YouTube is an absolute treasure chest for language learning.

With several weeks’ worth of video being uploaded every minute, you’ll literally never be able to run out of things to watch in any major language.

And even though Romanian isn’t really a major language, you can still use the web’s number-one media hub to deeply immerse yourself in Romanian culture. As you learn Romanian, YouTube will allow you to catch up on all the major trends in the country without ever leaving your hometown!

Some channels, though, are definitely better than others.

Here in this article, we’ve assembled the ten best YouTube channels for Romanian learners, taking into account a variety of preferred learning styles. Do you want instructional videos, natural content, or even songs made for kids? It’s all here, all free, and all waiting for you. It’s time to explore! 

→ Before you continue, here are some Words for Talking About YouTube.

Table of Contents

1. The Best Romanian Language YouTube Channels
2. Conclusion

1. The Best Romanian Language YouTube Channels

1. Learn Romanian With Nico

Category: Educational

Level: Beginner

Nico’s channel is one of the first that pops up if you search for “Romanian,” whether or not you’re looking for ways to learn it. Since 2015, Nico has been making lessons in Romanian and about the Romanian language, including lessons on verbs, pronunciation, and Romanian music.

Her videos often have subtitles in English and Romanian, so you can follow along with the words as they’re being spoken and learn to read more effectively. Her videos are not only educational, but also funny; because of this, a lot of Romanians are watching it, too. Education, humor, and a great layout make this one of the best Romanian YouTube channels for new learners.

2. TraLaLa

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

Category: Educational

It’s never a bad idea to tap into your inner child. TraLaLa is a fun and musical channel for young children in Romania and abroad who are learning to speak and read Romanian. In addition to the short-form song and dance videos, there are also long compilations that you can leave on in the background if you don’t mind the aggressively happy tone.

The benefit of this channel is twofold: one, you can follow along with the subtitles to pick up new vocabulary (lyrics are also in the description), and two, all of these songs will get stuck in your head and you’ll find yourself idly humming in Romanian in a matter of days. Ever seen Baby Shark in Romanian? 

Trust us, you won’t be the only non-Romanian viewer: More than 27% of the people who are watching this channel are from countries like the USA, UK, Italy, Spain, and even Australia.

3. Izabeloi

Category: Slime

Level: Intermediate

Statistically, you may be one of the millions of people who are into slime videos. Slime is quite popular on YouTube, and this Romanian channel is thankfully full of Romanian dialogue to go along with the visuals—including several videos with English subtitles.

Making slime is, at its core, a lot like making crafts. Izabeloi makes her slime slowly and carefully with all kinds of household objects, helping you fill in your vocabulary for colors, materials, and even the verbs that she uses to describe the process. At this moment, based on her channel’s number of followers, Izabela is considered the most famous vlogger in Romania.

4. MaxINFINITE

Category: Gaming

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

If you’re learning Romanian and you’re into playing video games, then MaxINFINITE is the channel you ought to be watching. Max plays all kinds of games (trending more toward the side of action and horror) and gives live commentary as he does it.

Clearly, not that many games have full text and dubbing in Romanian, so one thing that happens often in Max’s videos is that he reads out the English text in Romanian for his viewers. If you barely understand anything when you first start watching, you can use these bits as an anchor to start understanding the rest.

→ See RomanianPod101’s vocabulary list for Talking About Video Games to learn some words in advance!

5. Zurli

Category: Kids

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

A few paragraphs up the page, we already had a kids’ channel in the form of TraLaLa. What sets Zurli apart? 

This is more like The Wiggles—a show mostly performed by adults, but created for children. That gives it a very different feel, and it also means that there’s a lot more dialogue. It can seem fast-paced at times, but after you watch a couple of videos and get used to the voices, you’ll be able to pick up quite a lot.

Recently, the folks behind Zurli have also been doing a series of interviews with parents in the form of a podcast. Check those out as well to test your listening skills after they’ve been trained on kids’ materials first! Sometimes, they also have live shows where you can call and talk with your favorite character (in other words, great speaking and listening practice!). 

6. Florentin Hriscu

Category: Vlog

Level: Advanced

Florentin is one of those Romanian YouTubers who represents the newest YouTube generation: willing to try anything, and heavily influenced by the trends of TikTok. Check out this video, where he tries out different life hacks in real life to see how well they work—if at all! 

He definitely speaks very quickly, and there aren’t any videos on his channel with subtitles. However, he’s a great candidate for high-intermediate learners, since by watching many hours of footage from the same speaker, you’ll get used to his voice and find him easier to understand. Once battle-tested in this difficult arena, your Romanian listening will be supercharged!

7. Recorder

Category: Documentary

Level: Advanced

For a change of pace from amateur content, here’s an excellent Romanian documentary channel. It’s meant for both English speakers and Romanian speakers, at home and abroad. The subjects are often political—one of their most famous videos is built from footage of Romanian communities abroad reacting to the EU parliament elections—but just as often about culture or history.

Several documentaries have English subtitles, and some have Romanian subtitles in sections where the audio is difficult to hear. You can, of course, also read the comments below for some amateur analyses. It’s better than reading English YouTube comments, at least! 

At the time of this writing, Recorder is one of the best video-journalism projects in Romania. They are very well-known for investigative journalism, though their channel also features interviews or opinions about challenging everyday subjects. 

8. Cristina Kovacs Official

Category: Beauty

Level: Advanced

Are you into makeup or skincare routines? If yes, then Cristina Kovacs has some super-slick videos just for you. Even if you’re not terribly invested in the subject, you’ll find that watching makeup tutorials might be one of the most relaxing ways of all to learn Romanian.

Cristina gives detailed makeup tutorials across many videos, so you get used to her voice and the vocabulary she uses (namely about skin, facial features, and beauty products). Similar to the slime videos, watching several of them gets you tuned into the way the vocabulary normally plays out.

→ We recommend that you learn a few Words for Cosmetics and Beauty before watching for the best experience.

9. RomanianWithGia

Category: Educational

Level: Beginner

Gia is an enthusiastic Romanian teacher who’s able to tune her teaching to fit any level. Her videos are made with high production quality, so you’ll always be able to hear her clearly—an excellent thing to have when you’re learning a language!

In all of her videos, she adds a lot of example sentences and carefully explains the grammar points that she uses. In this video about verbs, for instance, she even adds clips from classic movies that include the verb under discussion, so you can see it used in real life. 

Her lessons cover different topics, are funny, and are created for different levels. This channel can be a wonderful resource for improving your Romanian skills, whatever your current level.

10. RomanianPod101 YouTube Channel

Category: Educational

Level: All levels

This is what you came for: the best source of Romanian learning content on YouTube. We frequently post new content on the RomanianPod101 channel, and all of it is made with love.

Let’s dive into one of our listening comprehension videos for a moment to see how you might be able to use it.

First, you just get a backdrop to clue you in on the context for this particular dialogue. Then you hear a comprehension question, followed by the dialogue for the first time. Even though these dialogues say “Absolute beginner,” they’re designed for people who already have a vocabulary of a few hundred words and know how to form basic sentences in Romanian.

Now, it’s okay if you missed the question and have no idea what’s going on in the dialogue. Don’t get discouraged! It plays again with subtitles in English and Romanian, and the backdrop becomes an animation for you to watch as well.

This way, you can match up the words you’re hearing with both the form of the words in Romanian and their meanings in English. Watch the video one more time for good measure and presto—within five minutes, you’ve no doubt picked up half a dozen Romanian words. 

2. Conclusion

At this point, you may be thinking, “That’s great, but how do I turn all of these resources into Romanian that I can understand and speak?”

There are two answers, really.

The first is, as long as you consult a good grammar guide every now and then, you can just keep looking up Romanian words in these videos until you understand them. After a couple of years, you’ll find yourself subconsciously putting together correct Romanian sentences and speaking with relative ease.

The second?

You can do all that, and also sign up with RomanianPod101. The expert guidance of the podcast creators and course writers there will help you advance in your Romanian studies, surely and swiftly.

When you balance a great course with good “immersion material” from real Romanians, your brain will subconsciously accumulate experience with Romanian and make connections behind the scenes. Soon, you’ll hear more and more words in YouTube videos that you learned from your RomanianPod101 flashcards, and those memories will get stronger and stronger.

