Continental Spanish, it is harsh like Romanian
Which Romance language sounds more Slavic?
Aszykbajew,
From what you posted only Portuguese and Lithuanian sound Slavic. Albanian has it's own sound which reminds me more of Greek than Slavic. There is nothing Slavic in Pashto. For my ears it sounds exactly like Romani (gypsy) language.
Moldavian has some Russian accent but not enough to make it Slavic-sounding, especially when compared to Portuguese.
From what you posted only Portuguese and Lithuanian sound Slavic. Albanian has it's own sound which reminds me more of Greek than Slavic. There is nothing Slavic in Pashto. For my ears it sounds exactly like Romani (gypsy) language.
Moldavian has some Russian accent but not enough to make it Slavic-sounding, especially when compared to Portuguese.
Yes, Lithuanian sounds Slavic, because it uses easily distinguishable Polish words and it has a Russian accent. Moldovan also sounds Slavic because it is spoken by many Russian natives - even that dialogue was half in Romanian and half in Russian. The Albanian folk song starts with a Turkish/Greek theme, but then surprisingly it develops some Russian nuances to it.
On the other hand, I still fail to hear the Slavic sound of Portuguese or Pashto.
On the other hand, I still fail to hear the Slavic sound of Portuguese or Pashto.
Spanish , Occitan and Italian are the only languages that sound Romance. The rest sound either Slavic (Portuguese, Romanian) or just strange (French).
The above video with the pro-Romanian Moldovan politician is not representative for the street accent in Moldova.
Below is a video showing youngsters during the april Kishinev protests, here you can hear many people speaking in the street. As such it is a better accent sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln9vCkZFE8
I wonder how much romance speakers that do not speak romanian are able to understand from the video.
Below is a video showing youngsters during the april Kishinev protests, here you can hear many people speaking in the street. As such it is a better accent sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln9vCkZFE8
I wonder how much romance speakers that do not speak romanian are able to understand from the video.
Continental Spanish sounds agricultural, much like Albanian. French has too many Germanic influences to sound like a Romance language. Occitan is like French. Italian is closest in sound to Latin, but it lost the sobriety of the original.
@OriginalGuest
Romance speakers will have a hard time understanding standard Romanian, Moldovan is even harder.
For comparison with the samples posted by Aszykbajew, here's a discussion between Romanian politicians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqn2oRVHO5I
Romance speakers will have a hard time understanding standard Romanian, Moldovan is even harder.
For comparison with the samples posted by Aszykbajew, here's a discussion between Romanian politicians:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqn2oRVHO5I
Actually Dan I would say that what you just posted is much more "Romance sounding" and understandable than the posting of the Moldovan protest piece. What you posted sounds almost as if someone was reading off Italian with Continental Portuguese pronunciation but with the rhythm and speed of Spanish. I could make out a lot more of that last post you made Dan and hardly any of the Moldovan post due to the really Slavic sound of many of the people talking. Obviously, Moldova's close relationship with both Russia and The Ukraine has influenced the pronunciation to an extreme degree compared to the much more Romance sounding Standard Romanian I heard in the last piece.
-Cumprimentos-
-Cumprimentos-
To me, Continental Portuguese is the most Romance sounding. The first time I heard a few words, I mistook them for slavic ones. The way they pronounce the words and their tones of voice make them sound more slavic even though the vocabulary is very distant.
Which Romance speakers sound more Slavic?
It depends wether or not they speak their own language.
When Portugueses speak Portuguese, they sound absolutely Slavic, even more so than the Romanians (who retain some distinctly Italianate tones).
On the other hand, when they speak French:
- the Portuguese accent has an unmistakeable Latin flavour, some sort of subdued Italian/Spanish accent,
- the Romanians sound definitely like former communist Europe!
It depends wether or not they speak their own language.
When Portugueses speak Portuguese, they sound absolutely Slavic, even more so than the Romanians (who retain some distinctly Italianate tones).
