Is the Romanian language difficult?

Romanian language for someone who never got in touch with any Romance language before, may seem a little bit difficult to understand and a little bit scary when it’s first listened to. Even for the people who are familiar with the other four Latin languages (French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese), Romanian can be a little bit more difficult to understand. 

 The reason why Romanian is unique among the other four is because of its close contact with other languages, mostly with the Slavic language, which influenced a big part of the Romanian vocabulary and pronunciation.

Also, the Old Church Slavonic influenced the language because it was the administrative language (until the 16th C) and the Liturgical Language (until the 17th C). 

 Another thing that may seem difficult about Romanian it’s the way you write in this language. It is known that until the 19th C, the Cyrillic script was used to write Romanian. In nowadays, the standard written language is far easier to understand and to learn, the alphabet being familiar for many people, while the only things that may bring confusion in the process of learning being the so-called “diacritice” (diacritics): î,ă,â,ș,ț.

These diacritics represent a big reason why people give up on learning Romanian. This is a shame because they are easy to understand and to learn, being a little bit more complex than the diacritics present in French or Italian. 

 Although the Slavic influence can be noticed even in modern times, in the 1800s Romanian linguistics made an effort to replace the non-Romance words with words and phrases from Latin, Italian, and mostly from French.

This is why a lot of people who are familiar with the other Latin languages may be surprised when they look into the Romanian vocabulary and realize that they know the meaning of a lot of words and phrases. So, if you hear about the Slavic influence in the Romanian language, don’t be scared and don’t give up on learning it. 

When it comes to the grammar rules of Romanian, many things are similar to the other Latin languages, while many things are very different and somehow unique. For example, when it comes to the word order, Romanian doesn’t have stand-alone prepositions or definite articles.

Also, Romanian is the one language that has case declensions (3), just like Latin did. When it comes to some details of the grammar, the Slavic influence can still be seen, even today. These particular details make Romanian grammar a little bit harder to understand, compared with French or Italian grammar. 

 Along with the grammar, the pronunciation of words can be a little bit difficult to master at first, mainly because it differs a lot from the usual Latin pronunciation. But we promise you will have a bit of a hard time only at the beginning. After you get used to the Romanian language and all of its unique and beautiful aspects, you will fall in love with it.

Read more about How does Romanian sound to foreigners?

And, if you have issues in the process of learning this beautiful language, our teacher can help you with this. You will see that, soon enough, you will rediscover the curiosity and the enthusiasm from the beginning.