Why You Shouldn't Learn Romanian

Why You Shouldn't Learn Romanian

There are many things I love about Romania, my chosen adopted home for almost two years now: the magnificent scenery, the wonderful food, and the incredible people. However, the language is most definitely not one of them. Romanian is spoken by around 25 million people, mostly concentrated in Southeastern Europe, particularly in Romania and Moldova, with historical populations also present in Ukraine, Serbia, and even Hungary.

When people remember it exists, Romanian is often characterized as quite the linguistic oddity. It is the only Eastern Romance language, making it the frequently forgotten fifth member of the major Latin languages tree, along with Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and (depending on your perspective) French. Romanians themselves are very proud of this fact, often referring to themselves as a "Latin Island in a Slavic sea."

Additionally, the American Foreign Services Institute (FSI) classifies Romanian with all other major Latin languages as Category I, supposedly the easiest possible language for English speakers to learn. Having set aside a decent chunk of study time daily for well over a year, I can tell FSI that they are absolutely wrong. Romanian is not easy. I don’t know who decided this, but it's simply misleading information. Unlike its Romance siblings, Romanian seems engineered in the depths of a cruel dungeon.

Positives

To be fair, the vocabulary is quite easy to acquire and retain. It is a straightforward and literal language to construct in daily use. If you have a large vocabulary in English, you'll find common Latin roots in many Romanian words. It's also easy to write and pronounce, as it's almost entirely phonetic. Romanian speakers can learn other Latin languages far quicker than other Romance language speakers can learn Romanian.

Negatives

Romanian’s difficulty stems from its bizarre grammar.

Gender and Nouns One primary hurdle is the gender system. Like many European languages, Romanian is heavily gendered. However, in contrast to other Romance languages, it’s not always clear what gender a word is. Romanian linguistically also includes the neuter gender, meaning a noun can be masculine when singular but feminine when plural. Pluralizing nouns is a nightmare. Masculine nouns are relatively straightforward, but feminine nouns undergo complicated and irregular changes. Neuter nouns add an extra layer of frustration due to their inconsistency and how tailormade it appears to make the day-to-day use of the language more complicated.

Imagine needing to know specific plural forms of common items like "rabbits," "trees," and "pens," all of which may change genders based on context.

Verb Conjugation

Verb conjugation presents another layer of frustration. Various conjugation rules apply depending on verb endings, but there seems to be a lack of consistent logic, particularly for third person plural forms making things even more convoluted when combining multiple verbs or forming complex sentences.

Cases

Arguably the most difficult aspect of Romanian grammar is dealing with cases. Romanian retains many of the complex case-related grammatical idiosyncrasies of Latin, such as the accusative, nominative, vocative, genitive, and dative cases. The latter two, in particular, make learning the language extremely frustrating because they involve morphological changes to nouns to express seemingly simple ideas regarding possession or the recipient of an action.

Demonstratives and Other Complications

Generalizing these grammatical changes is further frustrating due to how Romanian handles demonstratives, such as "this" or "that," which vary widely based on plurality, context, noun gender, and their position in a sentence. The irregularity and complexity of these rules ensure continuous frustration.

Conclusion

In summary, if you're seeking an experience akin to navigating a perilous dungeon where rules seem arbitrary and success is left up to chance, Romanian is the language for you. Despite its complexities, Romanian has a charm, and its quirks hold a certain fascination for those who dare to dive deep.

Remember, attempting to master Romanian is not for the faint of heart. Proceed with caution.

Keywords

• Romanian language
• Latin Island
• Romanian grammar
• Neuter gender
• Verb Conjugation
• Cases
• Demonstratives
• Phonetic Language
• Romance languages

FAQ

Q: How difficult is it for an English speaker to learn Romanian compared to other Romance languages? A: Romanian is classified as a Category I language by the FSI, supposedly the easiest for English speakers to learn. However, it's far more complex due to its unique grammatical rules, including gender, cases, and verb conjugations, making it more difficult than other Romance languages like Spanish or Italian.

Q: What are the main grammatical challenges of learning Romanian? A: Major challenges include understanding and applying the gender system, especially neuter gender rules, conjugating verbs correctly, and dealing with the genitive and dative cases.

Q: Are there any advantages to learning Romanian? A: Yes, the phonetic nature of Romanian makes it straightforward to write and pronounce words. Additionally, knowledge of Romanian can facilitate quicker learning of other Romance languages due to shared Latin roots.

Q: How does the gender system in Romanian differ from other Romance languages? A: Romanian includes a neuter gender, meaning some nouns can be masculine when singular and feminine when plural. This peculiarity adds a layer of complexity not found in other Romance languages.

Q: What makes pluralizing nouns in Romanian particularly difficult? A: Pluralizing nouns in Romanian is complicated due to irregular and often unpredictable changes based on noun gender and whether the noun is neuter, masculine, or feminine.