Bine ati venit pe la noi…
>>>I've always wondered what Romanian sounds like for people who hear it for the 1st time...I'm Romanian,by the way.<<<
Romanian sounds like Moldovian... jk...
I disagree with Sigma, I don't think Romanian sounds like Italian, but I've heard many Romanians claiming that both languages are very similar. BTW, I don't speak Italian so I may be wrong. In my opinion (a Spanish-speaker's one) Romanian sounds like... sounds like... Romanian? It's not related to any languages I know. Romanian texts look Slavic, although I'm aware that most of the Romanian vocabulary can be tracked down to Latin.
Anyway... I think Romanian sounds so different from Spanish (and Portuguese), because:
1. It separated very early from the rest of the Latin languages.
2. The geographical distance from the Iberian Peninsula.
3. The geographical isolation, sorrounded by Slavic countries.
Well,I suppose Romanian sounds more like a Slavic language rather than a Romance one,although about 80% of the vocabulary comes from Latin.
However,as a Romanian,I can say I understand Italian pretty well,and I've never studied it.So,I guess Romanian is closer to Italian than to any other language(at least in vocabulary).
Bonjour libelula. Est-ce que tu parles français ? Dans l'affirmative, est-ce que ce fut dur pour toi d'apprendre cette langue ou au contraire plutôt facile ?
<<Anyway... I think Romanian sounds so different from Spanish (and Portuguese), because:
1. It separated very early from the rest of the Latin languages.
2. The geographical distance from the Iberian Peninsula.
3. The geographical isolation, sorrounded by Slavic countries.>>
Well Carlos... Yes and No!
The geographical isolation was a benefic factor for Romanian, preserving the Ancient Latin factor from dilution. Romanian language is the most studied Neo-Latin language by the linguists who are also studying the Ancient Latin or Pre Classical Latin !
1.It separated very early from the rest of the Latin languages.
Answer:
-Exactly ! That’s why Romanian Language preserved so many words derived from Classical Latin. Geographically it was protected from the Vulgar Latin influence for hundreds of years. Romanian is the only Romance language that preserved the Neuter Gender and Declensions from Classical Latin!!! It washed out from the other Romance languages.
On the other hand, is true. Romanian absorbed many Slavic loan words …but still... in terms of grammar and vocabulary Romanian is the closest language to classical Latin. Ironically even more than Italian! So Romanian doesn’t sound too much like any other western Neo-Latin languages. Romanian sounds more like Latin.
Not accidentally the country is also called “Romania “ which was the name of the Roman empire.
And if you study Romanian you have a frozen sample of the Linguae Latinae of the 1st century !!!
Romanian Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:18 pm GMT:
"Romanian absorbed many Slavic loan words …but still... in terms of grammar and vocabulary Romanian is the closest language to classical Latin. Ironically even more than Italian."
Most people interested in linguistics (ie. Most people on this board) know that Italian is not the closest to classical Latin. It is the closest to vulgar Latin. The only claim I can think of that might be valid here is that Italian is considered the closest language to Latin in Western Europe, but this is because either A.) they do not consider Romania to be in Western Europe, or B.) they forget about Romanian.
B.) they forget about Romanian.
Only Anglo-Saxons will do that. Latin people knows that Romania is a Latin European country where people speaks Romanian a Latin Language.
Aldebarán, we've been through this before. There's an expression, "Beating a dead horse." It's quite applicable here.
" Only Anglo-Saxons will do that. Latin people knows that Romania is a Latin European country where people speaks Romanian a Latin Language. "
The people who is interested in languages and culture knows that, but you will find a lot of people whoe have never heard Romanian in their life and though it is a Slavic people who speak a slavic language. Each time I heard this affirmation I have to correct the people, the misconception that "Est-European = Slavic) is widely spread.
Aldebarandandan,
=>B.) they forget about Romanian.
Only Anglo-Saxons will do that. Latin people knows that Romania is a Latin European country where people speaks Romanian a Latin Language. <=
No comment,
I'm with Bernard and Tifanny.
Romanian is the first language to split from Latin as a language of its own, so like “Romanian” just wrote, it preserved many exclusive words from Latin not found in any other Romance language.
It’s a shame that people don’t know anything about this country and language who preserved very well the Latin identity over 2 000 years of invasions , so far away from the “Latin Club” .
Not listing Romanian (the closest language to Latin) in a Romance language group.
Is like not listing Russian in a Slavic group ! Or English as Germanic.
Aldebarán : tous les Français ne savent pas que le roumain est une langue latine.
Il y a même certains Français que ne savent pas que le Français en est une !
The grammar of Romanian is certainly Latin, and some of the vocabulary does come to us straight from some kind of Latin source, psssibly the Roman colonists in Dacia, but perhaps unlikely as they were almost all evacuated (before the Romans even quit the British Isles.) A lot of 'Latinate' words in Romanian come directly from French, and are the result of a 19th cnetury project to try to make Romanian seem more Latin. this was linked to prevailing ideas about the superiority of Latin languages and peoples over Slavic, Germanic, Turkic, Albanian etc. All of which are ethnically just as likely sources for Romanians' "latin blood."
Thats the way I half-remember it, anyway. Perhaps I'm wrong.
Its interesting how excited people get about Romanians being 'Latin' though. So what? They aren't the only non-Slavic speaking people in Eastern europe, and whats wrong with Slavic languages anyway?
No,of course there's nothing wrong with being Slavic,but there's something wrong with the fact that Romania is often left outside from both the Slavic group and the Latin one.So...where do we belong?!