Writing systems:
abjads |
alphabets |
syllabic alphabets |
syllabaries |
semanto-phonetic scripts
undeciphered scripts |
alternative scripts |
your con-scripts |
A-Z index |
Direction index |
Language index
Writing systems:
abjads |
alphabets |
syllabic alphabets |
syllabaries |
semanto-phonetic scripts
undeciphered scripts |
alternative scripts |
your con-scripts |
A-Z index |
Direction index |
Language index
Romanian is a Romance language spoken by about 24 million people in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. Romanian retains a number of features of Latin, such as noun cases, which other Romance languages dispensed with a long time ago. Romanian contains many words taken from the surrounding Slavic languages, and also from French, Old Church Slavonic, German, Greek and Turkish.
Romanian first appeared in writing during the 16th century mainly in religious texts and other documents. The earliest known text in Romanian dates from 1521 and is a letter from Neacşu of Câmpulung to the mayor of Braşov. Neacşu wrote in a version of the old Cyrillic alphabet similar to the one for Old Church Slavonic, and which was used in Walachia and Moldova until 1859.
From the late 16th century a version of the Latin alphabet using Hungarian spelling conventions was used to write Romanian in Translyvania. Then in the late 18th century a spelling system based on Italian was adopted.
A version of the Cyrillic alphabet was used in the Soviet Republic of Moldova until 1989, when they switched to the Romanian version of the Latin alphabet.
This version of the Latin alphabet was used during the transition from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabets. It is still used, though mostly in church writings.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ă | â | be | ce | de | e | fe/ef | ghe/ge | ha/haş | i | î | je | ka |
| L l | M m | N n | O o | P p | R r | S s | Ş ş | T t | Ţ ţ | U u | V v | X x | Z z |
| le/el | me/em | ne/en | o | pe | re/er | se/es | şe | te | ţe | u | ve | ics | zet |
Q (chiu), W (dublu ve) and Y (igrec) are also used, but only in foreign loanwords.
Toate fiinţele umane se nasc libere şi egale în demnitate şi în drepturi. Ele sunt înzestrate cu raţiune şi conştiinţă şi trebuie să se comporte unele faţă de altele în spiritul fraternităţii.
Listen to a recording of this text by
Georgescu Alexandru Cristian
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)
Romanian courses, dictionaries, etc
The Letter of Neacşu of Câmpulung (the first written document in Romanian)
http://www.cimec.ro/Istorie/neacsu/eng/
Easy Romanian - a collection of Romanian words and phrases
http://www.easyromanian.com
English <> Romanian dictionary
http://www.dictionare.com/english/dictionary.htm
Romanian Electronic talking dictionaries
http://www.ectaco.com
Online Romanian radio
http://www.rri.ro
http://www.europalibera.org
http://www.europafm.ro
http://www.kissfm.ro
Televiziunea Româna (Romanian Television - includes live online programmes)
http://www.tvr.ro
Online Romanian newspapers
http://www.romanialibera.com
http://www.expres.ro
http://www3.ziare.ro
Aranese, Aromanian, Asturian, Catalan, Corsican, French, Friulian, Galician, Genoese, Italian, Jèrriais, Latin, Lombard, Mirandese, Moldovan, Occitan, Piedmontese, Portuguese, Romanian, Romansh, Sardinian, Sicilian, Spanish, Venetian, Walloon
Other languages written with the Latin alphabet
Thanks to Adrian Homutescu and Bogdan Banu for providing material and suggestions for this page.
Copyright 1998- Simon Ager