Before long, sitting down to watch YouTube will seem as natural in Romanian as it does in English!

Let us know in the comments which of these Romanian YouTube channels you want to watch the most. Did we miss any good ones? We look forward to hearing from you!

The Romanian language never makes it onto the lists of the world’s easiest languages.

Instead, it’s treated as a curiosity because of its rather different grammatical features compared to other languages in the same family. After all, it’s certainly rather different from Spanish and Portuguese!

As an English-speaker, you might be wondering: “Is it hard to learn Romanian?” 

While aspects of the language may be difficult when you first start out, think of the possibilities that open up if you do learn it. Romania offers more adventure to some people than the more frequently visited countries in Western Europe. It’s a great destination, and since you’ll get Moldovan basically for free, learning Romanian opens a good number of doors.

Let’s dive into what might make the Romanian language hard to learn, and which things about it are actually easier than its neighboring languages. You might be surprised what you find out!

Table of Contents

1. The Tough Bits of Learning Romanian
2. Romanian’s Easy Street
3. Beginning Romanian – What a Learner Should Look Out For
4. How RomanianPod101 Can Make the Language Even Easier
5. The Quick Foundation to Good Romanian
6. Conclusion

1. The Tough Bits of Learning Romanian

The first thing any linguistics enthusiast will tell you about Romanian is that it’s got cases—and it’s the only one of the family that still has them, since all of its closely related languages lost their cases several centuries ago.

Cases are different forms of words that reveal the grammatical role they play in the sentence. They add a bit of complexity to each word, but they allow you to free up your word order so you can place emphasis on different parts of the sentence.

Look at the phrase “the capital of America,” for instance. In English, we could also express it in another way: “America’s capital.” Here, we’re showing possession by adding an extra ending to the noun. Romanian takes this one step further by changing the noun ending as well as reversing the word order: capitala Americii.

Romanian also has a serious thing for verbs.

The Romanian verb can be, and frequently is, conjugated in seventeen different tenses and moods, allowing for extremely subtle distinctions that English-speakers have to use several words to express. Some of these are only used in certain regions of Romania and Moldova, adding extra fun to the whole situation.

Compare the English “I had done” with the Romanian făcuserăm, and you’ll see what we mean here. Fortunately, it’s actually not all that bad, since the vast majority of the tenses are made with auxiliary verbs like aveți (“to have”) conjugated with the participle of the root.

In fact, the language as a whole would probably fall into the “it’s not that bad” category. 

2. Romanian’s Easy Street

After all that, you’ll be glad to learn that Romanian has some easy parts, too—and depending on how you prefer to learn languages, they might outweigh the hard parts.

First, Romanian has just one new vowel and one new consonant to learn: the â and the rolled R. You’ll find all of the other sounds in English. These two sounds aren’t even that hard to make, since all they require is a shift in tongue position.

The â is made by raising your tongue ever so slightly when you say the neutral vowel in “duh.” Try to keep your tongue flat while raising it up toward the roof of your mouth, and you’ll hear your new Romanian vowel spring to life! 

Rolling your R is a little tricky, but most English-speakers can tap their Rs—say “ladder.” Notice how the “dd” part isn’t a full D like in “dog”?

It’s just a tap on the roof of your mouth, which is precisely the sound made by the Romanian R most of the time. Check out another guide on Romanian pronunciation to learn how to draw out that sound into a long trill.

Second, you’ve got a big leg up on Romanian already because so many words are related to English! (You’ll have an even greater advantage if you’ve studied any Spanish, Italian, or Latin.) Lots of “formal” English words appear in Romanian as everyday vocabulary.

Learning these will also flex your pattern-matching skills. Take saluta for instance. By itself, you might not immediately know what it means (you might guess “salad,” but you’d be wrong). As soon as you learn it means “to greet,” though, you can automatically connect it to the English word “salute” and keep that connection strong for a long time. 

3. Beginning Romanian – What a Learner Should Look Out For

Another factor that will determine whether you find the Romanian language easy or hard is how prepared you are for using it in the real world. Here are some things you need to watch out for and keep in mind:

Romanian spelling has undergone a couple of different reforms over the years, but nowadays, it’s very easy to read and pronounce. In the last century, the Romanian language suffered only five changes, and four of those changes were about the use of the vowels î and â. The rule for determining when to write those vowels and when not to has been pretty off-and-on. It’s such an important thing for Romanians because one of those vowels shows up in the country name: ROMÂNIA.

Although you’ll have an advantage if you know another Romance language, when it comes to speaking, you may be misled by other languages’ orthography.

In everyday, informal conversation, you’ll notice that a lot of Romanians have the tendency to cut words short or not pronounce them completely. Keep in mind that this is not acceptable when you’re having a formal conversation.

Another thing to note is something that’s totally absent in English. But think about the difference between the two N sounds in “can” and “canyon.” The “ny” letter combination in “canyon” represents a softened sound, where the tongue is placed closer to the front of the mouth.

A beginner should also be careful not to learn too much Romanian from the Internet! It turns out that, unlike French or German, even published articles online in Romanian often come without diacritics, so you don’t know if the “a” you’re seeing is really an ă or an â in disguise. A native Romanian will understand the meaning of the words without diacritics (sometimes from the context, sometimes just guessing), but keep in mind that this is an incorrect way to write (and publish) an article. For that reason, definitely focus on listening. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a heavy accent and it will take a long time to train yourself away from it.

Also, although there are a lot of cognates and connections you can use to make vocabulary learning easier, watch out for the false friends. Plenty of words weren’t borrowed from English; they were borrowed from French or developed separately from Latin, meaning that their definitions won’t match up exactly with English’s.

A gimnaziu in Romanian isn’t a place to work out, it’s a middle school. Also, don’t say that you’re mizerabil if you’re down in the dumps, because that means “dirty” instead! As you can see, it’s much better to know the real definitions for new words than it is to just guess. 

4. How RomanianPod101 Can Make the Language Even Easier

RomanianPod101 is exactly the kind of course you need when you’re stuck without a strong pathway to proficiency.

Assuming you’re following the podcast levels as recommended, you’ll start off with the Absolute Beginner series and slowly work your way up to Advanced.

As you run into difficult concepts along the way, you can look around the website for related articles or supplementary vocab exercises. So let’s say you’re really focused on developing a perfect Romanian accent—you can read through a blog article, then watch a video with clear and accurate pronunciation to get the correct accent in your head.

And let’s not forget the vocabulary lists, either. Each of our vocabulary resources has example sentences so that you can see the context for each word as it comes up. You don’t need to worry about memorizing every word in every sentence, but you should make an effort to link each word to its English meaning. 

5. The Quick Foundation to Good Romanian

Here’s a nice study routine you can follow: 

Attack the difficult grammar memorization from the beginning. Work on memorizing—yes, memorizing—all of the different Romanian verb paradigms. Start with the most common irregular verbs first. Once those are out of the way, you’ll notice how easy it is to pick up the regular verb paradigms.

Don’t put time pressure on yourself, though. Expect that it’ll be hard at first, but that you’ll slowly get reinforcement from your studies and it’ll seem more and more natural. For example, you’ll see a sentence combination like this:

• Am jucat cărți noaptea trecută.
  “I played cards last night.”

That combination of am jucat might seem really tough to memorize at first in a big chart, but soon it will be second nature to think of it as the past tense of a juca (“to play”). Then you’ll be able to consult your mental model of the conjugation chart and be completely certain.

You’ll want to do this from the beginning, because you want it to be absolutely automatic later on. And do you know what else this applies to? Pronunciation!

Although Romanian pronunciation isn’t that challenging, it’s important to start with it early on or else risk misunderstandings and even stigma from a bad accent later on. (Don’t worry if you’ve been learning for a while; any accent can be corrected!)

→ Here are some Simple Strategies for Learning Romanian Comfortably at Home and the Top 10 Learning Strategies!

6. Conclusion

The best way to learn Romanian is to start and never stop. When they need to accomplish something difficult, Romanians will encourage themselves by saying: “Repetition is the mother of learning.” And this can apply to the Romanian language itself! 

