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Lesson Transcript

Romanian Survival Phrases. Season 2. Lesson 3: Taking a Taxi in Romania
INTRODUCTION
Salut, and welcome to Romanian Survival Phrases, brought to you by RomanianPod101.com
This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Romania. You'll be surprised at how far a little Romanian will go.
Now before we jump in, remember to stop by RomanianPod101.com.
There, you’ll find the accompanying PDF lesson notes and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
In this lesson you’ll learn how to get to places by taxi. There are two options in Romanian to take taxis – you call and the taxi will come to your address, or you go to a taxi stand and hop in. If you’re in Romania for the first time, you might not know where the taxi parking is located, so you’ll have to call the taxi. So let’s get it started.
BODY
Imagine you’re in Cluj. You want to go to VIA, one of the best restaurants around. You’re staying at Hotel Belvedere. You call the taxi company, and the person who answers says “How may I help you?” In Romanian, this is:
Da spuneți vă rog.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Da, spu-neți vă rog.
Once more:
Da, spuneți vă rog.
The first word, da, means “yes”.
This is followed by spuneți, which is literally translated as “tell”.
Finally, the familiar vă rog meaning “please”.
Da, spuneți vă rog. Literally, this translates to “Yes, please tell.”
Reply by saying that you want a taxi, and giving your location. Say Un taxi la then say your location, and add vă rog at the end.
In our case the phrase will sound like this:
Un taxi la hotel Belvedere vă rog.
(slow) Un ta-xi la ho-tel Bel-ve-de-re vă rog.
Un taxi means “a taxi”.
(slow) Un ta-xi.
Un taxi.
La hotel Belvedere is literally translated as “at hotel Belvedere”.
(slow) La ho-tel Bel-ve-de-re.
La hotel Belvedere.
Once more all together that’s
(slow) Un ta-xi la ho-tel Bel-ve-de-re vă rog.
Un taxi la hotel Belvedere vă rog.
In English the whole sentence will be translated as “A taxi to the hotel Belvedere please.”
The person on the phone will then ask you where you want to go. That will sound like this:
Unde mergeți?
You would answer:
La and after that the name of the place you want to go to. In our case, it would be -
La restaurantul VIA.
(slow) La re-sta-u-ran-tul VI-A.
La restaurantul VIA.
La restaurantul means “at the restaurant”.
(slow) La re-sta-u-ran-tul.
La restaurantul.
All together that’s
(slow) La re-sta-u-ran-tul VI-A.
La restaurantul VIA.
Next the person will tell you the amount of time you have to wait and sometimes the type of car. It’ll be something similar to this:
O Dacia Logan în trei minute, așteptați vă rog.
The first words, o Dacia Logan is the type of the car, “a Dacia Logan”.
This is followed by În trei minute, which is literally translated as “in three minutes”
(slow) În trei mi-nu-te.
În trei minute.
Next we have așteptați which is the present form of the verb that means “to wait”.
(slow) Aș-tep-tați.
Așteptați.
And last we have the always present vă rog.
Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:
O Dacia Logan în trei minute, așteptați vă rog.
The general meaning is “A Dacia Logan will come in three minutes, please wait.”
You’ll go out, see your taxi, greet the driver and tell them the address. At the end of the drive you’ll need to ask how much you have to pay. In Romanian that sounds like this:
Cât face?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Cât fa-ce?
Once more
Cât face?
The first word, cât, means “how much”
(slow)Cât.
Cât.
Next we have face, which is the present form of the verb that means “to make”
(slow)Fa-ce.
Face.
The entire question is
(slow) Cât fa-ce?
Cât face?
REVIEW
Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so mult noroc , which means "Good luck!" in Romanian.
“How may I help you?”
(3 sec) Da, spuneți vă rog.
(slow) Da, spu-neți vă rog.
Da, spuneți vă rog.
“A taxi to the hotel Belvedere, please.”
(3 sec) Un taxi la hotel Belvedere vă rog.
(slow) Un ta-xi la ho-tel Bel-ve-de-re vă rog.
Un taxi la hotel Belvedere vă rog.
“Where do you want to go?”
(3 sec)Unde mergeți?
(slow) Un-de mer-geți?
Unde mergeți?
“To the restaurant VIA.”
(3 sec) La restaurantul VIA.
(slow) La re-sta-u-ran-tul VI-A.
La restaurantul VIA.
“A Dacia Logan will come in three minutes, please wait.”
(3 sec) O Dacia Logan în trei minute așteptați vă rog.
(slow) O Da-ci-a Lo-gan în trei mi-nu-te aș-tep-tați vă rog.
O Dacia Logan în trei minute așteptați vă rog.
“How much is it?”
(3 sec) Cât face?
(slow) Cât fa-ce?
Cât face?

Outro

All right, that's all for this lesson!
Remember to stop by RomanianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson notes.
If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
Pa!

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