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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Quick Lesson in Romanian


Problem
You know what to say in simple Romanian, from what you see on the page, or what you are told. But how do you recognise what you hear?

Answer
Just ten minutes, five minutes a day, will get you started on Romanian, which sounds very different to what you see on the page because of the rolled r.

I was told that some words sound like French. For example, thanks sounds like merci. But Romanian is handily totally phonetic, written exactly as it sounds. So the word is written m e r s i. On D u o l i n g o it sound more like mercy, less like the French which sounds like mare see. (If you want a visual memory aid, thanks to the cow I see in France, making milk for Brie.)

I have inserted spaces to counteract the effect of the automatic spell checker. But inserting spaces has the advantage of making it easier to concentrate on each letter and spot the similarities and differences.

Today's Discoveries
Romanian - English
m e r s i - thank you (like merci in French)


English - Romanian
thanks - mercy

Story
I can teach anything, after years of being a home tutor. I am mainly using my expertise in English to teach to English A level students studying English language and English literature. I have had to teach Asian pupils and younger brothers and sisters - sometimes in a s p l i t lesson! Spell checker wanted to change the word s p l i t to spoilt. Oh, the irony!

Tip
https://www.duolingo.com/course/ro/en/Learn-Romanian-Online

Angela Lansbury travel writer and photographer, author, speaker and teacher of English and other languages. Please share my posts. Thanks. M e r s i.

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