Any obstacle that seems to come up when learning a language is never that big of a deal; you can always just put on the brakes for a bit and try learning something else. There’s always more to read, more to watch, and more to hear.

That’s what RomanianPod101 is for, anyway. With one subscription, you can get access to a massive library of texts, audio recordings, and videos that you can learn from anytime, anywhere.

So don’t let anybody tell you that Romanian is too hard to learn. It’s a solid challenge for the right learner with good motivation and good resources—and that sounds like you.

If you’ve already started learning Romanian, which parts are most difficult for you? And which parts do you find the easiest? Let us, and aspiring Romanian-learners, know in the comments!

Would you call yourself a perfectionist?

Language-learning doesn’t really suit itself to perfectionism. Languages change in so many ways all the time, and there’s really no way to define “perfect” speech.

On the flip side, though, you do have to pay attention to some rules in order to avoid the most common mistakes Romanian-learners make.

Trying to come up with Romanian—written or spoken—without being aware of the rules of the language is a surefire way to ingrain bad habits and make your communication with natives less effective.

In this article, you’ll see an overview of the classic learner mistakes in Romanian, as well as what you can do to stay far away from them.

Table of Contents

1. Make the Right Sounds
2. Confusing Words
3. Just How Free is Romanian Word Order?
4. Hit the Grammar Books
5. Miscellaneous Errors
6. The Biggest Mistake in Romanian Learning
7. Conclusion

1. Make the Right Sounds

Romanian is not that bad of a language to pronounce. Even someone who confused the language for “Roman” would probably be able to read off a couple of words if they had to.

However, if you don’t pay attention to a couple of key things, your foreign accent is always going to shine through.

1- Vowels

The most important thing to think about is the vowels.

The five core Romanian vowels are the same pure vowels in Spanish and Italian, but there are also two more.

The first additional vowel is also in English, written as the “uh” in “duh.” That’s the sound represented by the letter ă. Be careful that you don’t pronounce this sound anywhere else! English-speakers have a habit of not stressing vowels in words and reducing the vowel sound to this same ă. But in Romanian, the vowels stay pure.

The second vowel to watch for is, strangely enough, represented by two different letters: î and â. It’s notoriously one of the trickiest sounds in Romanian for foreigners. Because â and î sound the same, sometimes even native speakers make mistakes when writing words that contain those vowels.  

Basically, you want to make the ă sound and then move your tongue vertically so that it’s still flat, but nearly touching the roof of your mouth. It definitely takes some practice to say it smoothly in the middle of words, but pulling that off goes a long way toward getting your Romanian pronunciation up to par! 

2- Consonants

Next is the consonants. 

Romanian doesn’t have particularly difficult consonants, either. Just remember that you should roll your R. 

3- Aspiration

One thing that sometimes escapes English-speakers is that Romanian never aspirates its letters.

When English words begin with the sounds “p,” “t,” or “k,” English-speakers release a small puff of air, without even thinking about it. In Romanian, that sounds odd, almost like the speaker is out of breath. 

Pay attention to this and try softening the “p,” “t,” and “k” sounds at the beginning of Romanian words. Soon, your pronunciation will be indistinguishable from that of a native speaker!

2. Confusing Words

Romanian happens to be one of those languages without a ton of near-homophones, or confusing tongue-twisters that are almost the same but still have different meanings.

That said, there are a couple of words that even native speakers end up using wrong from time to time. The first is kind of funny to learners:

• ceai
  “tea”

• Ce-ai?
  “What do you have?”

This is a mistake that most learners don’t make because they learn to read Romanian at roughly the same pace that they learn to understand it. But native speakers have years of only listening before they learn to read, and that’s how you end up with people unable to remember which one gets the hyphen!

• odată
  “once”

• o dată
  “one time”

Well, that’s a lot more difficult-looking! The secret is in the words around these terms, or the contexts in which they tend to appear. 

O dată is used to mean “one time,” when you’re counting specific instances of events occurring, and contrasting with “twice.” Odată appears in set phrases like A fost odată… (“Once upon a time…”), and it has the meaning of “at some point” or “a moment in time.” 

Romanian also has no shortage of false friends with English and other European languages. Cămin in Romanian refers to a school dormitory, while kamin in Russian means “fireplace.” 

Comercial in Romanian isn’t an English advertisement; instead, it only means “related to business.” And much like French, smoking in Romanian is a noun meaning “tuxedo” in English! 

3. Just How Free is Romanian Word Order?

Romanian is said to have pretty free word order, but there are a couple of things you ought to pay attention to.

First off, in Romanian, the adjective tends to go after the noun, except in certain cases for emphasis. This is something that really has to be learned slowly through lots of exposure—it won’t be a mistake if you switch the order all the time, but it will certainly sound strange to Romanian ears.

Second, Romanian questions don’t usually invert the word order like questions in English or French do. Questions are made like they are in Spanish, with just a change in intonation signifying the difference between a question and a statement.

Another interesting thing about Romanian words is specifically related to talking about your age. For numbers above nineteen, you have to include de when saying the number:

• Am 23 de ani.
  “I am 23 years old.”

However, for ages under twenty, you omit the de.

• Ai 15 ani.
  “You are fifteen.”

You might think that you don’t have to pay attention to this if you’re over twenty, but watch out for it when talking about other people—or indeed, when you’re describing things that happened in the past! 

4. Hit the Grammar Books

As fun as it may be to speak Romanian, there are a lot of different grammar complexities to get stuck in.

Chief among these is probably the verb system, the source of many a mistake in Romanian. Romanian has one of the most complicated verb paradigms of all the Indo-European languages!

Most learners are able to handle the basics of conjugation reliably enough, but then they start looking like a deer in the headlights when asked to handle the rarer tenses.

For instance, ar face is the conjugation for “he/she would do,” while o face is for “he/she might do.” How easily can you keep them straight?

A super-effective way to practice these is with cloze tests, where you take a paragraph of text and blank out the verb endings and try to figure out what they should be. Native speakers can usually do extremely well on these (barring some arbitrary cases) because they have a whole lifetime of language context to draw from.

5. Miscellaneous Errors

There are two final things to cover in this article that don’t really fit anywhere else. These mistakes in Romanian can make a big difference in how you, as a learner, are perceived when you speak or write Romanian.

First is the politeness aspect. Other European languages have formal and informal pronouns as well, but English doesn’t. For that reason, it’s always a little bit tough to get used to.

Another thing that’s pretty unique about Romanian is how it’s written online—people leave out the accents all the time. If you look at writing in German or Swedish online, people always spell the words correctly with the umlauts and accent marks.

For some cultural reason, a sizable portion of the text you see on Romanian websites and Internet comments comes completely without accents!

It kind of makes sense if you think about it. Everyone’s expected to understand, because native Romanian-speakers know the language perfectly in their heads and so they won’t ever get confused. Learners, though, have to deal with an extra step.

Either avoid online writing completely until you’re quite comfortable with Romanian and know exactly where the words should go, or check with a native speaker or dictionary to make sure you don’t learn the wrong form of each word!

6. The Biggest Mistake in Romanian Learning

It might give you pause when you first arrive in Cluj or Bucharest and hear the locals speaking to you in what sounds like absolutely flawless English. Romanian-speakers grow up watching American TV and listening to American pop music, and they tend to speak English quite confidently.

That can be really demotivating as a learner who’s just ready to start having conversations! You might feel like you shouldn’t even try your Romanian.

But that’s actually a pretty bad idea.

You’ll not only have a stressful time in Romania holding yourself to a really high standard, but you’ll also associate Romanian itself with that stress and keep worrying too much to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

7. Conclusion

Remember how the locals learned really good English? They kept at it for years and years growing up, naturally gravitating toward English-language media for their own entertainment. As an English-speaker, you’re actually a bit spoiled in a way, since the hottest TV and music is in English anyway!

But you can do the same with Romanian. You just have to put in the time.

Fortunately, RomanianPod101 offers a wonderful selection of podcasts in Romanian, from beginner to advanced levels. And that’s not even mentioning the vocabulary lists, pronunciation guides, video lessons, and flashcards!

