As you were no doubt carefully reading the lyrics from my last post, you saw the use of the phrase: azi noapte. Amongst Latin languages, this is unique. It’s a phrase combining azi, meaning “today” and noapte meaning “night.” So putting them together, today + night, you might think it means “tonight.” No, actually it means “last night”. Don’t ask me why, this is how … Continue reading Azi Noapte
Since I noticed a lot of people have been coming to my post about the Romanian slang word “hopa”, I thought I’d add this brief little true story from my life. Date: A couple of days ago Scene: Inside Auchan, a huge chaotic discount store, near a large pallet piled high with cases of beer. Characters: “Bogdan”: A slightly short man in his 40’s with … Continue reading Real Life Hopa
When I first learned this language (in 37 easy steps), it was extremely difficult to get English-language books on how to learn Romanian. Now there’s a lot more material out there, really good stuff (including Wikipedia). Unfortunately, there’s always going to be two kinds of Romanian – regular “law books” Romanian and “two ladies jabbering over a fence in a village” Romanian. And to live … Continue reading It Depends on What the Meaning of the Word “Is”, Is
I probably heard the expression saru’ mana about 5,000 times before I finally asked my friend Mihai what in the world it meant. My friend was a rather old school guy and he used this expression a lot when greeting people, especially at stores. It comes from a contraction of sarut (lit: “kissed”) and mână (lit. “the hand”) meaning “the hand is kissed” or perhaps … Continue reading Expression of the Day: Saru’Mana
If you look at a sea of printed Romanian, it can be quite intimidating to try to pronounce. One time I was in the town of Turda with a group of Polish tourists and I asked them to try and pronounce the cities on a destination board at the bus station and it sent me into gales of laughter. I wasn’t laughing at them (believe … Continue reading A Simple Guide to Pronouncing Romanian
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