Recommendations on Romanian course
Hi all,
I would like to share some recommendations on learning Romanian on Duolingo and elsewhere.
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Focus more on learning Romanian and less on the gamification elements of the Duolingo platform. In the end, (hopefully) your aim is to learn Romanian and less about winning hearts, streaks and the likes.
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Related to the above, take your time when doing lessons in order to enjoy them and also learn more. Learning a foreign language is a (very) long journey, doing the this tree in a hurry will not serve you well.
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Try to complement Duo lessons with other resources as well. Reading (books, articles), listening (music, news), watching (movies, shows) are of great help is learning any language, Romanian included. Also try to switch as many devices and as much software as possible in Romanian (if available).
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When in doubt, stick to the translation option provided in the hints. In time, we might add other options as well but for the time being it is better to focus more on the provided options, in order to advance with Romanian and avoid being annoyed.
Speaking of annoyance...
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It is better to stick with the standard American spelling of a word or expression (not all regional variants supported). We do not have the resources (partly time and partly knowledge) to add all possible spellings of a particular word but we tried our best. Moreover, the Duolingo itself recommends using American English. Sorry to all British, Aussies and others (even Americans sometimes) annoyed by the lack of their favorite spelling versions. Sometimes, you feelings are easily discernible from the reports.
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We are aware the other courses offer more variety when it comes to word order in a translation. However, we feel that it is better to stick with the most natural word order in order to teach you better Romanian. While other variants might be understandable to natives, they do not "sound" very Romanian in many cases.
Good luck learning Romanian!
Best regards,
Dan
74 Comments
The course is great! I'm loving it but I'm looking forward to it's release on mobile devices because it'd be a lot more convenient for me.
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That would be nice. But until then, there is a way to do Romanian lessons on the app...as long as you're quick-fingered. Please allow me to explain:
I would have a Romanian lesson open on my web browser, but I noticed that if I opened the app (which would be on Spanish, German, etc.) and tapped the dumbbell button quickly enough--i.e., before it could show the message that says, "The language pair you are currently learning, X from Y, is not yet supported on mobile..."--it would allow me to strengthen Romanian rather than the language I had been on.
The lesson also had full functionality (voice, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, typing, etc.) within the app. In an odd twist, part of the way through a lesson, it would sometimes switch to whichever language the app was on.
I've been able to do this at least ten times, and recently, I've been able to do this twice in the same session. After the second lesson, however, it immediately brings up the aforementioned message.
I hope this helps until Romanian does get released for mobile!
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While on my andriod phone in the chrome brower the duolingo prompted something do you want doulingo to send notifactions. I selected yes. It created a shortcut duolingo notifactions. Using the shortcut it open up my romanian course in the mobile style website. I've only done the course from the phone in this manner.
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Thank you so much for making the Romanian course possible! Learning this language has been my dream for a few years and now I feel like I can make it possible. But can I give you a suggestion? I'd love to see conjugation charts for the Romanian verbs, like they have in the Italian course. Thank you once more. <3
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Hi! as a native speaker, I must tell you that there are not a lot of rules in the conjugation of Romanian verbs, and you cannot divide them in regular and irregular. I think that making a chart would be sooo damn difficult. Therefore, if you want to, I could help you, because I think that talking with a native speaker would make the learning process a lot easier
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Awesome! I really enjoy how Duolingo teaches you, and Romanian is a great language! You guys have done a great job on the course, and I can't wait to see how it works on the mobile app! Mulţumesc!
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This is the main thing holding me back. Too many times I'm not at computer, but I have my phone.
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However, we feel that it is better to stick with the most natural word order in order to teach you better Romanian.
Duolingo really taught me better Romanian than I ever had, even I'm a native speaker :)
Thank you!
I am not sure whether you are serious or poking fun at us. But I take it as it is. Nevertheless, this course definately does not target Romanian natives :-)
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No. I am serious.. the Romanian course is the best. I finished my tree few days ago... I meant this course is actually teaching me random words that I never heard of.. anyway, thank you for your recommendations; they really helped me. ;-)
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Not for natives, of course, but they can definitely help by noticing hiccups and possible mistakes. Consider them volunteer testers for the beta version :)
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I would like to disagree, as I am a native speaker as well and this course has many flaws, in my opinion. A lot of exercises were wrong, in the placement test I took, and some didn't even make sense. I tried it just to see if my English skills match my Romanian ones and if I were to base my knowledge on how well I did in this course, I wouldn't even know how to speak Romanian.