Now that you’re aware of some of the pitfalls that can trip you up in Romanian, you just need to keep an eye out as you fill your hours with Romanian media. Before long, you’ll look back and wonder what you were ever worrying about!

What common Romanian mistakes do you struggle with the most? We look forward to hearing from you!

There’s a shortcut to Romanian fluency.

Well, not really. But there’s a great framework that can get you having comfortable conversations very quickly.

You see, people tend to have the same conversations with language-learners over and over. You introduce yourself, say where you’re from, and then probably ask why they’re learning that particular language.

And questions, naturally, are a big part of that. The whole conversation is a big back-and-forth of questions and answers.

If you want to get yourself speaking automatically in conversations, then you should take a look at the most common Romanian questions and answers. You’ll impress your conversation partner, and with that comes great motivation to keep pushing yourself to learn more.

Table of Contents

1. Start with Yourself
2. The Place You Call Home
3. Linguistic Difficulties
4. Following Up About Romanian
5. The Burning Question for Romanian-Learners
6. A Question for the Future Traveler
7. A Taste of Romania
8. Do This, Not That
9. Life Back Home
10. The Price is Right
11. Conclusion

1. Start with Yourself

When you start introducing yourself in Romanian, you’ll want to know your interlocutor’s name! 

• Care este numele tău?
  “What’s your name?”

• Cum te cheamă?
  “What’s your name?”

Right off the bat, we have two separate yet equivalent ways to ask someone for their name in Romanian. The first is pretty literal, translating nearly word-for-word into English. The only difference is that the word order for numele tău is switched, as is typical with Romanian possessive pronouns. 

The second is similar to French, Spanish, and Italian: “What do you call yourself?”

To round it off, we can actually respond in a different way entirely.

• Mă numesc Rosa.
  “My name is Rosa.”

2. The Place You Call Home

Although it’s a beautiful place, Romania isn’t nearly as much of a tourist destination as some of its neighboring countries, and Moldova is even less so. Therefore, people will definitely want to know where you’re from. This is one of those typical questions in Romanian that a foreigner can expect to hear a lot. 

• De unde ești?
  “Where are you from?”

This is a classic Romance language construction. Unde means “where,” and so de unde means “from where?” Look what happens to the preposition here:

• Sunt din Albania.
  “I’m from Albania.”

In addition, you can give your nationality instead of saying where you’re from. In that case, remember that if you’re writing in Romanian, you shouldn’t capitalize nationality names.

• Sunt indian.
  “I’m an Indian.”

3. Linguistic Difficulties

When visiting a Romanian-speaking country, you probably won’t need this question, but stop for a moment and think about when you might hear or be able to use this:

• Știi să vorbești românește?
  “Do you know how to speak Romanian?”

Of course, you can swap out românește for any other language.

The answer depends on your comfort level with that particular language. Here are answers you might get if you flip the script and start asking people about their English ability:

• Nu pot vorbi bine engleză.
  “I can’t speak English well.”

• Da, desigur.
  “Yes, of course.”

4. Following Up About Romanian

Whether you’re tripping over your words or speaking elegant prose, the idea that a foreigner would invest a serious amount of time into studying the Romanian language is rather baffling to most people, to put it frankly.

As soon as you mention that you’re a learner, you’re bound to get this follow-up:

• De cât timp studiați limba română?
  “How long have you been studying Romanian?”

You’ll note that the preposition de, meaning “since” or “from,” was also used in an earlier question to refer to physical space. Now, we’re literally saying “from which time?”

Interestingly enough, we don’t need to say “since” or “for” in our answers to this question. Just the amount of time is enough.

• Am studiat limba română doi ani.
  “I’ve studied Romanian for two years.”

• Am început să studiez anul acesta.
  “I started studying this year.”

5. The Burning Question for Romanian-Learners

We’ve established the fact that you’re learning and how long you’ve been learning, but the question that most people are holding back the entire time is “Why?” Statistically speaking, you probably don’t have to be learning Romanian.

And so not many people do—which makes you special.

• De ce înveți limba română?
  “Why are you learning Romanian?”

Now, this is a question that can get you started on all kinds of tangents. Here are a couple of sentences to get you started:

• Pentru că țara este frumoasă.
  “Because the country is beautiful.”

• Pentru că limba română sună frumos.
  “Because the Romanian language sounds beautiful.”

• Soțul meu este român.
  “My husband is Romanian.”

This particular question is practically guaranteed to come up, so one excellent study strategy would be to map out different responses that you could possibly have. When you do get asked, you can easily toss out a phrase and make a grand impression.

6. A Question for the Future Traveler

So, we’ve gone over questions that you’re likely to be asked in Romania or Moldova. How about outside of those places?

Interestingly enough, if you start up a conversation with a Romanian speaker outside of their home country, they’ll probably be significantly more talkative and curious about you. After all, they’re certainly not expecting you to speak their language! You should be prepared for Romanian questions like this one:

• Ai fost în România?
  “Have you been to Romania?”

Note that we don’t say “to Romania,” but instead “in Romania.” This is the same structure you would use in German.

• Nu încă!
  “Not yet!”

• Vreau să merg anul viitor.
  “I want to go next year.”

7. A Taste of Romania

Romanian cuisine is unfairly overlooked across Europe and the rest of the world. Most people couldn’t name a single dish! 

It’s likely that you’ll stay in a small bed-and-breakfast if you end up outside one of the main cities. In that case, your host will almost certainly interrogate you about your opinions on Romanian cooking.

• Îți place mâncarea românească?
  “Do you like Romanian food?”

If the answer is yes, it’s wise, of course, to name something typically Romanian.

• Da, îmi place mămăliga.
  “Yes, I love polenta.”

But if you’re panicking and nothing comes to mind:

• Totul este delicios!
  “Everything is delicious!”

8. Do This, Not That

People learning Romanian by themselves are, no doubt, used to the effort required in finding good things to watch online.

One of the benefits of watching Romanian TV or videos online is that you’ll get exposed to the most common questions and answers over and over and over. Plus, you’ll get to see the body language and hear the responses that go along with it. It just so happens that a lot of these are questions that you can use with Romanian friends!

• Ce faci?
  “What are you doing?”

• Nu fac nimic.
  “I’m not doing anything.”

In this example, you can see the classic double negation that’s present in Romanian. Literally, you’re saying “I’m not doing nothing.” There’s no sense of it “canceling out” like it would in English; instead, it’s just a regular old negative.

• Ești ocupat?
  “Are you busy?”

• Nu, doar citesc.
  “No, I’m just reading.”

9. Life Back Home

As you get to know Romanians more and more, your small talk will become a little more personal.

In Romanian culture, family and familial ties tend to take on a little bit more importance than they do in  American or English culture. Therefore, it’s pretty commonplace to ask about how someone’s family is doing.

• Ce mai face familia ta?
  “How is your family?”

That ce mai face part can’t really be translated literally, but you can interpret it as a set phrase meaning “how is someone.” Note too, of course, that “your family” has a reversed word order in Romanian, becoming familia ta.

Here are a couple of examples of responses you might offer:

• Sora mea se căsătorește. 
  “My sister is getting married.”

• Toată lumea este sănătoasă!
  “Everyone is healthy!”

10. The Price is Right

Although Romania isn’t really a place where you bargain for prices, knowing how to ask for the price is a valuable skill wherever you go. If you’re into hitchhiking (like many Romanians are), then that would be a perfect time to ask about money.

• Cât costă aceasta?
  “How much is it?”

The word cât simply means “how many,” and costă is an easy cognate for “to cost” in English. You can expect the answer to be given in one of two ways. One way is with a full sentence using the verb a fi, meaning “to be,” or a costa. The other way is for the person to just give the number itself.

• Este două sute de lei.
  “It’s two hundred lei.”

Remember that for numbers over twenty, the rules change ever so slightly: you have to add de! But to get around that, just say the number without saying what it is.

• Șaptezeci.
  “Seventy.”

11. Conclusion

Now that you’re familiar with a solid handful of Romanian questions and answers, why not look for more on your own?

Go to the most popular YouTube channels in Romania or the Instagrams of Romanian influencers, and see what people are asking and answering.

