How does the Romanian language sound to you?

[Sikeliot]

To me it sounds like a mixture of Spanish, Italian, and something Slavic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzGlfRfhvhA&feature=player_embedded

[Ibericus]

mix of Catalan, Italian and slavic

[Raikaswinþs]

Catalan/Spanish + Bulgarian with a dash of Italian

[Allenson]

Yeah, Spanish or Italian with a Slavic/eastern European accent.

No problems. ;)

[Turkophagos]

Latin spoken with a slavic accent. For some reason, sometimes portuguese sound like having a similar slavic accent to me.

[Lahtari]

Been there many times. I really cannot pinpoint the sound of the language. The structure is of course clearly Romance, but there's some sinister, ingenious Dracula accent innit (:D), with some Slavic sounding pronounciation. But then again, some Italians when they speak English also have this accent that sounds somewhat "Slavic" or Eastern European to me. :confused:

Oh wait, but the plum moonshine is excellent. :D

[Eliades]

Sexy. haha

But, I do think it sounds like a mix imo of Italian, Spanish and some Slavic pronuciation.

[Comte Arnau]

Catalan + Italian + Polish

[Zephyr]

Italian language's long lost brother.

[Sicilianu101]

Dacians trying to speak Latin :lol:

[AntonyCapolongo]

Catalan, Italian, French, maybe a little bit Slavic.

[Nurzat]

depends on the dialect

moldavian - manly, logical pronouncing, heavy russian influence
transylvanian - gay, they make vowels long as in italian and put emphasis
banat - UEBERGAY
maramures - funny, a bit gay
oltenian - dark tanned balkanoids speaking an irritating dialect
bucharest - bad grammar, awful sounds, lower classes speak awfully bad romanian

moldavians should retake their slavic past and language

[Sabinae]

depends on the dialect

moldavian - manly, logical pronouncing, heavy russian influence
transylvanian - gay, they make vowels long as in italian and put emphasis
banat - UEBERGAY
maramures - funny, a bit gay
oltenian - dark tanned balkanoids speaking an irritating dialect
bucharest - bad grammar, awful sounds, lower classes speak awfully bad romanian

moldavians should retake their slavic past and language

You didnt travel much around Romania, did you?
:)

[The Ripper]

I remember hearing this song for the first time on the radio.

k5NavOeOPIk

I became interested by the language, because I couldn't quite pin point it. I thought it sounded like a "strange Italian". After the song they said on the radio that it was Romanian. I then deduced "They must speak a latin language in Romania!" And I had to check it out on wikipedia immediately. :D

[Nurzat]

You didnt travel much around Romania, did you?
:)

i quite did. and to a slavic speaker or at least moldavian speaker, romanian outside moldova sounds feminine and very latin-like, and close to italian

and i was amazed by the bad grammar and funny pronouncing of the southern romanians, like "ei mi-a zis să vin", "dă-mi sticla du pă masă", "ce face fetele", or like "papuci" for "şlapii de plajă" etc

a lot of differences. not to mention that 25 to 35% of the moldavian dialect is composed of slavic words

it's funny the imperialism of you southerners. if one is for the regional identity and heritage, you label him as anti-romanian. you don't have to dislike southerners to care for your region

i don't want moldova out of romania because of the south, but because it would be the natural thing. the same way as i wouldn't want moldova to be part of great britain or france or germany or whatever

and even if moldova would split from romania, i'm sure it would be romania's best neighbour and the population and cultural flow would continue in between ;)

[Amapola]

It sounds to me like a mix of italian and "a slavic language"

Pula mea!! :embarrassed :D

[Sabinae]

It sounds to me like a mix of italian and "a slavic language"

Pula mea!! :embarrassed :D
OMFG!!! :lmao :lmao :lmao
Fresa...Ive never laughed as much in my entire life!
Don't you ever go saying that around! Its crazy!
:rofl:
I hope you know what it means...

[Nurzat]

*edited*

you're unworthy of hearing the sacred moldavian dialect

[Sabinae]

i quite did. and to a slavic speaker or at least moldavian speaker, romanian outside moldova sounds feminine and very latin-like, and close to italian

and i was amazed by the bad grammar and funny pronouncing of the southern romanians, like "ei mi-a zis să vin", "dă-mi sticla du pă masă", "ce face fetele", or like "papuci" for "şlapii de plajă" etc

a lot of differences. not to mention that 25 to 35% of the moldavian dialect is composed of slavic words

it's funny the imperialism of you southerners. if one is for the regional identity and heritage, you label him as anti-romanian. you don't have to dislike southerners to care for your region

i don't want moldova out of romania because of the south, but because it would be the natural thing. the same way as i wouldn't want moldova to be part of great britain or france or germany or whatever

and even if moldova would split from romania, i'm sure it would be romania's best neighbour and the population and cultural flow would continue in between ;)

Trivial examples...and you are mixing things.

I know Moldavians that adjusted fine to the speech of southern Romanians.
:) And I would very much like to refrain from criticizing their grammar. ;)

I was not and never will be against regional identity. What's that have to do with the country's boundaries?

Romanian language is latin-like of course... if it sounds feminine to your ears, then it can only be... perfect for poetry. :thumb001:

In your vocal examples, you specifically choose low class, uneducated people to speak the "southern dialect". Thats not fair play. And its not the accent nor manner of speech that most people in the south have. Either that... or you've been walking around only in terrible parts of...the "south".

[Nurzat]

*edited*

you're unworthy of hearing the voice of GOD

[Ouistreham]

this is a bit longer, in standard romanian. enjoy! (http://vocaroo.com/?media=vEQTOLK670yuY3Ho2)

Yep. It really sounds like some Russian trying to speak Italian!

Strangely, Portuguese has even more typical Slavic intonations than Romanian. But when a Portuguese speaks another language than his own it sounds distinctively Mediterranean, Latin, Iberian.

On the other hand, a Romanian speaking French or English sounds unmistakeably communist, Iron Curtain, Comecon, Warsaw Pact, Trabant, five-year plan etc.

