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Live and Learn Romanian
Home>>Language Index>RomanianAudio Lessons Software Translation Dictionaries Exercise Books Flashcards Video & Media Learn Online Language Immersion Culture Corner You'll find all the tools you need to learn Romanian right here on this page. Recommendations on the best audio lessons, language learning software, dictionaries, exercise books and a huge amount of free online resources to help you learn this beautiful romance language. Did you know? The Romani people (or Roma) do not speak Romanian, as one would think. These people, often referred to as Gypsies, speak Romany - a language with similarities to Panjabi and Sinhalese. Useful phrases "Ce faci?" ( pronounched cheh FAHTCH) (How are you?) "Mulţumesc, bine." (pronounced mool-tzu-MESK BEE-nay) (I'm fine, thanks) "Cum vă numiţi? (coom vuh noo-MEETZ) (polite) (What's your name?) "Numele meu e Bill." (NOO-meh-leh MEH-oo yeh Bill.) (My name is Bill) "Îmi pare bine" (OOHM pah-reh BEE-neh) (Nice to meet you.) "La revedere" (lah reh-veh-DEH-reh) (Goodbye) "Pe curând" ("peh cur-OOHND") (See you later) Language SynopsisHere is one of the beautiful “romance” languages (grouped along with French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, to name a few) as it descends from Latin. It is spoken mainly in Romania and Moldova. However, with an influx of many immigrants all over Europe, you never can tell where skills in this language might come in handy! Here you can see the areas of the world where the language may be found to be spoken:
And here you can see the alphabet with some tips on how to pronounce the letters. We hope you find this guide useful!
Romanian Audio LessonsPimsleur provides one of the best ways to quickly become conversational any language. They offer three comprehensive courses which will speedily teach you needed vocabulary, sentence structure and accurate pronunciation. Pimsleur lessons use innovative teaching methods based on years of research by the renound Dr Pimsleur. The lesson structure ensures that you retain the words/phrases learnt and that you learn to immitate the sounds of the language well. Each lesson is 30 minutes long and thoroughly enjoyable and practical for everyday situations.
The only LEGAL way we've to get access to FREE Pimsleur lessons, is to borrow them from the local library, if they have them. Internet freebies: We've found some poetry reading which is available in audio format, on this website. Look along the left-hand side for the Audio selection and click on your desired poet to access their works and the audio options. And here are some audio clips for a few common phrases. Language Learning Software
Internet freebies: BYKI provide an excellent free downloadable software course which is really useful for beginners of the Romanian.
English-Romanian DictionariesThe Berlitz: Phrase Book & dictionary And here is a dictionary is a veritable mine of English proverbs with their Romanian equivalents. Over 1400 proverbs! It's called A Dictionary of English and Romanian Equivalent Proverbs Internet freebies: Translate from English using the following free online dictionary:
Exercise BooksRomanian Made Nice & Easy (REA) (Languages Made Nice & Easy) Internet freebies: For in-depth help with grammar we really recommend this site.
Language FlashcardsLingvoSoft FlashCards software Internet freebies: We are happy to offer free flashcards in any language, please see our Flash Cards page for more information.
Video & MediaInternet freebies: Here's a cute short comedy in English and Romanian and with subtitles:
And here are 4 whole minutes of every fruit and vegetable that you could possibly imagine... useful supposedly if you are living in Romania and need to buy these items in a market?
Learning Live OnlineInternet freebies: Here are two websites enabling you to learn Romanian live on the web, through communal interaction: My Language Exchange, and Yahoo Romanian Group Learning.