Those little mini-conversations can be the perfect framework to help you get comfortable with Romanian interactions, and you’ll soon be following the native-speaker content like it’s nothing.

Or better yet, why comb through YouTube comments at all? By signing up for RomanianPod101, you can get access to podcasts with transcripts (itself a rarity in Romanian learning), vocabulary lists, and grammar resources all in one place, carefully selected and graded for your convenience.

These questions are really just the tip of the iceberg for your Romanian conversation preparation. Sign up with RomanianPod101 today and unleash your potential!

Before you go, practice right away by trying to answer one or more of the questions from this article in Romanian! We look forward to hearing from you.

Why take a Romanian language proficiency test? Well, let me paint you a picture:

From the moment you laid eyes on the mountains, villages, cities, and beaches of Romania, you knew it had to be yours.

The language took some time to learn, of course, and there were ups and downs along the way.

But now you speak Romanian quite well. You read the latest news in Romanian, you have a hilarious Romanian group chat going, and you know more Romanian bands than the locals do.

And as luck would have it, one day you hear about a job that you’d love to do—right in your favorite Romanian city.

The only catch? The hiring manager won’t even look at your application if you don’t have some kind of Romanian language certificate.

Now, this scenario is a little bit contrived. But getting a job or residency is one of the main reasons you might want to take a Romanian language exam—and this article is going to show you how to do it.

Table of Contents

1. Finding a Romanian Test in Romania
2. At a Romanian University
3. The Romanian OPI Test
4. The FIDES Exam
5. The ILR Exam
6. Don’t Lose Time in Preparing for Your Exam
7. Conclusion

1. Finding a Romanian Test in Romania

As it turns out, the Romanian language exam for residency permits is a quick test conducted at the immigration office, and some officers may not even administer it.

However, there’s a reasonable number of smaller Romanian proficiency tests that you can try your hand at, and since they come from reputable institutions, they’ll be recognized wherever you need them.

And besides, perhaps you don’t even want to use your Romanian skills in the country of Romania itself. Big cities in the United States sometimes have hundreds of thousands of Romanian-Americans, and since a change in the law in 2014, the number of Romanians in the United Kingdom has more than doubled.

Having a Romanian qualification on your resume can help significantly if you’d like a job at a Romanian-owned business abroad, or a job in the public sector working with Romanians (think court interpreter or social worker).

Let’s have a look at the different Romanian language exams available to you! 

2. At a Romanian University

They’re not shy about multilingualism at Romanian universities, that’s for certain. You can study degree programs in English, French, German, Hungarian, and of course, Romanian.

If you want to get a degree in a subject only offered in Romanian—more than half of the degree programs offered at the Bachelor’s level at the biggest universities are in Romanian—you’d better prove your worth with a language exam.

Lucky for you, both the University of Bucharest and Babeș-Boylai University offer Romanian courses and certificates for you to use later on in your academic career.

If Cluj is your style, you can head there a year early and take what they call a “Romanian Preparatory Year,” where you take two semesters’ worth of courses to get to the B2 level. 

They’ve devised their own test, which is totally free to take. The test is split into two sections: a written part and an oral test. The written part is considered the most difficult one because it has four sub-sections: listening, reading, communication constructions, and, of course, writing. Since there isn’t a flood of people taking this exam, they can afford to interview you one-on-one for the oral section. The maximum number of points you can get for this exam is 100.

In addition to what you’d expect in terms of reading, writing, listening, and grammar, you’ll also be asked to describe pictures and summarize what you see. 

In less than a week, you can find your test results and celebrate your accomplishments with your Romanian friends.

The best way to practice for this is to try watching Romanian documentaries—or failing that, reading Romanian subtitles on English documentaries with the sound turned off! 

Of course, the University of Bucharest offers its own program along similar lines if you prefer capital-city life. Its program crams an intensive language course into the first semester, then focuses more on culture before making you sit an exam. 

That means if you have a language certificate from the University of Bucharest, you’ll definitely be prepared to discuss Romanian culture! 

3. The Romanian OPI Test

The ACTFL is an American organization of foreign language educators, and they’ve devised an exam designed entirely for measuring proficiency in Romanian speaking. It’s called the OPI, or Oral Proficiency Interview. 

Its approach is unique, as you simply sign up for a specific time and date, dial the number of the assigned examiner, and have a conversation lasting between 15 and 30 minutes.

The examiner is trained to ask you questions and introduce you to scenarios that slowly stretch your language ability, becoming more and more difficult as the test goes on and you continue to do well. 

You’re rated at the end based on the ACTFL scale, a ten-level scale from “Novice Low” to “Superior.” 

And don’t think that you’ll score at the top end of the scale just because you know how to order a couple of beers. This is the same exam used by the diplomatic branches of the United States when it sends ambassadors and interpreters abroad. 

One classic strategy for the OPI is to prepare a consistent list of hobbies, interests, and experiences that you can talk about when pressed. 

The examiner doesn’t know you, and they’re not working off of a curriculum of set questions every year. 

Instead, they’ll use what you give them to increase the difficulty of the questions. For example, they may ask you to give more detailed descriptions of your hobbies, and perhaps analyze them critically and make guesses about what other people tend to do compared to you.

4. The FIDES Exam

FIDES is one of the oldest private foreign language schools in Romania, offering language classes to foreigners and locals alike. Similar to the universities mentioned above, they first offer a language course to get you familiar with Romanian, and then a language exam at the end that you can use as a certificate. 

Since they’re a language school, their main product is the courses, which can be taught in English, French, German, or Romanian, and taken as a group or individually.

The maximum course level offered is a B2.2, or a very high intermediate level. However, if you happen to speak very good Romanian already, they’ll be willing to arrange language courses and an exam at the C1 or C2 levels. If you pass the B2.2 test, you’ll get the “FIDES Language Proficiency Certificate,” which can help you qualify for a scholarship at a Romanian university.

5. The ILR Exam

The ILR is the Institutul Limbii Române, an arm of the Romanian Ministry of Education in Bucharest. 

They conduct the only nationally standardized Romanian exam, though it’s only offered twice a year in Bucharest at the headquarters of the Ministry. 

They also have partnerships with the Universities of Alicante, Granada, and Seville in Spain, but the tests are only held if ten or more people register.

Out of all the tests mentioned so far in this article, only this one actually publishes sample materials for each of its levels! Even if you plan on taking an exam from a different place, it would do you good to look over the sample exams and get familiar with some typical question formats and topics on a formal Romanian exam.

The oral section here is of note: You will be required to listen to a lecture or text and then discuss the issues raised with your examiner. 

If you want to practice this, one of the best ways would be to find a tutor and grab a newspaper or magazine. Have them read a short article aloud, and then, without referring back to the article, have a brief conversation or debate about the topic.

6. Don’t Lose Time in Preparing for Your Exam

Since these Romanian language proficiency exams are all oriented toward small populations, there are no published test prep books or mock exams that you can buy without taking one of the courses mentioned.

However, don’t be discouraged. If you’ve got a lot riding on your exam, put yourself in contact with the test center and ask if they can specifically recommend any materials or if they have advice for you.

And besides, there are skills you can practice that will help you with any kind of language exam.

First, you should have a wide vocabulary. Once you reach a certain level of understanding, it’s easy to let your vocabulary study slide in favor of just more reading or listening practice.

However, at the intermediate or advanced level, the most important words that you might miss on the exam  are the ones you might think you know, but actually don’t have a full grasp of. Do you know the difference between agoniseală (“personal income,” “fortune”) and câştig (“business income”)?

One of the most important exercises you can do for your Romanian speaking is summarization. Simply read an article in any language and then try to summarize it in Romanian—first in just one sentence, then in a few sentences, gradually adding more detail to increase the challenge.

There’s always a different way to present any piece of information, meaning that as you continue consuming Romanian content, you’ll naturally get practice describing and reformulating your ideas in tons of different ways. 

7. Conclusion

By now, you should feel much more confident in your ability to ace that exam! Did we answer your Romanian language proficiency test questions, or do you still need clarification on something? We look forward to hearing from you in the comments. 

Let’s take a moment to imagine how you might use RomanianPod101.com to prepare for that exam.

