Romance languages are often the most popular target language choices for schools and individuals. Spanish and French continue to be taught in American schools, now beside the increasingly popular non-Romantic Mandarin, and Italian gets plenty of amore from language learners. But there is another Romantic language that doesn’t get picked up nearly as often as the others, and that’s Romanian.
“There are more Romanians abroad than you think,” says Cristina Murray-Rădulescu, a Romanian paralegal currently living as an ex-pat in the UK.
She’s not wrong. In the States, Romanians like Anastasia Soare of makeup company Anastasia Beverly Hills and actress Lauren Bacall claim Romanian roots. Even the Delorean, best known for its role in the classic American film Back to the Future, was the product of John DeLorean, whose father was born in Sugág. Romanians are clearly part of our past, and also part of our present- almost 500,000 Romanians currently live in the USA.
“Romanian is very useful in the UK,” says Murray-Rădulescu. She recalls a time when she and her future husband were caught in a potential terrorist situation in London, and she was able to communicate with Romanian cafe workers to find a place of safety. Another, less stressful, time, she made friends with the Romanian staff at a restaurant during Christmas dinner and was gifted a bottle of champagne.
Of course, one of the best reasons to learn Romanian is to visit Romania itself.
“I highly recommend you visit Romania, especially if you are a fan of hiking,”Murray-Rădulescu says, “It has some fantastic mountain trails. Romanians in rural areas are also some of the most welcoming people you'll ever meet. The food is pretty spectacular and can hardly ever be replicated outside the country. The museums house some very unique exhibitions and displays that are perhaps not well known on the continent.”
The university town of Cluj-Napoca is becoming a bit of a tech-hub, and many are moving there to be a part of it. Maybe it’s not often at the top of anyone’s vacation destination list, but sitting at an outdoor cafe with a bowl of Ciorba de Burta, perhaps with a street performer playing ‘Ciuleandra’ in the distance, sounds just as lovely as any afternoon in Paris or Madrid.
So how does one go about learning Romanian? “If you already speak languages like Spanish or Italian, then it's a fairly easy language to pick up,” says Murray-Rădulescu, and this can be credited to the language’s Latin roots. Murray-Rădulescu’s husband, American archaeologist Michael Murray, learned Romanian with Transparent Language Online, starting soon after they started dating. It was important for him to be able to speak to his future in-laws. While they spoke speak English, learning the language has a particular cachet. “It’s a bonding thing,” says Murray-Rădulescu.
In short, the best reason to learn Romanian is for our Romanian friends. There are more of them than we think!
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