Talk:Romanian phrasebook

Good start
This page is a great start on the Romanian phrasebook. It needs to be rounded out to have all the phrases on the Phrasebook template, though. Once that's done, it should be one of the features phrasebooks on the Main Page. -- (WT-en) Evan 09:33, 12 Nov 2003 (PST)

Moved some editorial comments
I moved some editorial comments from the main page. We need to work with this kind of stuff on the talk pages -- that's what they're there for.


 * For "When does the train/bus for _____ leave?": This may be incorrect. I'm not a native speaker, but I'd expect this to mean "the train/bus from ______" not "...for (/to) ______." Would a native speaker please verify? - (WT-en) Jmabel
 * For section "Eating": Note: this section added by a non-native speaker (and is incomplete). Review by native speaker needed. Please remove this note when that is complete.
 * For "I only eat kosher food": I suspect this may be wrong - (WT-en) Jmabel
 * For "Money": Note: this section added by a non-native speaker. Review by native speaker needed. Please remove this note when that is complete.
 * For "Duration": Note: this section added by a non-native speaker. Review by native speaker needed. Please remove this note when that is complete.

In general, it's not really necessary to ask for help on Wikivoyage pages. People are going to do it whether you ask or not. Just go ahead and add what you know, even if you're not sure. We need the info! Thanks! --(WT-en) Evan 00:34, 3 Jan 2004 (EST)


 * I think the notes should be left on the Romanian phrasebook - it helps me a lot when I'm looking to correct the phrasebook, because otherwise I have to either look at page history or go through the whole phrasebook. So, I personally think we should leave them in. Evan, if you don't like them, then that's OK, but can you please bear with them just a few more days! I promise I'll correct the phrasebook and take out the native-speaker notes as quickly as possible - they don't usually stay there more than a few hours. -- (WT-en) Ronline 04:40, 3 Jan 2004 (EST)

I see "pain reliever (e.g., aspirin or ibuprofen)" has been translated as "calmant". I would have thought that mean something stronger then aspirin or ibuprofen, more like a "painkiller". Does "calmant" cover both of these? (WT-en) Jmabel 16:49, 3 Jan 2004 (EST)

Calmant indeed does mean something else. It is stronger than aspirin; closer to a sedative. The correct translation would be "anti inflamator". (WT-en) Alina 00:49, 17 Apr 2005 (EDT)

Very, very nice
What an excellent phrasebook, and a great group effort. Thanks to everyone who worked on this! --(WT-en) Evan 23:49, 3 Jan 2004 (EST)

One question still open 04 Jan 03

 * When does the train/bus for _____ leave? : Când pleacă trenul/autobuzul de _____ ? (COOHND PLACK-uh TREHN-ool/OU-toh_BOOZ-ool DEH _____) This may be incorrect. I'm not a native speaker, but I'd expect this to mean "the train/bus from ______" not "...for (/to) ______", which is what we need. Would a native speaker please verify? -- (WT-en) Jmabel 06:43, 3 Jan 2004 (EST)


 * Seems OK to me. "Când pleacă trenul de Constanţa?" would mean "When does the train for Constanţa leave?".
 * For "from", you would need "... de la Constanţa". 193.231.116.73 11:47, 6 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Thanks from EV

One day is missing
Hello, the word for "saturday" is not in the phrasebook. --(WT-en) zeno 15:12, Aug 9, 2004 (EDT)

sâmbătă

Sound files don't work
The .wav files, e.g. don't work. Not sure why.


 * It seems the audio files are missing :-( Someone silently removed them ? (WT-en) Wojsyl 05:43, 5 Feb 2005 (EST)


 * This is still broken. (WT-en) Murray Cumming April 9th 2006.


 * The pronunciation sound links are still broken as of May 14, 2008.(WT-en) Gordon Sabaduquia May 14,2008.

