As you all know, I’ve been trying to learn the Romanian language. Just some little tidbits about the Romanian language.
- is a Romantic language
- around 24 million people speak Romanian, as well as 4 million speak it as a 2nd language (this will be me! )
- Romanian is spoken in Israel….Interesting, huh? About 5% of the population speaks Romanian.
- Many Middle Easterner study in Romania, so Romanian becomes a second language for them.
- Romanian belongs to the Italian branch in the Romance languages.
- Some Romanian words are the same in Spanish.
Alright, so now since you know a little bit of the history/facts about the Romanian language, let’s learn some Romanian words!
Let’s start with the basics.
English. “Romanian.” Pronunciation
- Yes-“Da”. D-ah. No-“nu”. new
- Hello: “Salut.” Saw-luh-t Where I’m at in Romania, many people say “Buna.” Boon-uh.
- Good day. “Buna ziua.” Boon-uh Z-wah. Good morning. “Buna dimineata.” (Sometimes the t makes the ts sound). Boon-uh dim-E-knot-saw. Good evening. “Buna seara.” Boon-uh saw-rah and good evening. “Noapta Buna.” Naw-p-ta boon-uh
- Within The Church people greet each other with “Pace.” Pace means peace. The way you would say this is paw-che.
- Good bye-“Pa”. Paw. See you later. “La revedere.” La riv-i-dare-E.
- My name is Rachel. “Ma numesc Rachel.” Ma new-mea-sc Rachel. What’s your name? “Cum te cheama?” Coo-m tay key-ah-ma?
- I am 26 years old. “Sunt 26 ani.” Sue-nt dougha zaych she sha-say on-I. (Mouthful, huh). How old are you? “Cat ani?” Coo-ts on-I.
- How are you? “Ce faci?” Che faw-ch.
- How much is this? “Cat costa?” Cuh-t coast-a.
- Thank you. “Multemesc”. Mults-a-mess-k. You’re welcome. “Cu placere.” Coo plaw-cherry.
- I don’t understand…Romanian. “Nu inteleg….Romaneste.” New in-sa-leg ro-mu-nesh-te
Hopefully this helps you understand a little bit more about Romanian. Yes, these are the very basics, but if you were to come to Romanian, you could get the very basics of the langauge 🙂 Hopefully you enjoy this!
I always have trouble with Thank You! (multemesc)
Rachel, it’s really fun to hear you giving yourself to this calling. I visited France with my wife (who speaks fluently), and the phrases you mentioned above were about all I knew. Still, I could tell it meant a lot to the French people that I even tried that much. I just read Acts 21-23, when Paul speaks in Aramaic to his own people. They all listened more carefully when he spoke their language. Keep pressing on.
Glenn, you’ll eventually get it! You’re over here enough!
Dan,
Wow, thank you for the encouragement! It has been in my heart for so long to understand the Romanian language. It helps to have a translator, but as you have said, people don’t respond the same way. I want to be able to fully communicate what God is asking me to speak, so thank you for sharing this with me! It is so powerful and encouraging and definitely is helping me press in all the more!