BTW both Portugueses and Romanians are rather good at speaking foreign languages.

[Nurzat]

it is just the standard language... here is a bit of moldavian dialect (http://vocaroo.com/?media=vUw1A2wK0HlFuXU9r)

[Cymel]

It sounds very bad.

[Ouistreham]

it is just the standard language... here is a bit of moldavian dialect (http://vocaroo.com/?media=vUw1A2wK0HlFuXU9r)

Wow. Now it sounds like Portuguese saturated with Ukrainian overtones, both ends of Europe joining together...

(Maybe is it related in some way to the unexpectedly strong appeal Portugal has for the Ukrainians?)

[Matilda]

o45Af2KPycQ

[Lithium]

It sounds like Slavs who are trying to speak a Romance language :D

[Cymel]

o45Af2KPycQ

It sounds like Russian, though I know it's a neo-latin language.
When people speak seem ungry.

[Guapo]

Dacians were brutally forced to speak Latin by the Roman conquerors afaik. Speak it or die.

[Matilda]

I don't really like moldavian. Maybe because I'm not used to it.
I like how young people from Timisoara speak :)

[Nurzat]

I don't really like moldavian. Maybe because I'm not used to it.
I like how young people from Timisoara speak :)

well except moldavian, all the other romanian dialects sound gay and slow. we speak fast and have a very logical pronouncing with sounds simplified (as american does to english language) while romanian is slow and takes double to say the same thing with the same number of syllables. not to mention the bad grammar of the southerners and the funny/gayish emphasis of the westerners (transylvania, maramures, banat)

also, moldavian is the direct descendant of the maramures dialect but has been on its own since the 14th century, heavily influenced by ukrainian and then russian

in my dad's village if they speak romanian they have a maramures-like accent and i can switch to that :) but i prefer the moldavian one because is more radical and perceived as cool by the hipster girls

[Matilda]

Hearing moldavian is like hearing some old women whining.

[Guapo]

Hearing moldavian is like hearing some old women whining.

then all women sound like they're speaking Moldovan.

[Nurzat]

Hearing moldavian is like hearing some old women whining.

:D you romanians just envy us because we don't have gypsies in our region, while you have lots of. plus we're much lighter on average and scored a few points above you on regional iq tests :) but it's ok, i won't mind for what an inferior will say. the masses do what the masses do

[Matilda]

then all women sound like they're speaking Moldovan.

old women

[Sabinae]

well except moldavian, all the other romanian dialects sound gay and slow. we speak fast and have a very logical pronouncing with sounds simplified (as american does to english language) while romanian is slow and takes double to say the same thing with the same number of syllables. not to mention the bad grammar of the southerners and the funny/gayish emphasis of the westerners (transylvania, maramures, banat)

also, moldavian is the direct descendant of the maramures dialect but has been on its own since the 14th century, heavily influenced by ukrainian and then russian

in my dad's village if they speak romanian they have a maramures-like accent and i can switch to that :) but i prefer the moldavian one because is more radical and perceived as cool by the hipster girls

:lmao
DUUUUDE :lmao

Alright alright....
Look :lmao :lmao
Im sorry, but there is such a density of logical arguments in here...that I can't even begin bothering myself to clear it all up :laugh:

[Nurzat]

i doubt any gypo would master moldavian for it is very difficult to learn it

[Talvi]

I like Romanian.
But i suppose its mostly because of: http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/img10/neguraband.jpg

[Matilda]

:D you romanians just envy us because we don't have gypsies in our region, while you have lots of. plus we're much lighter on average and scored a few points above you on regional iq tests :) but it's ok, i won't mind for what an inferior will say. the masses do what the masses do

I don't envy moldavians. I kinda don't care about Moldova.
If you think you're so different from other romanians you shoud be a separate country.
And Transilvania a separate country.. and so on.
It would be great!

[The Ripper]

:D you romanians just envy us because we don't have gypsies in our region, while you have lots of. plus we're much lighter on average and scored a few points above you on regional iq tests :) but it's ok, i won't mind for what an inferior will say. the masses do what the masses do

You, quite obviously, are an imbecile of immeasurable proportions.

[Mordid]

:D you romanians just envy us because we don't have gypsies in our region, while you have lots of. plus we're much lighter on average and scored a few points above you on regional iq tests :) but it's ok, i won't mind for what an inferior will say. the masses do what the masses do

Since when lighterness is superior ? :confused: Then, I suppose albinos are more superior than dark pigmented Europeans. :D You do look more Romanian than me, if remembering your picture. I mean, where did you see picture of me ? You know, the picture I posted are not me.

To me, Romanian language sounds like a combination of Italian, Spanish and Russian (Slavic).

[Nurzat]

mordid, you look like average transylvanian, with a hungarian vibe

[Sikeliot]

Can we stay on topic, please?

The general consensus seems that Romanian sounds like a mixture of Italian + something Slavic, with something Spanish too.

[Nurzat]

Can we stay on topic, please?

The general consensus seems that Romanian sounds like a mixture of Italian + something Slavic, with something Spanish too.

the consensus is that you should be banned for trolling italians and balkanics

[Sikeliot]

the consensus is that you should be banned for trolling italians and balkanics

The consensus is that you are crazy and should never have been unbanned in the first place.. whoops, did I just say that? ;)

Anyway this is my thread, I made it and you will not just troll and derail it.

[Nurzat]

The consensus is that you should shut the fuck up and should never have been unbanned in the first place.. whoops, did I just say that? ;)

the consensus is that you should be banned for longtime trolling italians and balkanics and continuing to do it. gotta be really frustrating being a portuguese, right? unsure on your europeanness

[Mordid]

the consensus is that you should be banned for longtime trolling italians and balkanics and continuing to do it. gotta be really frustrating being a portuguese, right? unsure on your europeanness
Nah, she shouldn't get banned because she does have any inferior complex like you.

