Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
Romanian
By Dick Oakes
A a, Ă ă, Â â, B b, C c, D d, E e, F f, G g,
H h, I i, Î î, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p,
R r, S s, Ș ș, T t, Ț ț, U u, V v,
X x, Z z
The Romanian (Român) language is quite phonetic and uses accents on some vowels and on some consonants. It is a Romance language spoken by about 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova.
Letters not listed below are pronounced approximately as in English.
A, a - a as in father Ă, ă - a as in around Â, â - i as in girl (see Î) E, e - e as in let I, i - i as in machine Î, î - i as in girl O, o - o as in note; also o as in gone U, u - u as in duke C, c - c as in cello (ch) when before E or I, otherwise c as in cat Ch, ch - ch as in chaos (k) G, g - g as in germ (j) when before E or I, otherwise g as in go Gh, gh - gh as in ghost (g) J, j - z as in azure (zh) Ș, ș - s as in sugar Ț, ț - tz as in quartz (ts) DIPTHONGS AND TRIPTHONGS: The Romanian language has many dipthongs (and tripthongs), which are pronounced separately but in rapid succession. The weaker vowel almost becomes semiconsonantal. Examples are: ai - ai as in kaiser au - au as in sauerkraut ău - a as in about combined with u as in flute ea - ea as in bread ei - ei as in seine eu - eu as in feud ia - ya as in yacht ie - ye as in yes io - yo as in yoke iu - yu as in yule îi - i as in hike îu - similar to eu in feud oa - wa as in wash oi - oi as in spheroid ou - ou as in dough uă - wu as in wuther eai - yi as in yikes eau - yow as in yowl ieu - ieu as in lieu The letter i at the end of a word is silent unless preceded by another letter i (ii) . Three i letters (iii) are pronounced "iji." COMBINATIONS: Ci, ci - chi as in chief Ce, ce - che as in chess Chi, chi - chi as in Chianti Ghe,ghe - ghe as in ghetto Ghi, ghi - gee as in geese Ge, ge - ge as in genesis Gi, gi - gi as in giraff NOTE: The -ul ending, pronounced "-oo" (colloquial) or "-ool" (more formal usage) is a form of the Romanian definite article, the equivalent of the english "the;" hence alunelu = "hazelnut," alunelul = "the hazelnut."