On the other hand, when they speak French:
- the Portuguese accent has an unmistakeable Latin flavour, some sort of subdued Italian/Spanish accent,
- the Romanians sound definitely like former communist Europe!
In Romania you can find 4 accents.
One of them (moldovian) sounds very slavic
One of them (moldovian) sounds very slavic
Moldovian (Eastern Romania and R. Moldova)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFMffUxzPO0
Transilvanian Accent (Central , NV, V N, Romania )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG9tWdzsSk (that man not the reporter)
Southern Accent (S, SE Romania)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFPFxCGjLTE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFMffUxzPO0
Transilvanian Accent (Central , NV, V N, Romania )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFG9tWdzsSk (that man not the reporter)
Southern Accent (S, SE Romania)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFPFxCGjLTE
The accent samples posted by Ovidius are very thick and hard to come by in present day urban Romania.
This is a much better sample of the common Transilvanian accent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2S_2QI5Ynw
Also that sample of Moldovan accent posted by Ovidiu is from Rep. Of Moldova. It is not representative for the Romanian part of Moldova. Only Iasi and Botosani counties' accents sound somewhat similar.
And a more realistic sample for the Moldovan accent (Romanian side):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT4muBIc35s
These regional accents are weak, and they dissapear in a conversation with people that speak without accent.
This is a much better sample of the common Transilvanian accent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2S_2QI5Ynw
Also that sample of Moldovan accent posted by Ovidiu is from Rep. Of Moldova. It is not representative for the Romanian part of Moldova. Only Iasi and Botosani counties' accents sound somewhat similar.
And a more realistic sample for the Moldovan accent (Romanian side):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT4muBIc35s
These regional accents are weak, and they dissapear in a conversation with people that speak without accent.
JGreco said:
"What you posted sounds almost as if someone was reading off Italian with Continental Portuguese pronunciation but with the rhythm and speed of Spanish."
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This is quite a mix :) but I understand what you are referering to when you're saying that Romanian is like Italian with Portuguese pronunciation. However, I'm a bit lost about the Spanish rhythm part. Spanish to me has a very specific rhythm and music, whereas Romanian has an uniform rhythm. Can you give me an example of that Spanish rhythm you had in mind?
Anyway, you can have a glimpse of how Romanian is going to be like by looking at how the younger generation speaks it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9RCRV8BemU
or a different demographic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yZFPw1yvw
"What you posted sounds almost as if someone was reading off Italian with Continental Portuguese pronunciation but with the rhythm and speed of Spanish."
---------
This is quite a mix :) but I understand what you are referering to when you're saying that Romanian is like Italian with Portuguese pronunciation. However, I'm a bit lost about the Spanish rhythm part. Spanish to me has a very specific rhythm and music, whereas Romanian has an uniform rhythm. Can you give me an example of that Spanish rhythm you had in mind?
Anyway, you can have a glimpse of how Romanian is going to be like by looking at how the younger generation speaks it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9RCRV8BemU
or a different demographic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yZFPw1yvw
If you look at the Romanians physical look, they are more like Italians, Spanish,French, Portuguese etc than as Russians, Serbo-Croatians (the second tallest people in Europe after the Dutch), Poles, Chechs or any other slavic nations. The only Slavic people who look similar to Romanians are the Bulgarians and that could iindicate that maybe, the Bulgarians are not as slave as it appears, ot as we believe...they might be just speaking a slavic language but geneticaly are romance as well.
If you take these physical appearences of Romanians in considerations, all other disccusions about the Romanians origin or their language origin have no relevence no more...it is obvious that these people share common genes with Italians, Spanish and other romance nations... Their language comes just as a confirmation of this evidence.. any other disccusion remains only for fun! That's my opinion and is not based on specualtions only!
If you take these physical appearences of Romanians in considerations, all other disccusions about the Romanians origin or their language origin have no relevence no more...it is obvious that these people share common genes with Italians, Spanish and other romance nations... Their language comes just as a confirmation of this evidence.. any other disccusion remains only for fun! That's my opinion and is not based on specualtions only!