[Nurzat]

Nah, she shouldn't get banned because she does have any inferior complex like you.

lol... i don't claim anything unreal, like you do, in order to look more european. you're the one claiming to be sort of east nordid when you look like typical west romanian... obviously not polish looking

[Sikeliot]

Atrox can you just leave this thread if you're not going to contribute anything constructive? I'm getting sick of it.

[Damião de Góis]

Interesting, i don't get anything she says but i'm able to pick up some words from time to time. But i don't understand it at the level that i understand spanish or italian, not by a long way.
Sounds like greek with a touch of italian to me.

[Nurzat]

Atrox can you just leave this thread if you're not going to contribute anything constructive? I'm getting sick of it.

we all got sick of your trolling and lies too, you know? maybe you should stop cherrypicking south italians and italian-looking levantines in opposition to cherrypicked brits, all that just to show how "celtic" and "superior" are iberians to the "levantine" italians

[Mordid]

lol... i don't claim anything unreal, like you do, in order to look more european. you're the one claiming to be sort of east nordid when you look like typical west romanian... obviously not polish looking

Why are we discussing my phenotype ? I dont understand what is your problem with ''look'' Romanian because you do look like it, and frankly, you aren't lighter. I was swarthy because of dark picture quality.

[Nurzat]

Why are we discussing my phenotype ? I dont understand what is your problem with ''look'' Romanian because you do look like it, and frankly, you aren't lighter. I was swarthy because of dark picture quality.

see? you care a lot :rolleyes:

[Sikeliot]

we all got sick of your trolling and lies too, you know? maybe you should stop cherrypicking south italians and italian-looking levantines in opposition to cherrypicked brits, all that just to show how "celtic" and "superior" are iberians to the "levantine" italians


That has nothing to do with the topic being discussed in this thread, and for the record, I don't do that and most of the people I post are very easily guessed as their proper ethnicity, so you can mind your damn business and shut the fuck up. I've only ever maintained that a minority of those ethnicities can pass for the other.

Anyway in response to the post above mine, I also think Greek in some ways resembles a Romance language phonetically, so I can hear a similarity to Romanian there too.

[Mordid]

see? you care a lot :rolleyes:
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110710203945/callofduty/images/3/3e/Troll_Face.png
Got problem ?

[Nurzat]

Anyway in response to the post above mine, I also think Greek in some ways resembles a Romance language phonetically, so I can hear a similarity to Romanian there too.

romanian is mainly an evolved vulgar latin - old slavic mix with later powerful turkic and ugric influences

latin and slavic for most vocabulary and grammar
turkic and ugric only in vocabulary

[Sturmgewehr]

like a Russian trying to speak Italian with a Slavic Accent

Romanian has also Many many similar/same words with Albanian, some of them due to the Latin component and some of them due to Thracian or Illyrian Component.

Many words like:

Romanian Albanian English

Cal Kal Horse

Groapa Gropa whole

pup puth kiss

gata gati ready

Spada Shpata sword


and so many others that I can't remember.

[Mordid]

:D you romanians just envy us because we don't have gypsies in our region, while you have lots of. plus we're much lighter on average and scored a few points above you on regional iq tests :) but it's ok, i won't mind for what an inferior will say. the masses do what the masses do

Atrox, just look at comment and realise how...http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_M2wtkUyj5jA/TCWEzk3T9OI/AAAAAAAAANs/gb1XoGwjNpc/s1600/pathetic.jpg
YOU ARE!

[Nurzat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKanphHHr0g

dedication :thumb001: take it easy, people

[Loki]

we all got sick of your trolling and lies too, you know? maybe you should stop cherrypicking south italians and italian-looking levantines in opposition to cherrypicked brits, all that just to show how "celtic" and "superior" are iberians to the "levantine" italians

Atrox, please stop trolling this thread.

[Sikeliot]

Back on topic - anyone have any good examples of Romanian music or television that we can hear and compare the language?

[Logan]

Atrox, please stop trolling this thread.


http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/1005/tranquilizer-darts-kids-children-sleeping-demotivational-poster-1273709872.jpg

[Matilda]

SwJsUy4MOAc

[Nurzat]

alternosfera - avion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU1W54CGyE4
voice starts at 1.10 and it's very clear

zdob shi zdub - mamaligamania
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fOQT_cRrp0

travka - sunt un erou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjqF8OlRNGE

all three bands are moldavian, from both moldovan republic and moldova region in romania, but sing in standard romanian

[Lurker]

ROmanian sounds weirdly familiar to me. Once, I was at a French hotel and I left the TV on while I showered. From time to time I'd hear something on the TV that sounded like Portuguese, that was clearly different from the French most of the movie's actors spoke. It was a movie about a Romanian immigrant in France returning to Romania, and the familiar parts were the Romanian speaking. I didn't understand what they said, it's just the entonations and the vowels that sound the same.

[Nurzat]

so now everybody knows romanian is a latin/romance language, not an indo-aryan one :) that's wonderful

[Damião de Góis]

the consensus is that you should be banned for longtime trolling italians and balkanics and continuing to do it. gotta be really frustrating being a portuguese, right? unsure on your europeanness

She is american, just like you... isn't that right? And i can assure you it isn't frustrating at al, i see it as a privilege to be from such a beautiful country with a very rich history. But you wouldn't know about that obviously.

[Sikeliot]

She is american, just like you... isn't that right?


Yes. American born and bred. :)

[Nurzat]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Romance_20c_fr.svg

[Daos]

Back on topic - anyone have any good examples of Romanian music or television that we can hear and compare the language?

You can find examples of speech in these threads: Discursuri politice (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30378) and Filme de arhivă (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17924) (mostly in the later films), of singing in these threads: Muzică românească (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17924) and Muzică folclorică (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15495), and a mix of both in the La Porțile Ceriului (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18526) thread.

You could also check my signature.:)

[Comte Arnau]

Can we stay on topic, please?

The general consensus seems that Romanian sounds like a mixture of Italian + something Slavic, with something Spanish too.