Some comments related to changes made April 17, 2005
1. In reference to the formal way of addressing others: I changed 'voi' to 'dumneavoatra' as 'voi' is not the formal manner of addressing the second person singular. Unlike the 'vous' in French, in Romanian it only means the second person plural. Also, I added the forms for the third persons.

2. In reference to "May I have a ...": The direct translation would be "Pot sa am" but this would be inapropiate to use. Firstly, it means "Can I have" and secondly it sounds odd. The form "I would like", that is "As dori..." is better. (WT-en) Alina 00:49, 17 Apr 2005 (EDT)

Slight Rewrite - Background Section
With respect to the original author of the 'Background' section, I've taken the liberty of rewriting it slightly with the intention of improving the clarity. This has mostly been in terms of English grammar, the odd bit of punctuation and spelling, and once or twice rewording phrases or sentences to make them a little clearer to English speakers.

Hopefully I've preserved the bulk of what was already a good and informative summary, and I hope my edits are taken in the spirit in which they were meant. If, on the other hand, I've spent too long on Wikipedia and we don't just wade in and rewrite stuff on Wikivoyage, then somebody please feel free to revert. - (WT-en) Shrivenzale 07:17, 27 February 2007 (EST)

You are kidding yourselves
English IS the MOST spoken and known foreign language (Romance, Germanic or otherwise). Probably the person who wrote that English is second after German is a learner of German; they seem to think everyone knows German. Also most people who have been to Italy or who have relatives that have been to Italy seem to think that everyone knows Italian in Romania. I prefer to stay with the statistics. In more than 80% of the schools in Romania, English is the FIRST foreign language learnt, German usually being second (and therefore not so often actually learned properly); sometimes French is second. Also English has become a part of Romanian pop culture and of Romanian computer culture (it is generally required to operate a computer as most computers in Romania use English). German has not become part of the Romanian pop culture. So check things out before you write something that might not help people. In large cities, chances are that 1 out of 2 persons or maybe even 2 out of 3 know English. The same cannot be said about German, despite German's cutural infulence in Transylvania and parts of Wallachia.

Also...
The person writing about who learns what language in Romania seems to have written it only through the point of view of the academic community. Most Romanians don't hvae the slightest idea what the Latin Union is and till last year many didn't know what the Francophonie is. But even in the academic community, the fact that since the 70's English has been the most taught language is primary middle and high-school has made English a widely spoken language, meybe also the most spoken language in the academic community.

More...
I am a native Romanian speaker, living in Romania. Some phrases sound awkward or even not understandable to me. I shall correct them.

This needs fixing:
Would a Romanian speaker please sort this passage out:

''Note: For all of the above, the correct, literary way to express duration is by saying una oră, una ziuă, una săptămână... instead of o oră, o ziuă, o săptămână, but this is never really used in speech, even if the context is very formal. Therefore, it is much easier to learn that o is used to express one or a in the case of minute, hour, month, etc, not una. This is because all of these nouns are feminine. With year, which is masculine, un is used (as in, un an - one year)

''The above "note" is false. UNA dose not exist in romanian, the "o" is used for the feminine, and "un" for masculine. The confusion was made due to the text written on the banknotes - like "UNA SUTA LEI" (instead of "O SUTA DE LEI"), which sounds extremely formal, but it is incorrect.''

It is entirely unhelpful to have such a confusing and contradictory pair of paragraphs. If a piece of information is false, change it, or else raise it as a topic on the talk page, don't just write a paragraph complaining in the prose of the article itself. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 16:29, 16 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Pinging User:IonutBizau, who I think is the only Romanian speaker around here. ϒpsilon (talk) 17:42, 16 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Tack, ϒpsilon. Great idea --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 19:04, 16 May 2016 (UTC)


 * I confirm, the note is bullshit. Deleted it. Cheers. IonutBizau (talk) 08:49, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

What happened last Wednesday?
Very funny pair of sentences, just after the basic greetings, more so without a hint of context. But what is their purpose? --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 15:49, 5 October 2019 (UTC) ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 15:51, 5 October 2019 (UTC)