Surrounding yourself with Romanian words and sounds and music will be the very best way to learn, trust us. We are looking into courses abroad at the moment, and will soon be able to recommend one or two. Until then, feel free to do your best to immerse yourself where you live, using the following suggestions… for example, use a dictionary to print words like “table”, "door", "window", "kettle", "bed", "chair", "mirror" etc and stick them onto those items around the house. Over time these words will automatically become part of your vocabulary, without even trying to memorize them! You could also in time join some verbs, like eat, open/close, wash, boil, sleep, sit, look, etc so as to associate them with the objects. Try it! Internet freebies: Immerse yourself right away by... ~Listening to the radio abit each day and tune in your ears! ~Keeping up with the news each day! ~Looking up the weather each day! This site is great because it doesn’t just show the weather in pictures, but in words too, with a daily, everchanging, forecast. ~Keeping up with Romanian media! ~Using www.Google.ro instead of Google in English… and choose the “pagini din România” search option so that the majority of search results will be in Romanian... OR use Google’s translation tools to turn English pages that you’re familiar with into Romanian, and get to know the word equivalents that way. ~Listening to Romanian music and look for the lyrics to your favorite songs! For example: Here is a song sung by Andra called Vis de Iarna and you'll find the lyrics in this little drop down box.
A nins... sau nu... acasa, pe la noi
Eu stiu ce mult ma asteptati si voi
As vrea sa stam la gura sobei iar
Sa-mi dati un vis si-o poveste-n dar
In buzunar cadoul vi-l pastrez Cand voi veni sub brad sa vi-l asez Si parca simt parfum de cozonaci Va vad zambind langa toti cei dragi Si visez acasa sa ajung Dar pan` la noi drumul este lung Si stau in tren si imi imaginez Ca sunt cu voi si visez, visez.. Si va colind, si va colind in gand Cu orice pas tot mai aproape sunt Mai e putin si-n brate-am sa va strang Voi sunteti tot ce-am mai bun, mai sfant Si visez acasa sa ajung Dar pan` la noi drumul este lung Si stau in tren si imi imaginez Ca sunt cu voi si visez, visez.. Si va colind si va colind in gand Cu orice pas tot mai aproape sunt Mai e putin si-n barate-am sa va strang Voi sunteti tot ce-am mai bun, mai sfant Voi sunteti tot ce-am mai bun, maď sfant
Culture CornerNational Dishes and recipes: National dishes include Sarmale, Mamaliga (cornmeal mush) and Mici (hand formed sausages of mixed lamb, pork and beef - grilled). Soups are common aswell. Wine is the national drink of Romania. Iasi is one of the most widely known wine regions. Taste of Romania: Its Cookery and Glimpses of Its History, Folklore, Art, Literature, and Poetry Folk Music:
To be honest alot of the Romanian folk music we've listened to has been pretty harsh on our western ears, but happily we have a favorite group that we can recommend, called Fanfare Ciocarlia. They have more than one album out but a bearable folk one is Baro Biao Check out these other more classical Romanian pieces, very gentle on the ears! 
Photos kindly provided by Catalin Nenciu
Help Others Live & LearnHave you had the experience of learning Romanian? If so we'd love to hear which resources helped you on your way. Did you use audio lessons? Which dictionary did you find useful? What about language learning software? Please e-mail us your suggestions using the form below. By sharing our language learning experiences we can save eachother time and money. In fact that is the mission of Live and Learn Languages!
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is an excellent peice of software providing learning tools for exactly that - 102 languages! It is quite affordable too, so it rates highly with us!
seems to have the very best reviews! You might want to check out your library of course, because if it's available there that would save you some pennies. But we really do think this book is the best for value.
by Teodor Flonta. There seems to be an endless amount of supposedly free, online links to the contents of this book, but we cannot find a working link. If anyone else out there does, please share it with us and other language learners!
is highly reviewed by users on Amazon as just what it claims to be, "nice and easy"! It seems to make pronunciation for beginners alot easier by using English letters and rules of pronunciation to show how Romanian is pronounced.
is a great program using four different flashcard games (among other things) to teach Romanian words. You can upload the program to your handheld and learn on the go - waiting for a bus, or on a coffee break for example. This is a great way to keep yourself "immersed"... see the bottom of the page for more ideas on that!
(New Hippocrene Original Cookbooks) is not just a highly reviewed (4&5 stars) cookbook but is also littered with Romanian stories, poems and bits of cultural interest, making it a great read! Look inside the book for free, on Amazon!
and a more mellow almost jazzy one is 
. You wouldn't have to buy the whole albums either, just the mp3s you like. Or you could even just to listen to the sound clips to get a feel for it. The next Romanian you meet will be very impressed when you say that you've heard and like the music of Fanfare Ciocarlia!