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That's rather interesting to hear. I am at level 13 and nearly half way through the tree, coming to the course as a complete beginner. I don't think I could say anything in Romanian yet either. Although, I think you probably are setting very high standards for a very new course. I say this partly because of the quality of your written English. It is flawless. I am sure that the Romanian course will improve as more learners provide feedback and further "tweaking" is done.
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These are good tipps, and you should take some of them for all courses and maybe also for everything you will ever learn.
But regarding the Romanian course, the pronunciation is not always totally perfect. I would recommend to search for videos and other resources online where you can learn to get better on understanding native people.
in general: Start to learn loudly and write down the words you didn't know. At least write it once a week. The more you repeat it reading/writing/speaking, the faster you will know a language.
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Thank you very much for the course! You team are amazing! I'm learning a lot . Mulţumesc frumos!!
I had a great time doing the Romanian course. Many thanks and keep up the good work! :)
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HI! Thank you for this language course. I´m gonna spend summer holidays in this beautiful country so I finally have a comfortable choice to learn Romanian. Thank you and I´m looking forward to expend this course.
Loving it as well. Especially to gain in vovabulary! Could you share any romanian movies, comic books that you know are "must see"? Thank you!!
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Some good ones are : -Eu Cand Vreau sa Fluier, Fluier -4 Luni, 3 Saptamani si Doua Zile -Marti Dupa Craciun -Pozitia Copilului -Loverboy Most of these deal with social aspects and problems of reality and have deep messages.
Any by Radu Jude are excellent, in particular Aferim! Also Caini, and 12.08 East of Bucharest.
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I'm enjoying the Romanian course so far. In the German course, I found the flashcard option to be very helpful. Are there any plans to add that for Romanian?
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Until it’s added, you could run Anki at the same time. It's a dedicated flashcard program/app.
Actually, we have a promise from Duolingo to launch it on the mobile platforms, still with the Beta status, in order to iron out the remaining kinks. Therefore, it might happen soon that you are able to enjoy the course on mobile.
It's been a great experience for me so far. Really happy with the course and my progression.
Thank you for the great course. It must be a lot of work to create, and this is a minor, picky point, but . . . so many of the examples involve apples! I'd appreciate the opportunity to reinforce some other nouns as well.
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It's true, but also true of most of the other courses I have started, or continued with, here on Duolingo. It's useful to have more variety, but when you are an absolute beginner the repetition helps reinforce learning. I agree that it is a great new course, and something of gem, as quality, extensive and free Romanian courses such as this are a rare find.
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Thank you so much for all of the volunteers hard work bringing Romanian to Duolingo. I'm so grateful. My Romanian in-laws do not speak English and I want to be able to communicate with them better. This course is a life-changer. Thank you thank you thank you!
In regards to other media in Romanian, I have found that interpreting my hobbies help. I try to describe what is around me in Romanian, fall asleep to lullabies, and since I love cooking sometimes I read recipes in Romanian. Watching Romanian news helps as well.
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There is a new Romanian mini series from HBO, valea mută.
Can anyone recommend some other tv shows, also maybe some simple ones, so I can practice? :))
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There aren't many new Romanian TV Shows. However I can recommend older ones such as "Numai Iubirea", "Ingerasii", "Pariu Cu Viata" ,"Lacrimi De Iubire". Those are all more romantic TV Shows although they have some humorous scenes. If you want something funnier you should watch "Las Fierbinti" or "State de Romania". Also we have versions of American Shows such as The Voice (Vocea Romaniei) , The X Factor or Romania's Got Talent. Most of these are on YouTube or on various free websites.
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Hey! Thanks a lot, i surround my self with Romanians all the time, and never heard about these even though I ask on a regular basis. I watched Filantropica the other day, very funny. So I will definitely try out the comedy ones!
We watched this on Acorn TV. Also some libraries have online access to it. Pretty good, but violent.
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The course is great and really well-structured I think! I'm going through it with my boyfriend(he is English I am Romanian). However there are some pronunciation mistakes here and there and the wrong vowels are stressed in some words.
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Posted this in a separate thread today, but it probably belongs here.
Hello everyone,
I just finished the Romanian tree averaging about two hours per day over 41 days. About halfway through the course, I realized that there were some youtube videos on the Romanian language that would have given me a much better base to utilize duolingo. But I did not have enough time to study that material and start over on duolingo.
I am aware of but not knowledgeable on spaced repetition learning. Because of time constraints before a potential trip next month, I decided to just go fast as possible through the Romanian tree. Some questions I have are:
1 Does duolingo incorporate SRS into the courses? 2 How much of the course material should I expect to have retained the first time around? 3 Any other good sources for SRS learning?