Something Spanish? Nah, but Portuguese or Catalan, definitely. Specially from a phonological POV.

Some words that are exactly the same in Catalan and Romanian: :)

foc fire
bou ox
cap head
nas nose
joc game
viu alive

Apparently there are about 300 words that are identical or extremely similar between Catalan and Romanian.

But when I said it sounded more Italian but should look more like French, at least lexically, is because, according to Hristea (1984), Romanian's three more important sources for vocabulary are:

- 38,42% words taken from French :eek:
- 20,02% Latin-derived words
- 7, 98% taken from Old Slavic

Apparently Romanian took cultisms from Latin but even more directly from French.

[Wölfin]

My grandmother and I always found it sounded Italian mixed with Russian. Beautiful language, Sabinae knows how much I love listening to it :)

[BeerBaron]

Sounds latin to me, I've only been there once though, and that was in Constanta on the sea, so thats the only dialect I heard, not that I would know the difference anyways. I can tell you two things about romania I learned while there, booze is cheap and women are hot.

[Daos]

But when I said it sounded more Italian but should look more like French, at least lexically, is because, according to Hristea (1984), Romanian's three more important sources for vocabulary are:

- 38,42% words taken from French :eek:
- 20,02% Latin-derived words
- 7, 98% taken from Old Slavic

Apparently Romanian took cultisms from Latin but even more directly from French.

That doesn't sound right...

Around 38% of the words are neologism from French and/or Italian, introduced in the 19th century, a total of 85% are of Latin origin and about 14% are of Slavic origin. But this is the case of standard Romanian, the dialects have a simpler lexis, but there are very few 19th century French/Italian imports. There are however more words from other languages, depending on the region.

[Dario Argento]

Sounds like a Romance modality spoken in East. Italian/Catalan with a Albanian-like substratum and some distant Slavic influences, with lots of archaic latin functions not found in West Romance. I can understand around 60% of it.

[Treffie]

One of my current favourite songs sung by Alexandra Stan. Just an excuse to play some good Romanian music :thumb001:

It's so f***king addictive!

lAhHNCfA7NI

[Comte Arnau]

That doesn't sound right...

Around 38% of the words are neologism from French and/or Italian, introduced in the 19th century, a total of 85% are of Latin origin and about 14% are of Slavic origin. But this is the case of standard Romanian, the dialects have a simpler lexis, but there are very few 19th century French/Italian imports. There are however more words from other languages, depending on the region.

I just took those data from a paper.

But let me say that I agree with you. Dunno if the 85% is true, but that little 20% didn't sound right to me either. I guess your numbers include the French 38% in the Latin origin percentage.

I believe more natural rough numbers would be: about 40% Latin-derived core vocabulary, about 40% Latin/French/Italian cultisms/neologisms, about 15% words of Slavic origin (whether Old Slavic or modern Slavic languages), and the remaining 5% coming from other languages (Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, German, English...)

Btw, this is a nice online dictionary (http://dexonline.ro/), as it mentions the etymology of most words.

[Daos]

Dunno if the 85% is true, but that little 20% didn't sound right to me either. I guess your numbers include the French 38% in the Latin origin percentage.

Of course they do, most Italian and French words we've adopted are derived from Latin.


I believe more natural rough numbers would be: about 40% Latin-derived core vocabulary, about 40% Latin/French/Italian cultisms/neologisms, about 15% words of Slavic origin (whether Old Slavic or modern Slavic languages), and the remaining 5% coming from other languages (Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, German, English...)

I don't know if it's entirely accurate, but take a look:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ro/2/2c/VocabularulReprezentativRom%C3%A2n%C4%83.png


Btw, this is a nice online dictionary (http://dexonline.ro/), as it mentions the etymology of most words.

Yes, it is, I use it all the time. I find it fascinating to discover the origin of words.:)

[Caeruleus]

Romanian

70 % Latin (Vulgar Latin, French, Italian)
15 % Slavic (Old Church Slavonic, modern slavic languages)
15 % Other (German, Hungarian, Turkish, Dacian)

Romanian has 4 dialects (Wallachian, Moldavian, Banat dialect and Transylvanian) ... now bear in mind that all these dialects are a part of romanian language and there aren't any big differences between them. People all over the country understand each other very well.

I posted a map of Greater Romania (1918-1940) with its historical provinces.

Wallachian is spoken in Wallachia, Oltenia (also known as little Wallachia) and Dobrogea (colletively known as Wallachia or Muntenia)
Moldavian is spoken in Moldova, Basarabia and Bucovina (collectively known as Moldova )
Banat dialect is spoken only in Banat (light green)
Transylvanian is spoken in Transilvania, Maramures and Crisana (collectively known as Transilvania)

People representing other latin nations tell me that romanian sounds rather harsh, rough. Slavic people on the other hand think that romanian is melodious and very italian like.

[billErobreren]

Sounds kinda like Catalan to me :dunno: quite pretty actually not as much as their women :p

[Laubach]

Sounds latin with slavic influences to me, but i can understand many prhases

[Caeruleus]

:)

[Foxy]

we all got sick of your trolling and lies too, you know? maybe you should stop cherrypicking south italians and italian-looking levantines in opposition to cherrypicked brits, all that just to show how "celtic" and "superior" are iberians to the "levantine" italians

So it wasn't just me to notice that. Anyway Atrox, don't waste your time this way. I am glad that you share my thought.
Coming back to the topic, Romanian to me sounds like Italian mixed with slavic and to foreigners it can sounds also a bit like Spanish becouse probably you hear, in Romanian, more -S than in Italian. That's becouse Romanian is the only neolatin language that conserves the declinations. Modern Italian words, from what I see, took the ablativ form from Latin (ablativ was the most used form probably) and abandoned the other forms.
An exemple:

Latin declinations and Italian corrispective:

NOMINATIV consule flumen
GENITIV consulis fluminis
DATIV consuli flumini
ACCUSATIV consulem flumem
VOCATIV consul flumen
ABLATIV consule flumine
ITA: console fiume

So Italian is more vocalic.

