Let’s say you are in a situation where, for various reasons, you have to – or it would simply help – to learn Romanian. Either you want to do this to communicate easier and faster with your employees or maybe even with your new employers, or you want to come to study here, or maybe you are already in Romania and you think it’s time to learn to speak the language of the people here, you have to start somewhere.
Where do I start learning Romanian?
Well, in any case, we have good news for you. You already know enough words in Romanian. With some dose of optimism, we can say that you probably know more than 100 words. It is true that these words are from different fields and, although some are from the same semantic areas, not all of them are related to each other so you will not already be able to formulate whole sentences or have independent conversations with these words. But don’t be sad. For this there are online Romanian language courses on this site, where an experienced teacher will help you as soon as possible to have your first discussions in this language.
Now, going back to what we were saying, you probably already know a few words in Romanian.
Romanian words you already know
In addition to the words borrowed from English to Romanian over time, you should know that there is a constant process in progress that consists in taking new words directly from English. These are first of all words that have been assimilated and adapted so that the pronunciation in Romanian has already followed the specific phonetic laws over time. Their pronunciation is a little different, but it will be very easy to recognize their meaning. Then there are the very recently borrowed words, which are usually used in different fields and types of conversation (colloquial – informal or specialized) and which you will instantly recognize because they are generally pronounced by Romanian speakers exactly as they are pronounced in English. The first category of words falls into the category of neologisms, i.e. those words that have recently entered the vocabulary of a language, being adapted to the phonetic laws and grammar of that language. The second category of words is called in Romanian “xenisms”, from the Greek “ξένος”, which means foreign. The term refers precisely to words that are still “foreign”, often used in an inappropriate way, and did not have time to be assimilated into vocabulary.
Let’s find some examples of such words:
- start
- fotbal
- cash
- business
- discount
- motel
- computer
- radar
- job
- ok
- target
- software
- jackpot
With the exception of the word “fotbal”, which has a different pronunciation, all the others are pronounced the same and mean the same thing.
“Job” has come to be used so frequently that it can already be considered part of the Romanian language. “Mă duc la muncă (I’m going to work)” was replaced by “Mă duc la job.”
“Office” falls into the same category as “job”. We often hear it from young people working in corporations and beyond. Literally, “office” means a room, hall, room where there is one or more desks, where employees of a company work and comes from the Latin “officium”.
“OK” is perhaps the most used word even by people who have not studied English. It is among the first borrowed words and not only the Romanian language “embraced” it, but most of the languages in the world. It is very versatile and can be used as a noun, adjective, adverb, interjection, etc. What does “ok” actually mean? It is a word that denotes acceptance, approval, but also indifference.
As you can see, although Romanian is a language with an extremely rich vocabulary compared to other languages, it still borrows foreign words. All the films, commercials and books based on English, one of the most spoken in the world, had a great influence.
In fact, at the end of 2021, the Romanian Academy officially updated the volume containing the standardized words in Romanian with approximately 3600 new words. Some of these are also words from English, such as:
- Selfie
- Weekend
- Barter
- Staff
- Afterschool
- take away
- all-inclusive
- breaking news
It should also be noted that the large-scale phenomena affecting society at global level also contribute to this type of language borrowing. For example, in the volume mentioned above, a large number of words from the medical are mentioned as new words, which is in fact all the terminology related to the coronavirus and the epidemic we are facing.
What do I need to learn Romanian?
Now that we have already learned some words that you already know in Romanian (here you can also find an article with other such words ) we return to what we said at the beginning of the article and your need or desire to learn Romanian. And if you ask yourself the question:
“Okay, I found out I already know a few words, what are the next steps?”
You should know that the answer is not complicated at all. As in the case of any other language you want to study, you have countless possibilities at hand and options that all seem attractive. From books that promise to teach you “without a teacher” to established apps for mobile phones or all sorts of methods that promise more or less. But what all the great traditional platforms for language learning confirm is that there is no better way than to work with a dedicated teacher. Whether you are enrolling in an online class as a group, along with other colleagues, or opting for one-on-one sessions with the teacher, this is the method that provides you with all the necessary means to advance from the very beginning, fast and sustainable.
One such platform is the one you are currently on, www.romanianonline.com, so if you want to start studying the Romanian language, you are a click away from the best online Romanian language courses.