If my Romanian trip ends up being cancelled, I plan to start the Spanish tree and put further Romanian study off until next year.
Thanks
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I will not use American spelling.
This Romanian course use to be enjoyable now it just takes up huge amounts of time doing the same thing over and over while at the same time not using some words it has introduced,
Are you meant to be a mind reader when choosing which version of "but" or "because" and then when you choose the wrong one you are wrong?
there is a question - pick the correct translations from three - where there is NO correct answer but you have to pick one anyway to continue.
Why can't you get people to speak at normal pace?
Used to love it but am beginning to hate it. Used to learn a lot but now can't progress because of having to endlessly keep the colour bars gold.
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If I have to use American spelling I will just leave.
One should not have to be clairvoyant to know which of the multiple meanings of some Romanian words one has to use to be "right". How are you supposed to know when they want "pretty" and not "beautiful" or "nice" and why should you be wrong if you fail to guess which one they chose to use?
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I am really enjoying this Romanian Course. One problem I've encountered now I'm further up the tree is that my mobile gives me the Romanian answers without me having to pick any words, which I've worked out is because the sentences are longer. This means that I prefer using my computer (which also means I can add accents, which again my Android mobile won't let me), but alas I don't always have my computer on me, my mobile yes.
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Get Gboard by Google then add Romanian. Pressing space bar you can choose Romanian. When press and hold say a then a popup jumps up with all the Romanian a s slide to select. btw I use it for French as well.
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My impression is that, compared to other languages, it is much harder to upgrade again, when strengthening skills. Is that possible?
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Thank you! I found this pretty useful. Any recommendations for additional courses?
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I would love to learn more tourist related stuff since I am planning a trip to Romania in the near future. Such as how to greet in romanian, say 'thank you', etc. Currently the course starts with being a boy and a girl.
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Plenty of free mobile apps available online for that sort of thing. Have you tried Lyrebird, for example? Don't like to advertise here, besides Duolingo is by far my favourite.
I feel bad writing in Romanian. When my sister in laws can not read or write in Romanian and they were born there. Kind of depressing to be honest. The only reason you need to read or write in Romania is because of the insane bureaucratic BS. Trust me if you move there you will need a paper ans 20 stamps just to wipe your A##. Most menus are in English. Though sometimes they are hilarious. Because the translations are so bad. Speaking is what is important. But trust this if you ask for placinta you will not get a pie I have no idea what that is translated as pie. As it is really fry bread with cheese and sour cream dill. Anyway can see how many words Ive been speaking in another language thinking it was Romanian. So this course is very good for me. But some words my husband and his family do not use. Maybe because Bihor is closer to Magyar.
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Not my experience at all. Placinta is pie, and menus in Romanian are quite common. I'm mostly visiting the South: Bucuresti, Teleorman....
No it is plăcintă like a round fried bread with potatos or cheese inside it. You can put smentina and dill on it. Look it up placenta cu brenza si marar well known dating back to the Roman Empire. But they also call crepes plăcintă as well. Confusing people they are. But defiantly Langos and plăcintă are the same thing. Was living in Bihor Co. Closer to the Magyar border.
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Sure because placinta sounds like palacsinta in Hungarian or Palatschinken in Austrian German :)
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Plăcintă and langoș aren't the same. Plăcintă=pancake, crepes and langoș=scole(perhaps). Langoș is a special roumanian food.
Ahh of coarse sorry I was thinking about Langosi for some reason. My husbands family call crepes placenta.
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I live in Timișoara and I certainly don't see English menus everywhere. If I do see English signage on a café or restaurant, I usually walk away because I know it'll be overpriced.
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Pie-placinta, such as apple pie, pumpkin pie and so on. Langos is like a filled doughnut. And crepes or pancakes are clatite
thanks for the info, I'm here a little over a year now in Bucharest so its finally time to really start learning which is why I'm on this. but as for convenience when on the bus or break etc i was wondering when will the Romanian language apps be available for download on the phone! and yes in case you're wondering by the hat in the pic, I'm Irish :) thanks in advance
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Actually, all of these guidelines are apropos for learning any language, not just Romanian.
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This course is generally great, but I'm very frustrated when you have to type the Romanian word that applies to a photo and it will not let you submit your answer!
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Very good course. It has been a challenge for me to get started because of the vowel sounds a, â, ă. The well timed repetition makes such a difference with listening and speaking.
