Learn where Romanian is spoken
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| Michael: Where is Romanian spoken? |
| Larisa: And how many varieties of Romanian are there? |
| Michael: At RomanianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Emma Enache is meeting another college student, Paul Pavel, for the first time. On hearing her speak Romanian, Paul Pavel asks, |
| "Where did you learn Romanian?" |
| Paul Pavel: Unde ai învățat româna? |
| Dialogue |
| Paul Pavel: Unde ai învățat româna? |
| Emma Enache: În Moldova. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Paul Pavel: Unde ai învățat româna? |
| Michael: "Where did you learn Romanian?" |
| Emma Enache: În Moldova. |
| Michael: "In Moldova." |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, we will talk about the Romanian language and all the places where it is spoken. We will also find out how many different varieties of the language exist. Romanian, or |
| Larisa: Română, |
| Michael: is the single official and national language in two countries: Romania and Moldova. It’s also one of the official languages in certain regions of Transnistria, Serbia, and Ukraine. But let us first concentrate on Romania. |
| Larisa: România |
| Michael: Few people know that Romanian is actually a Romance language, similar to French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. |
| Larisa: Limba franceză, spaniolă, italiană, portugheză. |
| Michael: While it has Slavic roots, they represent only 10% to 15% of the vocabulary. But why? |
| Well, 1700 years ago, it was the Romans who conquered the territory that would later become Romania. The Roman culture and language hugely influenced the local community—so much so that, even though Romania is situated in Slavic territory, the Slavic languages only partially affected the new language. The result is that, even today, Romanian is the only Romance language in eastern Europe. Depending on what region you are in, you will also hear different dialects, or |
| Larisa: dialecte. |
| Michael: The main differences are in pronunciation and word choice, but all Romanian dialects within the country are mutually intelligible. |
| Now, you might be wondering why Romanian is also the official language of Moldova. |
| Larisa: Moldova |
| Michael: is a former region of Romania, but it was lost in 1940—ceded to the Soviet Union. Later, it regained its independence. To this day, Romanian is still Moldova’s national language —although many of them call their language ‘Moldovan.’ But are the languages identical? Well, almost. There are some differences in dialect, but nothing major. There is also some Russian influence in Moldova that is not found in Romania. |
| For interest, let us look at some of the lexical differences. First, the Moldovan word for "promise" is |
| Larisa: [NORMAL] abisci [SLOWLY] abisci |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Michael: but, in standard Romanian, it is |
| Larisa: [NORMAL] promisiune [SLOWLY] promisiune |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Michael: And the Moldovan word for "watermelon" is |
| Larisa: [NORMAL] harbuz [SLOWLY] harbuz |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Michael: but, in Romanian, they say |
| Larisa: [NORMAL] pepene verde [SLOWLY] pepene verde. |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Michael: Here is one more! The Moldovan word for "potatoes" is |
| Larisa: [NORMAL] barabuli [SLOWLY] barabuli |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Michael: while the Romanian word is |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Larisa: [NORMAL] cartofi [SLOWLY] cartofi |
| Michael: There are plenty more Russian-influenced Moldovan words like this, but, for the most part, the only notable difference between Romanian and Moldovan is the accent. The bigger question is about their writing systems, but we will come to that later. |
| Michael: Let us talk about some other places where Romanian is spoken. There are three dialects of Romanian spoken in the Balkanic countries. One should note that people who speak these dialects will hardly be understood by a Romanian from Romania. |
| These dialects are Aromanian |
| Larisa: Aromân |
| Michael: Megleno-Romanian |
| Larisa: Megleno-român |
| Michael: and Istro-Romanian |
| Larisa: Istro-român |
| Michael: These dialects are spoken in countries like Serbia, Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Bulgaria, and Croatia. Let us have a look at them individually. |
| First, we have the Aromanian people. Aside from within the Balkan countries, there are also communities of Aromanian emigrants living in Canada, the United States, France, and Germany. In fact, Germany has one of the largest Aromanian libraries, and in Freiburg there is a very important organization, called the Union for Culture and Language of the Aromanians. |
| I’m sure you are curious about what the Aromanian dialect is like. We compare a few phrases in the Lesson Notes. Don’t forget to check them out! |
| Michael: Next up, we have the Megleno-Romanians. These people call their own language |
| Larisa: Vlăhește |
| Michael: and it is spoken mainly in parts of Greece and Macedonia, |
| Larisa: Grecia și Macedonia |
| Michael: by about 5,000 people. They live in a few villages in the Moglena region, which is only about 300 km2 in size. There are also a number of speakers in Romania and Turkey. It is considered an endangered language. |
| Michael: And now we should look at the last main dialect: Istro-Romanian. |
| Larisa: Istro-român |
| Michael: This language is mainly spoken in a few villages and hamlets in the peninsula of Istria in Croatia. You will also find small scattered populations in Italy, Sweden, Germany, Northern and Southern America, and Australia. There are fewer than 500 speakers, making this a seriously endangered language, and they call themselves |
| Larisa: Rumeri |
| Michael: Although similar to standard Romanian, the Istro-romanian alphabet has three extra unique letters that are used to mark sounds specific to this dialect. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Now, let us go back to the writing systems, which I mentioned before. This is where the real difference between Romanian and Moldovan comes in. You see, the standard written language is nearly identical in the two countries - but not in the breakaway Moldovan territory of Transnistria! So, what makes this territory different? |
| Larisa: Transnistria |
| Michael: is a narrow strip of land that belongs to Moldova but has its own government and army. The government considers there to be two separate languages. In the old days, |
| Moldova was part of the Soviet Union. The language was officially known as |
| Larisa: Limba moldovenească |
| Michael: and was written with the Cyrillic alphabet. |
| Larisa: Alfabet chirilic |
| Michael: After Moldova gained independence in 1989, it was replaced with the Latin alphabet used in Romania—except in Transnistria! Here, it is still written in Cyrillic. In fact, the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is the official and only accepted Moldovan alphabet in Transnistria. |
| There is also quite a large Romanian-speaking community in Israel. In addition, in Arabic-speaking countries, people who have studied in Romania speak Romanian as a second language. There are even small communities found in Kazakhstan and Russia. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We are here to answer them! |
| Larisa: La revedere. |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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