Why Romanian Is Worth Discovering
Although Romania is surrounded by Slavic-speaking countries, Romanian itself is a Romance language, closely related to Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Only about 10% of its vocabulary has Slavic roots, with additional influences from Turkish, German, and Bulgarian.
Romanian is also the official language of the Republic of Moldova. Historically, this territory (Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina) was part of Romania until it became part of the Soviet Union in 1940. Moldova gained independence in 1991, but Romanian remains its national language.
Today, Romanian is spoken by about 24 million native speakers and another 4 million as a second language.
Easy to Read, Easy to Speak
Romanian is a phonetic language: words are pronounced exactly as they’re spelled. The alphabet uses five special letters:
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ș (sh) and ț (ts) – consonants
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ă (like the “a” in sofa)
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â and î (similar to the last syllable in modern)
It also has a dialect called Aromanian, spoken in parts of the Balkans.
A Latin Legacy
The name Romania and the word Romanian come from Latin Romanus – “citizen of the Roman Empire.” Sharing roots with Rome itself, Romanian may feel familiar if you already know Italian or another Romance language.
Interestingly, between the 10th and 12th centuries, Romanian was written in the Slavic alphabet before switching back to Latin. The oldest surviving Romanian text is a letter from 1521.
Fun Facts
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Very few Romanian words made it into English, but one is hora, a traditional circle dance from the Balkans.
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Romania is home to over 100,000 foreigners, and interest in studying the language is growing.
Why not give Romanian a try? It’s phonetic, logical, and opens the door to exploring a rich culture and history.
🌐 Learn more: Interesting Facts About Romania