[Laubach]

German also has declination of latin origin. Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ and Genitiv, although it is not a Latin language

[Sikeliot]

To be honest I think Romanian sounds more "Latin" than Portuguese from Portugal does.

[Caeruleus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVz4X6V7gHk

singer: Ion Aldea Teodorovici (romanian) from Bessarabia. He's the big bloke with a mustache. The young woman is his wife Doina Aldea Teodorovici.
He died in 1992 when he was 38 years old in a car accident, some people say that he was killed.

I think that he is the best romanian singer ever.

[rareswega]

nWd8UcaSR84



UIrT24ss_Lw


hz76h2lyq-w

[Talvi]

Im currently in Romania so Im hearing a lot of it. Im not sure what to think of this language. It has not really left me an impression. It does not sound bad, but its not super good either... however I find it to be the best one out of the romance family.

[Han Cholo]

I like Romanian a lot.

[rareswega]

Im currently in Romania so Im hearing a lot of it. Im not sure what to think of this language. It has not really left me an impression. It does not sound bad, but its not super good either... however I find it to be the best one out of the romance family.

The language family : Indo-European -> Italic->Romance->Eastern Romance-> Romanian, Daco-Romanian .
Spoken by a majority in: Romania, Republic of Moldova, Transnistria (Disputed region).
Spoken by a majority in: Italy, Hungary, Israel, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine.

Official language in: Romania, Moldova, Vojvodina (Serbia).
(According to wikipedia) :)

[Archduke]

Romanian sounds like Bulgarian trying to speak italian.

[Mordid]

Romanian sounds like Italian trying to speak Russian.
Fixed.

[Rereg]

jRx5PrAlUdY

sounds funny.

[Vasconcelos]

For an ignorant like me sounds like an Italian with a wierd accent which makes some things completely uninteligible to my ears. It's still nice, but I can't make much sense out of it :p

[grufferator]

Hi. I'm from Moldova (Republic of :) ) and my native language is romanian with a moldavian dialect. I love my language, I love the way it sounds. For example this song: http://youtu.be/mHQwL5zj1m8. PURE POETRY, especially at the refrain. But, goddammit, I hate the way the average romanian speaks. I had a few guys from Bucharest at work for one year. They all laughed at our accent, saying we have bad grammar. But they are completly delusional thinking they have good grammar. The most annoying mistake they make is "dă-mi și mie o țigară".

When you ask your friend for a cigar you say: "give me one cigar, please", they say "give me one cigar too, please", even if you are not smoking at that moment.

They want to borrow 5 dollars from you. They don't say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks?", they say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks too", as if you already borrowed money to someone else a few seconds ago.

You tell someonea story: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole". They do it like this: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer too and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole".

Romanians, please stop making this retarded mistake.

[Sikeliot]

Romanian sounds like Italian with a Slavic touch.

[johngaunt]

Sounds like Italian spoken by a Slav!

[grufferator]

What about the moldavian dialect?

http://youtu.be/yCpgIs6zYbk

[Methmatician]

Like broken Slavic.

[Piper]

Hi. I'm from Moldova (Republic of :) ) and my native language is romanian with a moldavian dialect. I love my language, I love the way it sounds. For example this song: http://youtu.be/mHQwL5zj1m8. PURE POETRY, especially at the refrain. But, goddammit, I hate the way the average romanian speaks. I had a few guys from Bucharest at work for one year. They all laughed at our accent, saying we have bad grammar. But they are completly delusional thinking they have good grammar. The most annoying mistake they make is "dă-mi și mie o țigară".

When you ask your friend for a cigar you say: "give me one cigar, please", they say "give me one cigar too, please", even if you are not smoking at that moment.

They want to borrow 5 dollars from you. They don't say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks?", they say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks too", as if you already borrowed money to someone else a few seconds ago.

You tell someonea story: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole". They do it like this: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer too and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole".

Romanians, please stop making this retarded mistake.

Colloquial Romanian is still more Romanian than your bastardized version of the same language. Please refrain from making recommendations.

[grufferator]

Colloquial Romanian is still more Romanian than your bastardized version of the same language. Please refrain from making recommendations.

This means it shouldn't improve?

[Piper]

This means it shouldn't improve?

are seriously saying that colloquial Romanian should improve? :picard1:

[kabeiros]

Like Italian with a Slavic touch

[Bucovina]

Hi. I'm from Moldova (Republic of :) ) and my native language is romanian with a moldavian dialect. I love my language, I love the way it sounds. For example this song: http://youtu.be/mHQwL5zj1m8. PURE POETRY, especially at the refrain. But, goddammit, I hate the way the average romanian speaks. I had a few guys from Bucharest at work for one year. They all laughed at our accent, saying we have bad grammar. But they are completly delusional thinking they have good grammar. The most annoying mistake they make is "dă-mi și mie o țigară".

When you ask your friend for a cigar you say: "give me one cigar, please", they say "give me one cigar too, please", even if you are not smoking at that moment.

They want to borrow 5 dollars from you. They don't say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks?", they say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks too", as if you already borrowed money to someone else a few seconds ago.

You tell someonea story: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole". They do it like this: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer too and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole".

Romanians, please stop making this retarded mistake.

:lol00002: hehe

[Damião de Góis]

There's already a thread about romanian around here somewhere. I think it sounds like something in between slavic and italian, and i don't understand anything apart from some loose words.

[Piper]

There's already a thread about romanian around here somewhere. I think it sounds like something in between slavic and italian, and i don't understand anything apart from some loose words.

Yeah, I think you're right, I remember posting on a similar thread a while back. Maybe they'll get merged or something. There's no need for two of the same and it's a resurrected subject anyway.

Maybe we'll post more when there's something new, like when we fix Romanian to sound better for Russian ears. :D

[PeacefulCaribbeanDutch]

slavic mixed with italian, russian latin mix

[grufferator]

are seriously saying that colloquial Romanian should improve? :picard1:


I'm saying that the conversational Romanian should improve.

