic drinks in Romania are fruit vodka - tsuica and palyanica, fruit brandy.

Sights of Romania

In addition to ski and beach resorts, Romania has a lot of different attractions. In our opinion, the top ten best attractions in Romania include the following:

Cities and resorts of Romania

The largest cities in Romania are Bucharest, Timisoara, Constanta, Iasi, and Galati.

There are several good ski resorts in the Romanian mountains - Sinaia, Poiana Brasov, Busteni, Azuga, Predeal, Vatra Dornei, and Borsa.

A large number of foreign tourists come to Romania every summer to relax at the local beach resorts. The most popular of them are Navodari, Mamaia, Constanta, Eforie Nord, Eforie Sud, Costinesti, Olympus, Neptune, Aurora, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mangalia.

Romania has a lot of mineral springs, and therefore this country has several excellent balneological resorts. At the moment, there are more than 70 balneological and thermal resorts in Romania. The most popular of them are Magnalia, Slanic Moldova, Vatra Dornei, and Sovata.

Souvenirs/shopping

Office hours

It is not one of the popular and in-demand languages of the world, but still many people have a need to study it. The reasons can be very different: moving to Romania for permanent residence, meeting Romanians, finding a job in this country, the desire to learn more about its culture, traditions, read books, watch films in the original, understand the meaning of your favorite songs, etc. Not What is important is what inspired you to learn a foreign language. The main thing is to be able to properly organize the educational process, so that over time the desire does not disappear and you do not want to give up what you started.

Where to start learning a language?

Many people are starting to buy various tutorials, textbooks, and audio courses, but this is the wrong approach. If there are many sources for learning a language, then it only confuses, the student does not know what to grab onto first, which literature is more effective, so very often it all ends there, and Romanian remains so. First of all, it is worth deciding on the motivation , understand why all this is being done. A specific goal will not allow you to abandon your studies during a crisis, when it seems that it is impossible to remember unfamiliar words or understand the meaning of sentences. Therefore, at the very beginning, you should decide for yourself why knowledge of the Romanian language is necessary, and whether it will be useful in the future. You should also decide on the method of training. Some people can educate themselves, while others do not have perseverance and patience, so they need a tutor who will draw up a lesson schedule and check their progress. Here you need to build on your personal wishes and capabilities.

Self-study of Romanian language

Those who are used to freely managing their time, do not tolerate any boundaries or restrictions, and also have patience and perseverance, can try to study alone. The Romanian language is not too complex, but not simple either, it is unique. Therefore, when studying it, certain difficulties arise. You need to purchase a good tutorial; an audio course won’t hurt, because you need to get used to live speech. A dictionary is a student’s main assistant, and today there is a lot of material on the Internet devoted to the grammar of a foreign language. Such information can be found in the public domain; you don’t have to pay money for it.

Many people note that it is very beneficial to learn the Romanian language on your own. A self-instruction book, a grammar book, an audio course, a dictionary - that's all you need to spend money on. Of course, this method of learning requires perseverance and focus, because it can be so difficult to control yourself and stay on schedule. Any language requires constant repetition, so you need to study little by little, but every day. If such a schedule is not possible, then it is necessary to allocate at least 4 hours a week.

Tutor's help

When do you need a personal teacher? If it’s hard to force yourself to take up the textbook every time, or you can’t keep up with the schedule, then you should find a tutor. You will master Romanian grammar much faster under the guidance of an experienced teacher. In addition, it will help get rid of the accent and solve individual problems that arise during the learning process. This is a rather expensive way to learn a language, but it is the most effective. Therefore, people who need to learn Romanian in the shortest possible time should find themselves an experienced tutor.

Should I sign up for language courses?

There is a category of people who do not want to work alone; it is easier for them to absorb information in the company of like-minded people. Language courses have been created especially for them. They are available in almost every city; you just need to sign up for a group and attend classes regularly. It is best to learn Romanian for beginners under the guidance of a teacher who will coordinate, guide, and motivate. In addition, it is very difficult to start speaking Romanian on your own. Therefore, if you have the opportunity to allocate free time, then it is best to enroll in language courses and there, together with like-minded people, learn the basics, learn grammar, words, and get acquainted with the culture and traditions of Romania.

Internet help

You should never limit yourself in your possibilities. Today the Internet offers a wide variety of methods. There are special programs that allow you to quickly learn unfamiliar words, and various paid and free courses are offered. In addition, you can watch films, videos in Romanian, listen to songs, read and translate books. It is also worth registering on the forum, where the same people learn the Romanian language, communicate with each other, encourage, and help you take your first steps.

Don't be embarrassed about your accent. If you only engage in reading, translating, and doing exercises, then things will not get off the ground. To understand spoken language, you need to listen to a native speaker speak. For this purpose, you can download movies with subtitles, watch videos, listen to songs, audio recordings. To speak, you should repeat words, phrases, and sentences after the speaker. No matter what turns out clumsily, over time it will turn out better and better. After all, when a child learns to speak, he also does not pronounce all the letters. It is important to work in all areas - writing, reading, and then the result will not be long in coming.

Communication with native speakers

Many people believe that in order to learn Romanian, you need to go to Romania. Indeed, if everyone around you speaks a foreign language, then learning it happens many times faster. However, it is necessary to have at least a small vocabulary and know basic grammatical rules, otherwise a person will have the feeling that he is deaf and dumb. You don’t have to go anywhere to improve your Romanian language. You can meet Romanians and communicate via Skype. At the initial stages, correspondence by e-mail is also suitable, but we still must not forget about communication.

Is it possible to learn a language in six months?

There are authors of tutorials and audio courses who promise to learn the Romanian language in just a month (some enthusiasts even in a week). Words (the required minimum), some grammatical rules can be mastered in such a period of time, but speaking fully and understanding the speech of the interlocutor is not. By devoting 4 hours a week to the Romanian language, you can get an impressive result in six months. However, this is only provided that classes are conducted regularly. You need to develop yourself comprehensively and apply different learning tactics. Today you can only do the exercise and read, plan to watch a movie tomorrow, and communicate with native speakers the day after tomorrow. With this approach, studying will not get boring, and you will also be able to learn grammar, expand your vocabulary, learn to understand spoken language and speak independently.

Official language of Romania

The official language of Romania is Romanian or, as the locals say, limba rom?n?. It belongs to the Romance languages and is closest to Latin of all the modern languages of the world. Also in some areas of Romania, the Aromanian language is spoken, the position of which is controversial, since some linguists consider it a separate language, while others assign it the role of a dialect of the Romanian language. Although in Macedonia it is included in the list of official languages.

The Romanian language is heavily influenced by Slavic, German and Hungarian languages. Thus, a tenth of the Romanian vocabulary is of Slavic origin, and at least 5% of words come from Hungarian, Turkish or German.

On the Danube you can hear Russian or Ukrainian speech. In general, French has become the most popular non-state language in the country; it is compulsory to study at school and is the second most common in Romania.

As a rule, local residents with higher education speak spoken French, German, Italian, Spanish or Russian. But you shouldn’t count on being able to communicate in any language other than Romanian in rural areas or away from the main tourist routes.