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Lesson Transcript

All About, Lesson 4 - Romanian Pronunciation
Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. I’m Eric, and this is All About, Lesson 4 - Romanian Pronunciation. In this lesson, we'll show you how easy it is to start speaking Romanian.
Raluca: That's because we'll be focusing on pronunciation! Hi everyone, I’m Raluca.
Eric: Believe it or not, pronunciation is one of the easiest aspects of the Romanian language.
Raluca: We'll show you just how easy it is, and give you tips on how to perfect your pronunciation.
Eric: Trust me, Romanian is a language where words are rarely difficult to pronounce or to hear!
Raluca: That’s because the great majority of Romanian words end in vowels.
Eric: Okay, first we want to take a look at how Romanian sounds work.
Raluca:. In Romanian, we have twenty consonants, four semivowels, and seven vowels.
Eric: Yes, Romanian is made up of a combination of consonants, vowels, and semivowels.
Raluca: And vowels can make syllables by themselves.
Eric: Also, consonants need a vowel in order to create a syllable.
Raluca: That’s right. For example, the word apă has two syllables. A- pă.
Eric: “Water.”
Raluca: A is the first syllable formed by one vowel and pa is the second, formed by a consonant and a vowel.
Eric: Let’s talk about semivowels.
Raluca: Semivowels are sounds that form the diphthongs and triphthongs together with the vowels.
Eric: It takes a vowel and a semivowel to form a diphthong.
Raluca: Yes. Romanian has two types of diphthongs according to the placement of the semivowel in the syllable.
Eric: A semivowel can come as the first or second sound.
Raluca: Exactly.
Eric: Let’s hear an example where the semivowel comes first.
Raluca: cafea. It means “coffee.” Can you hear the sound of the e?
Eric: Barely. I understand now!
Raluca: That’s how a semivowel works in Romanian!
Eric: Let’s hear another example.
Raluca: Auriu
Eric: It means “golden.”
Raluca: Yes and au is the diphthong.
Eric: Let me guess! In this case, u is the semivowel.
Raluca: That’s right. U is a semivowel.
Eric: I think it’s time to explain the triphthongs. What are they?
Raluca: Triphthongs are a succession of three sounds...two semivowels and a vowel. The order is always a semivowel plus a vowel plus a semivowel.
Eric: Sounds pretty easy. Let’s hear an example.
Raluca: Creioane
Eric: That’s the word for “pencils.”
Raluca: In the word creioane, ioa is the triphthong.
Eric: In this case, the sounds i and a are semivowels. Alright, I’m sure our listeners understand what native Romanian pronunciation sounds like.
Raluca: But it’s important to know that these sounds are just some examples. And it’s perfectly normal if you don’t remember them right away.
Eric: Does Romanian have short sounds?
Raluca: Yes it does, but it’s pretty easy to learn them, especially when you listen to native speakers. For example, the letter i in the final position stands for a very short sound.
Eric: Let’s hear an example.
Raluca: For example, the word liberi,
Eric: ...which is the plural form of the word “free.”
Raluca: Another example is miniştri,
Eric: which means “ministers.”
Raluca: It’s easy to tell the difference between the first and last i.
Eric: Even though we’ve presented all these pronunciation rules, our listeners should know that there are a lot of Romanian sounds that don’t change that much.
Raluca: An a is pronounced in only one way, and that goes for all the other letters too. And that's it!
Eric: That's great! What about stress?
Raluca: Romanian has stress as well. Not the kind you feel after a day of work, we mean the accents.
Eric: (Laughs) Is there some rule about that?
Raluca: The best way to remember the stress mechanism is to listen to native speakers, but aside from that, comparing words in English and Romanian might help you to find your way through it.
Eric: For example?
Raluca: For example, the words naval and "naval," which mean "pertaining to ships" in both languages.
Eric: In this case, the stress in the English word is on the first "a." In Romanian, it falls on the second “a.”
Raluca: That’s right. There are tons of examples like this. But keep in mind that you should listen carefully to native speakers.
Eric: Yeah – listening and repeating is really the key to improving your pronunciation. Listen to and copy native speakers as much as you can. Anyway, do you have some tips for our listeners?
Raluca: Well, in Romanian the stress can fall on any syllable of the word, so it’s really all about practice. Stress is important because it can be the only difference between two words spelled identically but with different grammatical forms.
Eric: What’s an example?
Raluca: For example, Veselă.
Eric: “Happy”
Raluca: And Veselă
Eric: “Plates.” We definitely don’t want to confuse these two.
Raluca: Yes, that would sound so weird!
Eric: Speaking of pronunciation in Romanian, before we go, are there any difficulties?
Raluca: Well, learning a foreign language is always difficult at the beginning. But the vowels ă and î/ â in particular can pose difficulties in pronunciation and reading.
Eric: Let’s hear these vowels once again.
Raluca: ă
Eric: as in the final vowel in "father" or "water."
Raluca: Yes, but it’s slightly different. Listen to apă,
Eric: which means “water.”
Raluca: The vowel â/ î has no English equivalent. It can be explained as a blend between “i” and “u.”
Eric: Let’s hear some examples:
Raluca: înger
Eric: “angel”
Raluca: mână
Eric: “hand”
Eric: Alright, that’s all we have time for in this lesson. Don’t forget to check the lesson notes, listeners, and we’ll see you next time.
Raluca: Bye everyone!

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