LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #11

Top Five Tools for Learning
Romanian

CONTENTS
2 Grammar

# 11
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GRAMMAR

T he Focus of t his Lesson is t he Top Five Tools f or Learning Romanian

There are some useful tools that can be used while studying Romanian, but these
will help you only if you commit yourself and have a little time.

The first step is to recognize your level of Romanian, and to do that it is necessary
to check the "Common European Framework of Reference." Here we can find all the
levels from A1 to C2 with detailed explanations concerning what skills are required
for each level. Here is an excerpt.

Can understand with

ease virtually everything
heard or read.
Can summarize
information from
different spoken and
written sources,
reconstructing
Mast ery
arguments and accounts
in a coherent
C2
presentation.
Can express himself/
herself spontaneously,
very fluently, and
precisely,
differentiating finer
shades of meaning even
in more complex
situations.

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 Can understand a wide
range of demanding,
longer texts and
recognize implicit
meaning. Can express
himself/herself fluently
and spontaneously
without much obvious
searching for
Eff ect ive expressions. Can use
Operat ional language flexibly and
C1
Proficiency effectively for social,
academic, and
professional purposes.
Can produce clear, well-
structured, detailed text
on complex subjects,
showing controlled use
of organizational
patterns, connectors,
and cohesive devices.

Can understand the main

ideas of complex text
on both concrete and
abstract topics,
including technical
discussions in his/her
field of specialization.
Can interact with a
degree of fluency and
spontaneity that makes
regular interaction with
Vant age B2 native speakers quite
possible without strain
for either party. Can
produce clear, detailed
text on a wide range of
subjects and explain a
viewpoint on a topical
issue giving the
advantages and
disadvantages of
various options.

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 Can understand the main
points of clear standard
input on familiar matters
regularly encountered in
work, school, leisure,
etc. Can deal with most
situations likely to arise
whilst travelling in an
area where the
language is spoken. Can
T hreshold produce simple
B1
connected text on
topics that are familiar
or of personal interest.
Can describe
experiences and
events, dreams, hopes,
and ambitions and
briefly give reasons and
explanations for
opinions and plans.

Can understand
sentences and
frequently used
expressions related to
areas of most
immediate relevance
(e.g., very basic
personal and family
information, shopping,
local geography,
employment). Can
communicate in simple
Wayst age A2
and routine tasks
requiring a simple and
direct exchange of
information on familiar
and routine matters. Can
describe in simple
terms aspects of his/her
background, immediate
environment, and
matters in areas of
immediate need.

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 Can understand and use
familiar everyday
expressions and very
basic phrases aimed at
the satisfaction of needs
of a concrete type. Can
introduce him/herself
and others and can ask
and answer questions
Breakt hrough
A1 about personal details
such as where he/she
lives, people he/she
knows and things he/
she has. Can interact in
a simple way provided
the other person talks
slowly and clearly and is
prepared to help.

Once you know your level, or have decided which one to reach, the second step
is to look for a good manual and reference aids. Here are some links:

• http://rolang.ro/learn-romanian-manual.php

• Academia Romana , http://www.acad.ro/ (Academia Română has been the

most important institution and reference point for the Romanian Language
since 1879)

• "Romanian an Essential Grammar" by Ramona Gönczöl-Davies

• "The Grammar of Romanian" edited by Gabriela Panã Dindelegan—A Oxford

grammar book with the most comprehensive and sophisticated description
of present day standard Romanian.

2. Online Dict ionaries

Learning Romanian, one of the first things that must be remembered is the feminine
and masculine, and the plural or singular forms of nouns. The best way to
recognize them is to check a good dictionary to find the right form. A good
dictionary is not only a tool for understanding the meaning of words, but also gives
clarification about spelling and verbs' conjugations. Here the web offers very good
Romanian dictionaries:

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• Word Reference (http://www.wordreference.com) provides many languages
in addition to Romanian as well as translations from English to Romanian and
vice versa. This website also offers a very useful forum.

• http://www.dictionare.com/english/dictionary.htm Besides a good

Romanian-English and English-Romanian translation dictionary this website
also provides conjugation, declination forms and vocabulary sections.

• Dictionar explicativ român (https://dexonline.ro/) for those who have a

higher knowledge of Romanian language, this on-line dictionary is
completely in Romanian and also provides grammar sections.

3. Grammar/Verbs Checker

For any specific clarification about Romanian grammar you can always refer to
Romanian an Essential Grammar by Ramona Gönczöl-Davies or "The Grammar of
Romanian" edited by Gabriela Panã Dindelegan. Both books are written in English,
especially created for people who want to learn Romanian. However every single
student of Romanian will surely say that the most challenging part of the language is
the verbs and their conjugations. For this reason whenever you are in doubt please
look at http://www.dictionare.com/english/dictionary.htm. Type the verb, and the
conjugations for all the persons and all the tenses immediately appear.

4. Romanian Folk Songs and Lyrics/Comics/ Movies

Learning with songs is a fun way to improve your skills in Romanian. Songs are a
part of culture and you can get only benefits from the music. On the web you can
find a lot of websites with Romanian songs in karaoke form. Reading while you're
singing is amusing but after you should check the lyrics to better understand the
meaning and the usage of words. The Romanian language in songs can be very
simple but also very complicated and poetic. The singers we recommend are Dan
Bittman, Horia Brenciu, Smiley, Nicoleta Nuca, Holograf, and Mădălina Manole.
These are only a few examples, but the Romanian music panorama is very vast,
from pop music to folk, rock to opera.

Another useful tool that can help you become familiar with conversational and
casual Romanian is animation. Almost all Disney movies and series are dubbed in
Romanian. So if you like Disney movies, find the ones in Romanian.

For those who are more confident with the language and want to practice reading,
we recommend to watch movies with Romanian subtitles. It is easy to find subtitles
because in Romanian only kids' movies are dubbed. A trick is to watch a series in a
language that you don't understand using the Romanian subtitles. This is very useful
for those who are advanced enough and understand written Romanian and want to
develop the speed reading.

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5. Pronunciat ion Tool

Finally, when being exposed to new Romanian words either written or oral, you
might first learn how to pronounce them. In this case the most useful website to
use is:

https://translate.google.com/

There are only two easy steps:

1. Chose the Romanian language

2. Then enter the word or phrase you want to learn how to pronounce in the
box.

3. Finally click either on the button "speak" to hear the word or phrase or click
on the "download" button to listen and save the audio file of the word or
phrase you added in the text box.

This tool gives you a decent pronunciation of standard Romanian and will surely
help you improve your pronunciation.

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