[Damião de Góis]

Yeah, I think you're right, I remember posting on a similar thread a while back. Maybe they'll get merged or something. There's no need for two of the same and it's a resurrected subject anyway.

Maybe we'll post more when there's something new, like when we fix Romanian to sound better for Russian ears. :D

I found it, it's on the Romania forum. I can leave them as they are or merge them here on the linguistics forum. You are romanian, so you tell me how would you prefer it... :p

[Piper]

I'm saying that the conversational Romanian should improve.

... perseverent, too. :lol00002:

I'm out of this thread

[Bucovina]

I'm saying that the conversational Romanian should improve.

That'd be like asking you to stop using random Russian words when speaking. Нет!

[Lisa]

Fixed.

more like an Italian - Gypsy - Polish mix :bored:

[Piper]

more like an Italian - Gypsy - Polish mix :bored:

that sounded trollish to me, must be a Russian dialect:D

[grufferator]

Mă duc ȘI eu să dorm. Noapte bună.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-i737TbK_WGI/ThXonoIJuTI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Gg1-49XbctA/2.0.png

[Piper]

Nu uita să ușizi becul! :D:lightbul:

[grufferator]

"Iubito, ușide te rog și tu becul!"

http://bfolder.ru/_ph/41/1/716046291.jpg


Nu există așa expresie în RM, dar recunosoc că am rîs.

[Piper]

"Iubito, ușide te rog și tu becul!"

http://bfolder.ru/_ph/41/1/716046291.jpg


Nu există așa expresie în RM, dar recunosoc că am rîs.

Iaca pacea româno-moldovenească:D

[rashka]

I have a feeling that the people originally were on their way to speaking a slavic language but something got in the way. What was that obstruction?

[Sikeliot]

I have a feeling that the people originally were on their way to speaking a slavic language but something got in the way. What was that obstruction?

The Romans conquered them.

[Nurzat]

moldavian > russian pronunced romanian
southern romanian > gypsy pronounced romanian
transylvanian > hungarian pronounced romanian
banat > serbian pronounced romanian

standard romanian > recently and heavily latinized russian-latin-turkish mix :)

[Piper]

moldavian > russian pronunced romanian
southern romanian > gypsy pronounced romanian
transylvanian > hungarian pronounced romanian
banat > serbian pronounced romanian

standard romanian > recently and heavily latinized russian-latin-turkish mix :)

wrong :mad:
Romanian is not recently latinized. There was some voluntary curbing of the language some two hundred years ago towards French, when it incorporated a lot of neologisms, but the fund of the language is latin, and its influence would still be greater that anything even without those neologisms.

There are theories that also raise the question of how come Romanian is a Romance language after only 165 of Roman occupation of Dacia. I tend to agree with the fact that the Dacians already spoke a form of latin or even proto-latin.

[Piper]

I'm from Ploiești. Do you honestly think I sound like a gipsy?:(

http://vocaroo.com/i/s04Hl4Zmqw72

[grufferator]

I'm from Ploiești. Do you honestly think I sound like a gipsy?:(

http://vocaroo.com/i/s04Hl4Zmqw72

Who's voice is this? It turned me on.

[Dacul]

Iaca pacea româno-moldovenească:D

The people from Moldova are more romanians than people from Prahova county from where you are.
Dacians and thracians and latins were loving mountains.
But most people from Prahova county even if they stay very close (less than 50 km) to one of the most beautiful mountains from Romania,that is Bucegi mountains,never went to take there a walk by foot.
However,most people from Prahova county went plenty of times to sea side.

[Corvus]

Romanian language sounds like a hybrid of South and North Slavic languages with some Hungarian and Latin ingredients

[PetiteParisienne]

I love hearing my grandmother speak! To me, it sounds like Italian + Portuguese spoken with a Slavic lilt.

[Mordid]

wrong :mad:
Romanian is not recently latinized.
Aye, you're right. Romanians are Latinized Paleo-Balkan with Slavic influence.

[Sabinae]

I'm from Ploiești. Do you honestly think I sound like a gipsy?:(

http://vocaroo.com/i/s04Hl4Zmqw72

No, you do not sound anything like gypsy. The people mentioning it just wanted to troll, and they pretty much have not heard a gypsy speak, if they were capable of saying Romanian is like that. Anyway...

Where in Ploiești are you?

[Scholarios]

I'm no expert and at the expense of sounding ignorant, when I hear Romanian spoken it sounds like a Slavic language with Romance vocabulary thrown in.

[Vulcho]

Romanian is probably the only Romance language that I don't find very annoying. It just sounds natural. I find the "ș", "ț", "â" and "oa" sounds and the palatization at the end of the words to be characteristic. It doesn't sound very Slavic to me, but probably that's because I am used to hearing tons of familiar words/roots when I listen to a Slavic language.

[Daos]

I'm from Ploiești. Do you honestly think I sound like a gipsy?:(

http://vocaroo.com/i/s04Hl4Zmqw72

It sounds like a typical southern accent. You southerners probably really enjoy it, but I find it really annoying. Gypsies usually have more „phlegm” in their speech, like their face is partly paralysed or something.

[Dacul]

It sounds like a typical southern accent. You southerners probably really enjoy it, but I find it really annoying. Gypsies usually have more „phlegm” in their speech, like their face is partly paralysed or something.

Lol you did not heard me talking!
At me what you are calling southern accent is even more visible.

[Mans not hot]

Sound like Italian person trying to speak Ukrainian.

[Dacul]

Sound like Italian person trying to speak Ukrainian.

Lol an italian can not pronounce special romanian vowels like :

Ă,Î and so on.

[Mistel]

To me it sounds like a Slavic language, at least the Romanian I have heard where I live. Nothing like a Romance language.

[Corvus]

To me it sounds like a Slavic language, at least the Romanian I have heard where I live. Nothing like a Romance language.

