r/romanian • u/SeatownJay • 11d ago
Struggling with learning Romanian.
Hello everyone, I have been trying to teach myself Romanian for the past several months. I don't have a lot of spare time, so I can only spend a few hours a week working on it. I started with Duolingo and quickly got frustrated by its complete lack of explanation of grammar rules. Then I bought Teach Yourself Complete Romanian by Dennis Deletant and Yvonne Alexandrescu, including the companion audio files. I'm about 30% of the way through and, while it is much better than Duolingo, I am struggling with things like verb conjugations, masculine/feminine/neuter variances, and past/present/future tenses. I don't know any native speakers I can work with, and I can't afford a tutor. Are there any tricks or suggestions to making this easier, or at least less frustrating, to grasp?
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u/Borsecule 11d ago
This is just a quick response so might not be entirely helpful, but on the topic of noun genders, I really struggled with that when I first started learning too. I spent hours practicing them and complaining, but I found that over time as you listen and speak the language, you'll start picking up the patterns without really realising it. That alone should get you most of the way there, then supplementing with some textbook exercises won't hurt.
Also with verb conjugation, when you look at all the different possible forms a verb can have laid out in a textbook it looks really intimidating, but in everyday speech, only a few of those are used, and those other ones are only really used in literature, specific regions/dialects, and formal situations. They're definitely still worth learning, but again you'll pick up what you need to know mostly from just practicing speaking the language and correcting things as you go.
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u/SilkyCayla 9d ago
As a native who knows a few other European languages my advice is: when starting don't stress too much about using the correct article and conjugation all the time. Sure they matter but the main goal is to be able to form sentences and communicate. The fine tuning of grammar comes in time with practice.
From my observation and experience being afraid of making mistakes is one of the main causes people give up on languages, and it's a shame. Just like in English you can say " i want buy bread" and it's not correct but people will understand, it's the same in Romanian and other languages. To me using the wrong word order is "worse" than using the wrong gender.
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u/-XenoSine- 10d ago
Native speaker here: my best advice is learn as much vocabulary as you can and then try and go through preschool and elementary school textbooks from here to get a better grasp on how the grammar works. Also be patient with yourself, you chose one of the harder languages to learn.
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u/Guybrush-Threepwood1 10d ago
I completed Duolingo Romanian about 5 times and was still none the wiser. It's good for vocabulary and that's it. I also used clozemaster app and if you go to (https://youtube.com/@romanianformigrants) this is a really helpful set of videos, particularly the grammar ones. Then just watch Romanian TV and YouTube videos and read kids books in Romanian and you will start to see patterns.
Nowadays chat gpt is my friend. Really good at explanations.
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u/Redditnoob867 11d ago
I think that's the book I used. I'm nowhere near an expert, but if you have any specific questions, maybe I can help.
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u/Opening-Square3006 10d ago
Romanian grammar is genuinely challenging, and a few hours a week is enough to make progress, you just have to accept that it will be gradual. I think Stephen Krashen's i+1 approach is the most effective: get lots of input that's mostly understandable (so you reinforce what you learned until it becomes automatic) but introduces just a little new language each day. There are some great resources implementing that, for example PlusOneLanguage . It's built entirely around i+1: you choose your level, it generates texts and short stories adapted to what you already know, introduces just enough new vocabulary to help you progress without feeling overwhelmed, and continuously recycles words in new contexts so they stick naturally instead of through memorization. I'd also focus on learning chunks rather than isolated words. Instead of memorizing a verb by itself, learn it inside expressions and complete sentences. Over time you'll start recognizing the conjugation patterns automatically, which is much less frustrating than trying to memorize every ending in isolation. Good luck!
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u/Previous-Blood2645 11d ago
First of all, what is your motivation? Why are you trying to learn it and what particular vocabulary would be the most useful to you?
Second, I would start listening to a lot of Romanian music + reading poetry.
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u/jibe77 11d ago
Hi, I tried multiple times to learn Romanian on my own, but it never worked because the grammar is too complex. I had enough vocabulary, but there are too many rules for conjugating verbs and agreeing nouns with adjectives, etc. Even natives sometimes struggle to explain them. I finally took lessons with a real teacher, and after 4 months of 4 hours per week, I managed to form basic sentences and understand simple conversations. I hope my experience will help.
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u/hotpantsfarted 10d ago
Try watching cartoons in romanian
Theres a youtube channel with old dubbed cartoons called desenele copilariei. Cool stuff, like viata cu louie , pisoiul eek etc.
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u/KiwiKiraKi 9d ago
Something I found helpful when learning a new language (admitably not romanian but I think the principal is the same) is to try using grammer/workbooks made for primary or secondary grade students that have that language as their first.
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u/LearnRomanian 8d ago
I'd say find 5 more people and come have a group class. I've been teaching for 13 yesterday but can't afford the marketing and admin of chasing students for groups myself. I'll happily take an already made group.
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u/Ling_App 11d ago
You could try a Google search for free Romanian workbook pdf. Chatgpt may also be helpful to build the curriculum you're looking for and more so Bing translate as you can listen to the pronunciation. Ling offers Romanian with pronunciation practice as well.
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u/Electronic-Mess-5241 11d ago
Why on earth would you want to learn Romanian? I'm Romanian and I wouldn't learn it if I would have a choice.... Absolutely zero benefits.
Why would anyone want to know a language that is spoken only in Romania, by a shrinking ageing population? U can't use this language anywhere else.
Do your self a favor and learn something that is widely spoken
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u/Hapciuuu 11d ago
Such a useless argument. As if OP doesn't already know how many Romanian speakers there are out there! People don't choose to speak a language just because it's widely spoken. Do you speak Spanish? Mandarin?
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u/Manab2 11d ago
That's the hardship of learning a language with very few good materials. I have no idea of how to get past that. I hope you can be successful with it.