Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Dana: Hi everyone, and welcome back to RomanianPod101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 9 - Talking About Your Plans in Romanian. Dana Here.
Mihai: Bună. I'm Mihai.
Dana: In this lesson, you’ll learn some expressions of comparison. The conversation takes place downtown.
Mihai: It's between Mihai and Masanobu.
Dana: The speakers are friends; therefore, they will speak informal Romanian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Mihai: Masanobu, aș vrea să merg la studii în Japonia.
Masanobu: Da? Mă bucur să aud asta!
Mihai: Bineînțeles, este o țară atât de interesantă! Trebuie să strâng bani.
Masanobu: Cred că pentru tine e mai ușor să obții o bursă.
Mihai: Ești sigur? Nu este greu?
Masanobu: Este, dar sunt sigur că tu poți, ar trebui să dai examenul pentru bursă.
Mihai: Mulțumesc mult de sfat, încerc!
Dana: Listen to the conversation one more time, slowly.
Mihai: Masanobu, aș vrea să merg la studii în Japonia.
Masanobu: Da? Mă bucur să aud asta!
Mihai: Bineînțeles, este o țară atât de interesantă! Trebuie să strâng bani.
Masanobu: Cred că pentru tine e mai ușor să obții o bursă.
Mihai: Ești sigur? Nu este greu?
Masanobu: Este, dar sunt sigur că tu poți, ar trebui să dai examenul pentru bursă.
Mihai: Mulțumesc mult de sfat, încerc!
Dana: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Mihai: Masanobu, I'd like to go study in Japan.
Masanobu: Really? I'm glad to hear that!
Mihai: Of course, it's such an interesting country. I need to raise money.
Masanobu: I think it's easier for you to obtain a scholarship.
Mihai: Are you sure? Isn't it difficult?
Masanobu: It is, but I'm sure you can do it. You should take the scholarship exam.
Mihai: Thank you for the advice, I'll give it a try.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Dana: We heard in this lesson about studying abroad, but what about studying in Romania?
Mihai: Romanians consider education to be a national priority, so the education system is under the protection of the Constitution.
Dana: Let’s talk about higher education, in particular.
Mihai: Overall, there are more than one hundred higher education institutions, with an almost equal number of public and private universities.
Dana: So 50% of students are in public universities, and 50% in private?
Mihai: Actually no, only 20% are in private universities, despite them totalling half.
Dana: Are Romanian universities good?
Mihai: In the 2017 Global University Ranking, there were only four Romanian Universities present on the list.
Dana: Is that what leads to studying abroad?
Mihai: Maybe. About a tenth of the students study abroad, and it’s partly due to being able to attend high-class universities in the US and the EU.
Dana: What about students coming to study in Romania?
Mihai: There have been many over the last decade, especially for study programs in Computer Science, Medicine, and Engineering.
Dana: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Dana: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Mihai: studiu [natural native speed]
Dana: study
Mihai: studiu[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: studiu [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: a auzi [natural native speed]
Dana: to hear
Mihai: a auzi[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a auzi [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: bineînțeles [natural native speed]
Dana: of course
Mihai: bineînțeles[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: bineînțeles [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: pentru [natural native speed]
Dana: for
Mihai: pentru[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: pentru [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: ușor [natural native speed]
Dana: easy
Mihai: ușor[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: ușor [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: bursă [natural native speed]
Dana: scholarship
Mihai: bursă[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: bursă [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: a strânge [natural native speed]
Dana: to raise
Mihai: a strânge[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a strânge [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: bani [natural native speed]
Dana: money
Mihai: bani[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: bani [natural native speed]
Dana: Next we have..
Mihai: sfat [natural native speed]
Dana: advice
Mihai: sfat[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: sfat [natural native speed]
Dana: And last..
Mihai: a se bucura [natural native speed]
Dana: to be glad
Mihai: a se bucura[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Mihai: a se bucura [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Dana: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Mihai: la studii
Dana: Meaning "to study."
Mihai: It’s an expression made out of the preposition la, "to," and the neuter noun studii.
Dana: This is “studies” in its plural form. So it translates literally to “to study.”
Mihai: This refers to studying somewhere other than the place that the person is living.
Dana: Like studying abroad.
Mihai: It is also common to use the conjunctive form să studieze.
Dana: Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Aș merge la studii în străinătate.
Dana: ..which means "I wish to go study abroad.”
Dana: Okay, what's the next word?
Mihai: Mă bucur să...
Dana: Meaning "I'm glad to..."
Dana: This is an expression made from a reflexive verb.
Mihai: Yes, it’s from a se bucura, meaning “to be glad.” Next is the conjunction să.
Dana: This is a conjunction that means “to.”
Mihai: And mă is the reflexive pronoun for the first person singular, used to create the reflexive form of the verb.
Dana: The phrase literally means “I am glad to.” It’s used to express the speaker’s feeling of happiness towards a particular action.
Mihai: You can say îmi pare rău să to mean the opposite.
Dana: “I am sorry to.” Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Mihai: Sure. For example, you can say.. Mă bucur să aud că te-ai căsătorit.
Dana: .. which means "I am glad to hear that you got married."
Dana: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Dana: In this lesson, you'll learn about expressions of comparison.
Dana: Some adverbs of modality, place, and time can be compared.
Mihai: Their degrees of comparison form with the help of adverbial structures like mai
Dana: “more”
Mihai: mai puţin
Dana: “less”
Mihai: and foarte
Dana: “very.” There are more examples in the lesson notes. Besides the comparative degrees, there is also the relative superlative, of superiority or inferiority, that expresses comparisons.
Mihai: The special case of the comparative sentence is: pe cât “as...” + prep. + pe atât “as…”+ prep.
Dana: Pe cât, meaning “as”, followed by a preposition, followed by
Mihai: pe atât
Dana: again, meaning “as”, and then another preposition. Let’s hear some examples of sentences that are expressions of comparison.
Mihai: Aceste rochii sunt asemănătoare cu cele ale Iuliei.
Dana: “These dresses are similar to the ones of Iulia.“
Mihai: La mine acasă este la fel de cald ca la tine.
Dana: “My place is as warm as yours.” A word that we often use for comparison is “better.”
Mihai: In Romanian, “well” is bine. This can be used for comparisons such as mai bine.
Dana: “Better.” Let’s hear some examples.
Mihai: Mai bine să plecăm mai devreme decât să pierdem trenul.
Dana: “It is better to leave earlier than to miss the train.”
Mihai: El vorbeșe mai bine decât mine românește.
Dana: “He speaks Romanian better than me.” Finally, let’s look at the comparative word “easier.”
Mihai: Ușor is the Romanian word for “easy,” and “easier” is mai ușor.
Dana: This changes due to gender and number, though. See if you can hear the difference in these example sentences.
Mihai: Mi se pare că vorbești mai ușor japoneza în ultimul timp.
Dana: “It seems to me that you speak Japanese easier lately.”
Mihai: Vrea să încerce niște subiecte mai ușoare.
Dana: “He wants to try easier topics.”

Outro

Dana: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Mihai: La revedere.

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