It is closer to Romance languages nevertheless. The intonation is similar to Czech though. The Czechs have a special way to pronounce words, which is unique in the Slavic world. The Romanians kind of emulate this

[Alexia]

Hi. I'm from Moldova (Republic of :) ) and my native language is romanian with a moldavian dialect. I love my language, I love the way it sounds. For example this song: http://youtu.be/mHQwL5zj1m8. PURE POETRY, especially at the refrain. But, goddammit, I hate the way the average romanian speaks. I had a few guys from Bucharest at work for one year. They all laughed at our accent, saying we have bad grammar. But they are completly delusional thinking they have good grammar. The most annoying mistake they make is "dă-mi și mie o țigară".

When you ask your friend for a cigar you say: "give me one cigar, please", they say "give me one cigar too, please", even if you are not smoking at that moment.

They want to borrow 5 dollars from you. They don't say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks?", they say "hey, can you borrow me 5 bucks too", as if you already borrowed money to someone else a few seconds ago.

You tell someonea story: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole". They do it like this: "... so I walk in the bar, get a beer too and unexpectedly I see my ex girlfriend with that asshole".

Romanians, please stop making this retarded mistake.

LOL! I will not be shocked if you would start giving lessons of democracy to Americans :))

[SKYNET]

drunk Bulgarian speaks Italian :)

[Maximum Speed]

good language!

[WOOHP]

Sounds like Portuguese with some Slavic sounding words.

[Szegedist]

Vlachspeak sounds like the "language" of goat f...ckers and sheep herders.

[daniboy]

It sounds like a mix between italian and russian
it is a language which I like so much
Written is like spanish but with much complex grammar.

pentru asta (de aceea) am invațat un puțin, limba româna este foarte frumoasă și interesantă de invațat.

[Vlach]

Romanian dialects:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olGLix8L_2M

[Peyrol]

I hear this language daily, spoken everywhere...sound slavic.

[Sikeliot]

I hear this language daily, spoken everywhere...sound slavic.

To me it sounds less Slavic than Portuguese does :lol:

[Wild North]

To me it sounds like a latin/romance language, but with a kind of south slavic accent..

Sometimes, with less slavic influence, it may sound closer to any other latin language.

[BeerBaron]

Latin with a russian accent.

[Ianus]

Sound mainly Slavic

[SardiniaAtlantis]

Sound mainly Slavic

Sounds like Slavs speaking an Italian dialect.

[Ianus]

Sounds like Slavs speaking an Italian dialect.

Yes, a balkan slavic that try to speak Italian.

[Scipio Africanus]

Romanian sounds 90% Slavic with some Latin

[SKYNET]

Romanian sounds 90% Slavic with some Latin



wut? Man, Romanian is the oldest of all the Romance languages



Romanian (587- ) is the main language of Romania and Moldova. About 24 million people speak it. The Moldovans call it Moldovan, but it is the same language.

Romanian, as you might expect from the name, comes from the language of the Romans: Latin. In the eastern Roman Empire most people spoke Greek, but what now is Romania – and back then was called Dacia – was settled by Romans soldiers. In time their Latin became Romanian.

Romanian is the oldest of the Romance languages, the languages that came from Latin. Probably because Dacia was cut off from Rome early: the Roman forces left 200 years before the fall of Rome.

The first signs of Romanian are from a Byzantine war story from 587 in which someone shouts, “Torna, torna fratre” as bags are falling.

Even though it is the oldest, its noun ending are the most like Latin. It still has cases: nouns have different endings according to their relationship to the rest of the sentences. Romanian even still has the neuter in addition to the feminine and masculine genders.

Romanian is closest to Italian. Like Italian – and Latin – it forms the plural not with an s but by changing the vowel at the end of the word.

Unlike other Romance languages, h did not become silent and short u was not changed into o. The Latin c and qu becomes p in Romanian: aqua becomes apa and octo, opt.

Most now write Romanian with Roman letters, even in Moldova, but before the 1700s it was written in Cyrillic letters, like Russian.


Romanian added four letters:


ş- sounds like sh
ţ – sounds like ts
î - sounds like a short Russian i (ы)
â - sounds like a short Russian i (ы)
ă – sounds like uh



Many Romanians know French and in the 1800s French words poured in so that now almost a fourth of the Romanian words come from French.

In ancient times foreign words came mainly from neighbouring Slavic languages. One word in five was from Slavic, but many of them died out so that now it is only one in seven.

Old words are mostly about country life, new words about city life.

Of the oldest words of all, 300 do not come from Latin, but some look like the same words in Albanian. This has led some to suppose that Romanians are Albanians who took on Roman ways, that the ancient language of Dacia was some kind of Albanian. But there is no solid proof of what language the Dacians spoke before Latin.




Romanian looks strange not just because of those four letters it added, but also because the sound changes that turned it from Latin into Romanian are not the sort you see in the west:

http://s11.postimg.org/5m64xp07n/345345.png

[Scipio Africanus]

wut? Man


for an Italian Romanian language sounds more Slavic.

[Vlach]

wut? Man, Romanian is the oldest of all the Romance languages



Romanian (587- ) is the main language of Romania and Moldova. About 24 million people speak it. The Moldovans call it Moldovan, but it is the same language.

Lol?
http://www.realitatea.net/moment-istoric-limba-romana-limba-oficiala-in-republica-moldova_1333110.html

[KrashNick]

Of the oldest words of all, 300 do not come from Latin, but some look like the same words in Albanian. This has led some to suppose that Romanians are Albanians who took on Roman ways,



This is the first time i hear that .

[SKYNET]

Lol?
http://www.realitatea.net/moment-istoric-limba-romana-limba-oficiala-in-republica-moldova_1333110.html



yeah, Moldovan language doesn't exist, it's a Romanian dialect.

[Comte Arnau]

Romanian is the oldest of all the Romance languages

And the written document that proves that statement is ...??????