With a handful of clicks, you’ve got immediate access to tons of real-life native audio with transcriptions and vocab lists.

If your listening isn’t quite where you want it to be, then try making your own transcript of a short TV episode and then check what you wrote against what everybody was really saying.

And when you’re tired of actively studying, you can keep the hours and hours of podcasts playing in the background, meaning that whenever your mind wanders you get another good dose of Romanian listening to keep you on track.

With hundreds of lessons available right now and more on the way, you’ll be sure to be prepared for any topic on any exam paper that comes your way! Noroc!

You asked, so we provided—easy-to-follow instructions on how to set up your electronic devices to write in Romanian! We’ll also give you a few excellent tips on how to use this keyboard, as well as some online and app alternatives if you prefer not to set up a Romanian keyboard.

Table of Contents

1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Romanian
2. Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Romanian
3. How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer
4. How to Change the Language Settings to Romanian on Your Computer
5. Activating the Romanian Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet
6. Romanian Keyboard Typing Tips
7. How to Practice Typing Romanian

1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Romanian

Learning a new language is made so much easier when you’re able to read and write/type it. This way, you will:

• Get the most out of any dictionary and Romanian language apps on your devices
• Expand your ability to find Romanian websites and use the various search engines
• Be able to communicate much better online with your Romanian teachers and friends, and look super cool in the process! 

2. Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Romanian

It takes only a few steps to set up any of your devices to read and type in Romanian. It’s super-easy on your mobile phone and tablet, and a simple process on your computer.

On your computer, you’ll first activate the onscreen keyboard to work with. You’ll only be using your mouse or touchpad/pointer for this keyboard. Then, you’ll need to change the language setting to Romanian, so all text will appear in Romanian. You could also opt to use online keyboards instead. Read on for the links!

On your mobile devices, it’s even easier—you only have to change the keyboard. We also provide a few alternatives in the form of online keyboards and downloadable apps.

3. How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer

1- Mac

1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard.

2. Check the option “Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in Menu Bar.”

3. You’ll see a new icon on the right side of the main bar; click on it and select “Show Keyboard Viewer.”

2- Windows

1. Go to Start > Settings > Easy Access > Keyboard.

2. Turn on the option for “Onscreen Keyboard.”

3- Online Keyboards

If you don’t want to activate your computer’s onscreen keyboard, you also have the option to use online keyboards. Here are some good options:

• Gate2Home
• Branah

4- Add-ons of Extensions for Browsers

Instead of an online keyboard, you could also choose to download a Google extension to your browser for a language input tool. The Google Input Tools extension allows users to use input tools in Chrome web pages, for example.

4. How to Change the Language Settings to Romanian on Your Computer

Now that you’re all set to work with an onscreen keyboard on your computer, it’s time to download the Romanian language pack for your operating system of choice:

• Windows 8 (and higher)
• Windows 7
• Mac (OS X and higher)

1- Windows 8 (and higher)

1. Go to “Settings” > “Change PC Settings” > “Time & Language” > “Region & Language.”
2. Click on “Add a Language” and select “Romanian.” This will add it to your list of languages. It will appear as Română with the note “language pack available.”
3. Click on “Română” > “Options” > “Download.” It’ll take a few minutes to download and install the language pack.
4. As a keyboard layout, you’ll only need the one marked as “Romanian – Română.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts.

2- Windows 7

1. Go to “Start” > “Control Panel” > “Clock, Language, and Region.”
2. On the “Region and Language” option, click on “Change Keyboards or Other Input Methods.”
3. On the “Keyboards and Languages” tab, click on “Change Keyboards” > “Add” > “Romanian.”
4. Expand the option of “Romanian” and then expand the option “Keyboard.” Select the keyboard layout marked as “Romanian.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts. Click “OK” and then “Apply.”

3- Mac (OS X and higher)

If you can’t see the language listed, please make sure to select the right option from System Preferences > Language and Region

1. From the Apple Menu (top left corner of the screen) go to “System Preferences” > “Keyboard.”
2. Click the “Input Sources” tab and a list of available keyboards and input methods will appear.
3. Click on the plus button, select “Romanian,” and add the “Romanian-Standard” keyboard.

5. Activating the Romanian Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet

Texting and searching in Romanian will greatly help you master the language! Adding a Romanian keyboard on your mobile phone and/or tablet is super-easy.

You could also opt to download an app instead of adding a keyboard. Read on for our suggestions.

Below are the instructions for both iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets.

1- iOS

1. Go to “Settings” > “General” > “Keyboard.”
2. Tap “Keyboards” and then “Add New Keyboard.”
3. Select “Romanian” from the list.
4. When typing, you can switch between languages by tapping and holding on the icon to reveal the keyboard language menu.

2- Android

1. Go to “Settings” > “General Management” > “Language and Input” > “On-screen Keyboard” (or “Virtual Keyboard” on some devices) > “Samsung Keyboard.”
2. Tap “Language and Types” or “+ Select Input Languages” depending on the device, and then “MANAGE INPUT LANGUAGES” if available.
3. Select “Română” from the list.
4. When typing, you can switch between languages by swiping the space bar.

3- Applications for Mobile Phones

If you don’t want to add a keyboard on your mobile phone or tablet, these are a few good apps to consider:

• Gboard
• Romanian (Română) Language for AppsTech Keyboards

6. Romanian Keyboard Typing Tips

Typing in Romanian can be very challenging at first! Therefore, we added here a few useful tips to make it easier to use your Romanian keyboard.

1- Computer

• When your keyboard is set to Romanian, to type diacritics, you’ll have to use:
  • [ → ă
  • ] → î
  • → â
  • ; → ș
  • ‘ → ț
• To be able to type the uppercase versions, use “Shift” + the same keys.

2- Mobile Phones

• On mobile keyboards, in order to get access to diacritics, press the selected letter until the desired diacritic mark appears. For example, if you want to find “ă” or “â,” you should press the letter “a” and hold it for two to three seconds. For “ș,”press “s,” for “ț,” use the letter “t,” and for “î,” use “i.”.
• When choosing the diacritic marks, be very careful to get the right ones and not make some common mistakes. For Ă / ă choose the one with grave, not tilde or caron. For Ș /ș please choose the one with a comma below, and NOT the one with cedilla. Same thing for Ț / ț—the correct one is with comma and NOT with cedilla.

7. How to Practice Typing Romanian

As you probably know by now, learning Romanian is all about practice, practice, and more practice! Strengthen your Romanian typing skills by writing comments on any of our lesson pages, and our teacher will answer. If you’re a RomanianPod101 Premium PLUS member, you can directly text our teacher via the My Teacher app—use your Romanian keyboard to do this!

My first shot at language learning didn’t go so well. It was a high school foreign language course which I passed, but just barely. After high school I decided to take up language learning on my own, and at first the results were mixed.

Those early days were filled with discouragement, procrastination, and an inability to crack some of the toughest aspects of foreign grammar. But after a lot of trial and error I found my footing and became a successful language learner for the first time in my life.

In this article I share some of my hard learned lessons and give you 4 practical ways to be a successful Romanian learner. This tips will help you whether you’re learning Romanian, or another foreign language.

Enjoy!

1) Milk your time for all it’s worth

Perhaps the most vital asset you have at your disposal while learning Romanian is time. While it’s absolutely true that spending money isn’t required when learning a language, spending time definitely is. The learner who makes the most of their available hours and minutes throughout the week will yield the best return for their efforts.

If you’re like the rest of us, it’s probably difficult regularly to dedicate large amounts of time solely to learning Romanian. Studying for an hour a day or even thirty minutes can seem like wishful thinking. However even studying for an hour on a daily basis might be more possible than you think.

Start thinking of your daily hour of learning as something that can be spread throughout your day. Most likely there are small gaps of time sprinkled through your busy schedule that you can use to learn Romanian. It might be the ten minutes you spend waiting for the metro, the thirty minutes you have on your lunch break, or even the five minutes you spend in line at a store or restaurant.

A simple Romanian podcast, flashcard app, or even an online tutor, will make a huge impact on your language ability if you use them consistently (even if it’s just five or ten minutes at a time).

