Language(s) of Romania

Romanian

Romanian may sound strange, but when written, you should be able to make out lots of words that sound familiar in French, Italian or English. Romanian is spelt phonetically so is easy to pronounce as soon as you learn a few rules. Elsewhere on the Net there's a good English-Romanian-English dictionary as well as the Alternative Romanian Dictionary (all you need about cursing and insulting), but just to get you enthusiastic, here's my own basic dictionary with useful phrases with their pronounciation (wave files, embedded or via helper application):
 
yes    da
no    nu
hello    salut
goodbye    la revedere
I don't speak Romanian    nu vorbesc romaneste
I don't understand    nu inteleg
I don't know    nu stiu
sorry    imi pare rau
pity    pacat
excuse me    ma scuzati
pardon? or: please? (asking)    poftim
thank you    multumesc 
with pleasure    cu placere
congratulations (many years...)    la multi ani
have a nice trip    calatorie placuta
do you like it?    iti place?
how are you doing?    ce mai faci?
good day    buna ziua
good morning    buna dimineata
good evening    buna seara
one two three four five six seven eight nine ten    un doi trei patru cinci sase sapte opt noua zece
 
If you think this is easy, break your tongue trying to get the 'uh' sound perfectly right:
     urît (ugly)
     înalt (high)

Hungarian

  Compared to Hungarian, Romanian is easy. Hungarian is a language from the  Fin-Oegric group (just like Estonian and Finnish), originating from the  steppes of Siberia. There are just a few words that sound familiar to us  Germanic/Latin orientated Westeners. Hungarian has its own special way  of structuring words and sentences that just baffles others. Learn Hungarian  in just over 15 minutes here!
Questions? Comments?  Mistakes? Improvements? Mail me! jeroen.vanmarle@berlin.de
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