[SKYNET]

And the written document that proves that statement is ...??????




here is the source: http://abagond.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/romanian/ (NOTE: I am not an author of that article)


yes, I admit that sentence of "the oldest language" is a bit exaggerated.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/IndoEuropeanTree.svg




















and this



Romanian sounds 90% Slavic with some Latin

I think is too exaggerated and bullshit :thumb001:

[dude]

I wonder how a language so close to Italian and Spanish made it all the way over there.

[Comte Arnau]

here is the source: http://abagond.wordpress.com/2007/07/24/romanian/ (NOTE: I am not an author of that article)

yes, I admit that sentence of "the oldest language" is a bit exaggerated.

Definitely exaggerated. :)

Someone's personal blog is not usually the best of sources. But even if the inscription exists, which could well be, torna torna fratre! is just spoken Latin. It was already said that way long before any real Proto-Romance language was born, in the 8th / 9th centuries.

[Scipio Africanus]

I think is too exaggerated and bullshit :thumb001:

:suspicious:

" How does the Romanian language sound to you? "



for an Italian Romanian language sounds more Slavic.

[Sikeliot]

Romanian sounds more Latin than Portuguese (sounds like Russian) and French (sounds like German) at least..

although it sounds less Latin than Spanish and Italian, which are the prototype for what the "Latin" sound is.

[SKYNET]

:suspicious:

" How does the Romanian language sound to you? "




Once, someone has said to me that it almost sounds like the Greek, but he didn't know that was Romanian :p in a such situation you are :) everyone's ears can make various combinations of sound

[Scipio Africanus]

Once, someone has said to me that it almost sounds like the Greek, but he didn't know that was Romanian :p in a such situation you are :) everyone's ears can make various combinations of sound

This is what I'm trying to say to you and what the thread asks :)
I hear the Romanian language very often and I can recognize it without problem.

[Geni]

I think the same like Turcofagos...latin with slavic accent..

[SKYNET]

Without bothering myself with reading(for example) I can perfectly understand any language of the Romance group.

[Solntsevorot]

well romanian has 20% slavic words and 60% of the words are latin
and what makes romanian to sound a little bit slavic is because of these letters ,,ţ, ă, î, ş,,

[GERULA]

I think the same like Turcofagos...latin with slavic accent..
take a look here...I met many albanians when I was living in Greece...we discovered that our languages are not that far away...possibly same distant root ...

horse - romanian cal (c is read as albanian k) - albanian kalë
raven - romanian corb (c is read as albanian k) - albanian korb
bandage - romanian fașă (romanian ș is read as albanian sh, ă as albanian ë ) - albanian fashë
shirt - romanian cămașă (as said above,about letters c,ă,ș corresponding sounds from albanian) - albanian këmishë
birch - romanian mesteacăn (as said above,about c and ă) - albanian mështeknë
tinder - romanian iască - albanian eshkë
spark - romanian scânteie - albanian shkëndije
fish - romanian pește - albanian peshk
exchange - romanian schimb - albanian shkëmbim
fire - romanian - foc - jar albanian - zjar

......................................


and the list goes on and on

[Geni]

I know ,i am sure that we have comun ancestor...and not so distant

[Xochi]

Italians with a Polish accent.


Romanian sounds more Latin than Portuguese (sounds like Russian) and French (sounds like German) at least..

Both the stereotypical German and French accent when speaking English pronounce words like this, the, these, that as zis, za, zees, zat. I heard the saying French is Latin mispronounced by Germans.

[Han Cholo]

Mix of Latin/italian + something Albanian-like(Dacian).

[Merida]

To me it sounds like Slavicised Italian.

[Sikeliot]

There are dialects of Italian that do sound similar to Romanian, more so than standard Italian (Tuscan) does.

[Vlach]

Bump


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnjpEKyoyco

[Arsenium DeLight]

It sounds like a blend of Italian and Slavic languages of Eastern Europe. It sounds like Slavicized Dacians speaking Italian and Latin ;)

[Leo Iscariot]

A mix of Italian, Spanish, and some Slavic language.

[Sikeliot]

Slavicized Italian seems to be the consensus :lol:

[Arsenium DeLight]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99fdWEKFvbk

[Arsenium DeLight]

What dialect of Romanian is this man speaking? Does he speak a slavic sounding variety of the Romanian language, or is this typically Romanian?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNFbyB9K8MM

[mikhail]

For me it sounds like Portuguese/Spanish with Slavic influence.

[Zmey Gorynych]

What dialect of Romanian is this man speaking? Does he speak a slavic sounding variety of the Romanian language, or is this typically Romanian?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNFbyB9K8MM
He speaks a very clean, neutral romanian. Actually Antonescu is renowned for his proficiency in this field, few people speak as well and clean as he does. Too bad he discredeted himself with certain political choices he made in the last 5 years. He could've been president.

[Arsenium DeLight]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlqp0ZtXVCI&list=PLSkBss8jM86oGIx9iscyxTgEux0df0cdt

[Zmey Gorynych]

He speaks a very clean, neutral romanian. Actually Antonescu is renowned for his proficiency in this field, few people speak as well and clean as he does. Too bad he discredeted himself with certain political choices he made in the last 5 years. He could've been president.

Here's one of Antonescu's best speeches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCU84qiwcgw

and another, not as good as the first (imo he got the intonation wrong in a few places and made a couple of inappropriate pauses)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyCaMELPf3I

[Antimage]

Romanian sounds more Latin than Portuguese (sounds like Russian) and French (sounds like German) at least..

although it sounds less Latin than Spanish and Italian, which are the prototype for what the "Latin" sound is.

french sounds like german and portuguese sounds like russian ?LOL I've never heard that

i guess how a language sounds to one depends on one's native language... My native language is hungarian and for me portuguese sound similar to other romance languages(nothing like russian) and i also think french sound nothing like german

I think romanian language sounds slavic, italian and portuguese

[Voskos]

To me it sounds like a romanized version of Serbian

[fcm44]

Sounds like a mix of Latin with Slavic accent

[Vlach]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPKK8GuEb8c