4 ms·

I don't speak a single word of Romanian, but it seems similar to italian and a little french. I can read a newspaper and 'get' the meaning of the articles, for

I don't speak a single word of Romanian, but it seems similar to italian and a little french. I can read a newspaper and 'get' the meaning of the articles, for instance. It's an amusing language, not slavic at all like its neighbouring countries. Good luck learning Romanian! Side note: the Danish have a similar word to 'gezellig': 'hygge'.

jacquesm 12y ago
I know a fair bit of Polish and keep seeing Slavic influences, but that could - now that I think about it - have been just as easy the other way around. Makes you wonder if Russian picked up 'Da' from the South or if that somehow crossed over from the North. Most other Roman language use totally unrelated terms for 'yes' or general affirmation.
- cbg0 12y ago
  Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPqdhcoASM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPqdhcoASM
- amgaera 12y ago
  In the article you mention that Romanian isn't the hardest thing you’ve learned. Has any of the other European languages you know (Dutch, German, Polish) been more difficult?
  - mobiplayer 12y ago
    I've often heard that Finnish and Hungarian are probably the hardest european languages to learn. I don't know any, but I've got some Hungarian friends and the few bits I've been teached don't show the opposite :)
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    For me the hardest so far was Polish. But I did not know about SRS back then so maybe this time it will be a bit quicker :)
stefantalpalaru 12y ago
> not slavic at all Try telling that to US universities where Romanian is usually studied in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature :-) The truth is that Romanian is a romance language with more slavic imports than any other language from its family. This lexical distance graph makes it clear (Rom == Romanian): http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-languages-of-europe/ http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-...
- optymizer 12y ago
  As someone who speaks Romanian, Russian and Bulgarian, and has plenty of Albanian friends, I'm surprised that Albanian is be placed between Romanian and Russian. I don't know exactly why it would even be linked to Romanian or Russian. The only cause I can think of is Turkish/Indian words that made their way into Romanian and Russian, but that makes the links extremely weak.
  - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
    > I don't know exactly why it would even be linked to Romanian or Russian. It comes down to a common origin that Romanians and Albanians share in Thracian tribes. A presumed Thraco-Illyrian language family[1] is the explanation for the weak[2], but relevant link between the two languages. As for the Slavic connection, Wikipedia has this to say[3]: "Albanian does share two features with Balto-Slavic languages: a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in a sonorant." [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Illyrian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Illyrian [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romanian_words_of_possible_Dacian_origin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romanian_words_of_possi... [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language#Linguistic_affinities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language#Linguistic_af...
  - mercer 12y ago
    I grew up speaking Albanian, and I find it pretty useless in any of the surrounding countries (aside from Kosovo, of course). It's a fun language to know though!

jacquesm 12y ago

I know a fair bit of Polish and keep seeing Slavic influences, but that could - now that I think about it - have been just as easy the other way around. Makes you wonder if Russian picked up 'Da' from the South or if that somehow crossed over from the North. Most other Roman language use totally unrelated terms for 'yes' or general affirmation.

cbg0 12y ago
Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPqdhcoASM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlPqdhcoASM
amgaera 12y ago
In the article you mention that Romanian isn't the hardest thing you’ve learned. Has any of the other European languages you know (Dutch, German, Polish) been more difficult?
- mobiplayer 12y ago
  I've often heard that Finnish and Hungarian are probably the hardest european languages to learn. I don't know any, but I've got some Hungarian friends and the few bits I've been teached don't show the opposite :)
- jacquesm 12y ago
  For me the hardest so far was Polish. But I did not know about SRS back then so maybe this time it will be a bit quicker :)

stefantalpalaru 12y ago

> not slavic at all Try telling that to US universities where Romanian is usually studied in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature :-) The truth is that Romanian is a romance language with more slavic imports than any other language from its family. This lexical distance graph makes it clear (Rom == Romanian): http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-languages-of-europe/ http://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-...

optymizer 12y ago
As someone who speaks Romanian, Russian and Bulgarian, and has plenty of Albanian friends, I'm surprised that Albanian is be placed between Romanian and Russian. I don't know exactly why it would even be linked to Romanian or Russian. The only cause I can think of is Turkish/Indian words that made their way into Romanian and Russian, but that makes the links extremely weak.
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  > I don't know exactly why it would even be linked to Romanian or Russian. It comes down to a common origin that Romanians and Albanians share in Thracian tribes. A presumed Thraco-Illyrian language family[1] is the explanation for the weak[2], but relevant link between the two languages. As for the Slavic connection, Wikipedia has this to say[3]: "Albanian does share two features with Balto-Slavic languages: a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in a sonorant." [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Illyrian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thraco-Illyrian [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romanian_words_of_possible_Dacian_origin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Romanian_words_of_possi... [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language#Linguistic_affinities http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_language#Linguistic_af...
- mercer 12y ago
  I grew up speaking Albanian, and I find it pretty useless in any of the surrounding countries (aside from Kosovo, of course). It's a fun language to know though!