2) Focus on one learning method

Romanian definitely isn’t the most popular foreign language for native English speakers. Even so, there are still a considerable amount of options when it comes to courses and learning materials. Having an array of options is great, but as a new learner be careful not to fall into the shiny course trap.

Every course and site out there will tell you it’s the best or fastest way to learn Romanian. While each course has its merits, remember that one of the most important factors in language learning isn’t the specific course or method you choose. Rather it’s the discipline and consistency with which you use your chosen course or method.

You’re going to hit hurdles while studying Romanian. But don’t think that just because you’re struggling with verb inflection or grammatical cases, that another Romanian course will solve all of your problems. Stick with your chosen course or method for at least a few months before switching to another. Otherwise you run the risk of hopping from course to course, which can be very detrimental to your progress.

3) Use your knowledge of other languages

If you’re a native English speaker then you have a slight edge when learning Romanian. Romanian comes from the Romance language family (which also includes French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian). While this language is a different one from the West Germanic family that English belongs to, English still shares some commonalities with the romance languages.

A big reason for this because both English and the romance languages were influenced by Latin. As a result you’ll find words in both English and Romanian that sound and or look similar. Also, because English has become such an international language you will find that a lot of modern Romanian words (like “internet” for example) are taken directly from English.

Remember too that If you have any sort of background in the other romance languages, you will have even more of an edge while learning Romanian.

4) Study Romanian step by step

When you first start learning a foreign language, odds are that you’re very excited. You’ve chosen which learning materials you’ll use, and you see no reason why you can’t practice the language two or three hours a day! At first it really does seem you can learn the language in no time at all. The world of language learning looks like nothing but a big bright opportunity.

That enthusiasm will last you a few days until it wears off. Then you’ll hit your first roadblock in Romanian grammar, pronunciation, or some other aspect of the language, and you’ll be tempted with discouragement. If you’re like me that discouragement could lead you to procrastinate. You’ll put off your hour of study until tomorrow, then the next day, and so on. Before you know it you haven’t practiced Romanian for several weeks!

Discouragement is one of the toughest obstacles when learning a foreign language, and few people even talk about it. Thankfully though, getting past discouragement while learning Romanian isn’t as hard as you might think. Most people new to a foreign language make the mistake of trying to devour an entire language right away. They’re excited, which is great, but they tend to underestimate how much work it will take to gain any level of proficiency in their target language.

Learning Romanian is a marathon, not a sprint. Rather than trying to learn all of the grammar, vocabulary, etc at one time, break things down into more digestible chunks. When you come across a new or difficult aspect of the language, focus only on that aspect for awhile. It could a day or even a week, but don’t move on until you’re comfortable with it.

This process of learning step by step, might feel slow, but in the long run it is much more efficient. You want to look at each new grammar rule or vocabulary words as a brick in your language learning foundation. If you patiently work your way through Romanian brick by brick, you’ll be able to excel much faster once you reach a higher proficiency level.

Conclusion

Anyone who tells you that learning Romanian is easy is lying. Learning any foreign language is difficult, and it will take some time. However becoming fluent in Romanian is a far cry away from being impossible. With some practice and a good dose of determination you will be successful. The language that once seemed so strange and difficult will start to feel natural and enjoyable. Keep your head up. A little perseverance will go a long way!

Can You Really Learn Romanian Alone?

Learning a language on your own or without traditional classroom instruction may seem quite daunting at first. What if you run into questions? How do you stay motivated and on track to achieving goals?

Don’t worry, not only is it possible to learn Romanian or any language without traditional classroom instruction: RomanianPod101 has created the world’s most advanced and extensive online language learning system. Not only is RomanianPod101 specifically designed to help you with learning a language on your own, it’s actually faster, more convenient, and less expensive than traditional classroom options!

Let’s look at some of the benefits of learning Romanian or any language alone.

Also, don’t forget to download your free cheat sheet – How to Improve Your Language Skills too!

3 Reasons to Learn a Language Alone

1. Learn at Your Own Pace and On Your Schedule

In today’s fast-paced world, there just isn’t time for traditional classroom instruction. Between getting to class and studying on some professor or teacher’s schedule, traditional classroom learning is simply impossible to fit in. But when you learn Romanian alone, you can study in bed if you like and whenever suits your schedule best, making it far easier to actually reach your goal of learning and mastering the language.

2. Learning a Language on Your Own Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Speaking in front of a class, pop quizzes, and tests are just a few of the stressors you will encounter when you learn a language in a traditional classroom setting. Specifically, these are external stressors that often derail most people’s dream of learning a new language. But when you learn Romanian alone, there are no external stressors. Without the external stress and anxiety, it becomes much easier and more exciting to study Romanian and reach your very own goals—all on your own!

3. Learning Romanian Alone Helps Improve Cognitive Function and Overall Success

Learning a language on your own is indeed more challenging in some ways than being taught in a traditional classroom setting. In fact, while classroom instruction requires more rote memorization and following instructions, studying a language on your own requires more problem-solving and higher cognitive function to self-teach lessons and hit goals. So while it’s more challenging and requires higher levels of cognition, teaching yourself a language pays dividends throughout life by better preparing you for social/work opportunities that arise.

How to Learn a Language on Your Own with RomanianPod101

1. Access to the World’s Largest Collection of Romanian Audio & Video Lessons

The best way to learn a language on your own is to study from native speaking instructors. Ideally, you want audio and/or video lessons that teach vocabulary, grammar, and provide actual Romanian conversations and dialogue to help you with pronunciation. RomanianPod101 has hundreds of hours of HD audio and video lessons created by real Romanian instructors and every lesson is presented by professional Romanian actors for perfect pronunciation. Plus, all lessons can be accessed 24/7 via any mobile device with Internet access. And, if you download the PDF versions of each lesson, you can even study without Internet access once the lesson is stored on your device!

2. “Learning Paths” with Romanian Courses Based Upon Your Exact Needs & Goals

Although RomanianPod101 has more than thousands of video and audio lessons, you need not review each and every one to learn the language. In fact, RomanianPod101 has developed a feature called “Learning Paths”. You simply tell us your goals and we will identify the best courses and study plan to help you reach them in the shortest time possible. So even though you are technically learning a language on your own, our team is always here to help and make sure you reach your goals FAST!

3. Advanced Learning Tools Reduce Learning Time and Boost Retention

When you have the right tools and Romanian learning resources, it’s actually easy to teach yourself a language! In the past 10+ years, RomanianPod101 has developed, tested, and refined more than 20 advanced learning tools to boost retention and reduce learning time, including:

• Spaced Repetition Flashcards
• Line-by-Line Dialogue Breakdown
• Review Quizzes
• Voice Recording Tools to Help Perfect Pronunciation
• Teacher Feedback and Comments for Each Lesson
• Romanian Dictionary with Pronunciation
• Free PDF Cheat Sheets
• And Much More!

Armed with our growing collection of advanced learning tools, it’s truly a breeze to learn Romanian alone and reach your goals!

Conclusion

Learning a language on your own is not only possible, it’s actually easier and more beneficial for you than traditional classroom instruction. In fact, when you learn Romanian on your own you can study at your own pace, eliminate stress, and actually increase cognitive function.

RomanianPod101 is the world’s most advanced online language learning system and a great resource to help you teach yourself a new language. With the world’s largest collection of HD audio and video lessons, more than 20 advanced learning tools, and customized “Learning Paths”, RomanianPod101 makes learning a new language easier, more convenient, and less expensive than traditional classroom instruction.

And the best part is: With RomanianPod101, you can study in bed, your car, or wherever you have a few spare minutes of time. Create your Free Lifetime Account now and get a FREE ebook to help “kickstart” your dream of learning a language on your own below!

Yes, even beginners can quickly learn conversational Romanian well enough to carry on real conversations with native speakers. Of course, beginners won’t be able to carry a conversation the same way they could in their native language. But, just knowing a few tips like which questions to ask to keep a conversation going are all you need to speak and interact with real native speakers! But before we get to specific suggestions, let’s first take a closer look at how having real Romanian conversations is so vital to your mastery of the language.

