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  • Writer's pictureAnna

Language barriers

At OB most of the staff members are Hungarian, but we are in Romania, so there are camps held in Romanian. Everyone speaks in English and usually on the meetings this is the spoken language, but unavoidably you will here a lot of Hungarian and Romanian words and discussions.

Hungarian is a difficult language, Romanian is easier, especially if you already speaks one of the latin languages ( Italian, Spanish, French). You can practice with this site even before you arrive https://www.50languages.com/. I also used that and it helped a lot. I learnt the basic words and expression with this website. There is an app too for your mobile. I preferred to listen the voice lessons.

The voluntary service will provide for you language course too. In our case that was a private teacher, and we met weekly, when we didn't have camps. OB recently bought a Romanian language book, you can use that too.


Some important words and phrases in Romania


Greetings

Salut! Hello!

Bună dimineața! Good morning! (sg/pl)

Bună ziua! Hello! (sg/pl)

Bună seara! Good evening! (sg/pl)

Noapte bună! Good night! (sg/pl) Pa!Bye! (infml)

La revedere! Good bye! (fml.)


Basic

da yes

nu no

poate maybe

Mersi! Thank you!

Cu plăcere!You're welcome! (m/f)

Cu plăcere altă dată nu mai cere! You're welcome, another time don't ask!

Scuze Excuse me, … (sg/pl)

Îmi pare rău! I'm sorry. (m/f)

Am ... Nu am ... I have … / I don't have ...

Avem ... Nu avem ... We (don't) have …

Este ... Nu este ... There is (no) ...


Introducing yourself

Mă numesc ... My name is ...

Eu sunt din ... I'm from ...

Am ... ani. I'm ... years old.

Sunt voluntar, nu am bani. I am volunteer, I don't have money.

Călătoresc singur(ă). Nu călătoresc singur(ă). I am traveling alone. / I am not traveling alone. (m/f)

Călătoresc cu ... I'm traveling with ...


Comprehension

Nu vorbesc românește. I don't speak any Romanian.

Nu înțeleg. I don't understand. (m/f)

Vorbiți ... ? Do you speak …? (m/f)

E cineva aici care vorbește ... ? Does anyone here speak ...?

engleză English

franceză French

Vă rog notați. Could you write that down please. (m/f)

Vă rog să repetați. Could you please repeat that. (m/f)

Un moment, vă rog. Just a moment please.





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