Learning to Carry a Conversation is Vital to Mastery of Any Language

Communicating with other people is the very point of language and conversation is almost second nature in our native tongue. For beginners or anyone learning a new language, conversations aren’t easy at all and even simple Romanian greetings can be intimidating and awkward.

However, there are 3 vital reasons why you should learn conversational Romanian as quickly as possible:

• Avoid Awkward Silences: Nothing kills a conversation faster than long periods of awkward silence, so you need practice and specific strategies to avoid them.
• Improve the Flow of Conversation to Make a Better Impression: When you know what to say to keep a conversation going, communication becomes much easier and you make a better impression on your listener.
• Master the Language Faster: Nothing will help you learn to speak Romanian faster and truly master the language than having real conversations with native speakers. Conversations quickly expose you to slang, cultural expressions, and vocabulary that force you to absorb and assimilate information faster than any educational setting—and that’s a great thing!

But how can you possibly have real conversations with real Romanian people if you are just starting out?

3 Conversation Strategies for Beginners

1. Ask Questions to Keep a Conversation Going

For beginners and even more advanced speakers, the key is to learn to ask questions to keep a conversation going. Of course, they can’t be just random questions or else you may confuse the listener. But, by memorizing a few key questions and the appropriate time to use them, you can easily carry a conversation with minimal vocabulary or experience. And remember, the more Romanian conversations you have, the quicker you will learn and master the language!

2. Learn Core Vocabulary Terms as Quickly as Possible

You don’t need to memorize 10,000’s of words to learn conversational Romanian. In fact, with just a couple hundred Romanian words you could have a very basic Romanian conversation. And by learning maybe 1,000-2,000 words, you could carry a conversation with a native speaker about current events, ordering in restaurants, and even getting directions.

3. Study Videos or Audio Lessons that You Can Play and Replay Again and Again

If you want to know how to carry a conversation in Romanian, then you need exposure to native speakers—and the more the better. Ideally, studying video or audio lessons is ideal because they provide contextualized learning in your native language and you can play them again and again until mastery.

RomanianPod101 Makes it Easier and More Convenient Than Ever to Learn Conversational Romanian

For more than 10 years, RomanianPod101 has been helping students learn to speak Romanian by creating the world’s most advanced online language learning system. Here are just a few of the specific features that will help you learn conversational Romanian fast using our proven system:

• The Largest Collection of HD Video & Audio Lessons from Real Romanian Instructors: RomanianPod101 instructors have created hundreds of video and audio lessons that you can play again and again. And the best part is: They don’t just teach you Romanian vocabulary and grammar, they are designed to help you learn to speak Romanian and teach you practical everyday topics like shopping, ordering, etc!
• Pronunciation Tools: Use this feature to record and compare yourself with native speakers to quickly improve your pronunciation and fluency!
• 2000 Common Romanian Words: Also known as our Core List, these 2,000 words are all you need to learn to speak fluently and carry a conversation with a native speaker!

In all, more than 20 advanced learning tools help you quickly build vocabulary and learn how to carry a conversation with native speakers—starting with your very first lesson.

Conclusion

Although it may seem intimidating for a beginner, the truth is that it is very easy to learn conversational Romanian. By learning a few core vocabulary terms and which questions to ask to keep a conversation going, just a little practice and exposure to real Romanian conversations or lessons is all it really takes. RomanianPod101 has created the world’s largest online collection of video and audio lessons by real instructors plus loads of advanced tools to help you learn to speak Romanian and carry a conversation quickly.

Act now and we’ll also include a list of the most commonly used questions to keep a conversation going so you can literally get started immediately!

Today, classrooms are no longer the only or even best place to learn a new language like Romanian. More and more people are finding that they can easily learn a language just about anywhere they have a few minutes of spare time, including their daily commute to work. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American spends over 50 minutes a day commuting to and from work, or over 300 hours a year.

Rethinking Your Daily Commute to Work

But rather than simply sitting in traffic and wasting the time, you can instead use your daily commute to literally learn Romanian in just a few short months! RomanianPod101 has developed specialized learning tools that you can use on your commute to work (and home again) to master the language in your spare time. Keep reading to learn how to get your free audiobook to use on your next commute so you can see for yourself how easy it is to transform “dead time” into realizing your dream of learning a new language!

But before we look at how to transform your commute home into a mini-classroom, let’s take a closer look at 4 reasons why traditional classroom settings just aren’t the best option for most people in today’s fast-paced world.

• Difficulty Getting to and From Class
• Learning on Someone Else’s Schedule
• Very Expensive and May Cost $1,000’s to Complete
• Can Take Years to Finally Complete Classes and Learn the Language

The simple truth is that traditional classroom instruction is simply not a viable option for most people in today’s very fast-paced, time-starved world. Now let’s examine how you can learn a language faster, more easily, and at far less expense than traditional classes—all during your commute to work and back home again!

3 Reasons Your Daily Commute Can Help You Master a Language

1. The Average Commute Time is More than 300 Hours Per Year

Between the commute to work and getting back home again, over 6 hours a week is completely wasted and not helping you reach any goals or objectives. But thanks to online language learning platforms with audiobooks and other resources that you can access during your commute, you can easily transform wasted time into tangible progress towards learning a new language. With over 300 hours available annually, your daily commute could provide you with enough time to literally master a new language each and every year!

2. Increase Your Earning Potential While Commuting to Work

How would you like to transform all those spare commuting hours each week into more money for a new car, house, or even a dream vacation? According to research, someone making $30,000 per year can boost their annual income by $600 or more per year by learning a second language. Added up over the course of a lifetime, you can boost your total earnings by $70,000 or more while achieving your dream of learning a new language during your daily commute!

How? From work-at-home translation jobs to working overseas, there are many ways to leverage your second language into more money in your bank account! So instead of wasting your precious time, you can make your commute more productive and profitable and the more languages you learn, the higher your income potential.

3. Repetition is Key to Mastering a New Language

Not sure if it’s practical to learn another language while commuting to and from work each day? Well not only is it possible—learning in your car on the way to and from work each day can actually help you learn and master Romanian or any language much faster! The simple truth is that repetition is absolutely vital to truly internalizing and mastering any language. So, if you listen to audiobooks or even audio lessons on your commute to work and then repeat the same lesson on your commute home, the information is more likely to be “locked-in” to your long-term memory!

5 Ways RomanianPod101 Makes It Easy to Learn a Language On Your Commute

RomanianPod101 has been helping people just like yourself learn and master Romanian in the comfort of their home, during their daily commute, or any place they have a few minutes of spare time. Here are five features provided by RomanianPod101 that make it easy to learn a new language while commuting to and from work:

1. The Largest Collection of Audio Lessons on Planet by Native Speaking Instructors
Every single week, RomanianPod101 creates new audio lessons by native speaking instructors. All lessons are short, to the point, and guaranteed to improve your mastery of Romanian.

2. Word of the Day
Simply exposing yourself to new information and vocabulary terms helps increase your fluency and mastery of Romanian. So every single day, RomanianPod101 adds a new Word of the Day for you to learn and memorize during your commute.

3. Daily Dose Mini-Lessons
Have a short commute to work but still want to make progress towards learning and mastering Romanian? Not a problem! Our Daily Dose Mini-Lessons are 1-minute or less and designed to improve your grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

4. All Content Available on a Convenient Mobile App
You don’t need a PC or tablet to learn Romanian during your daily commute. At RomanianPod101, all of our lessons, tools, and resources are available 24/7 via our Mobile App. That means you can access all of our audio lessons and other tools during your commute to work or any time you have a few spare moments!

5. Audiobooks and Other Supplemental Resources
In addition to the world’s largest online collection of HD audio lessons, RomanianPod101 has also created several audiobooks to enhance your understanding and make it more convenient than ever to learn a language during your commute!

Conclusion

The average commute time of most Americans is over 300 hours each year and it’s the perfect opportunity to learn and master a new language. In fact, you can use the “dead time” during your daily commute to learn a new language and potentially boost your lifetime earnings by up to $70,000 or more! Whatever your motivation, RomanianPod101 has the tools and resources necessary to help you learn a new language each year during your commute to and from work. Act now and we’ll even provide you with a free audiobook to try out on your next commute!