Romanian Language Classes

I would say that group lessons at an institution may be more fun, and perhaps a good way to meet a few other expats who are in the same boat as you, but private lessons will give you a lot more speaking practice and therefore improve your confidence and fluency at a faster rate. Private lessons will also give you a bit more flexibility if you have a busy/changeable work schedule.

There was one guy, called Alex, who was advertising private lessons on either this forum or another forum a while back. I think he also offered to do the lessons through Skype. I can't remember how much he charged, though. There are some people who'll assume that because you're a foreigner that you're rich and they'll try charging you silly money for privates, but there are plenty of respectably-priced teachers out there too, I'm sure.

I have mostly learnt Romanian by participating in forums, reading newspapers and articles online, reading books, and so on. As a result I read Romanian to an upper-intermediate level, write it at about intermediate level, understand most of what people say if they speak clearly and correctly, but my speaking skills are still a bit weak because I don't practise enough.

If you want to get good at any skill, you need to practise that skill - if you want to speak Romanian well, you need to speak Romanian. It seems obviously, but a lot of the group courses fail their students in this respect, focusing a lot on grammar and reading and not giving the participants enough free conversation time to build confidence and fluency. That's why I might recommend private lessons over group classes.

The ICR courses don't seem too expensive. It works out at about 23RON per person per hour per student, which is reasonable. However, with 8-12 students in the class you'll probably not get much speaking time, and I think for expats the most important thing is to be able to communicate verbally in the local language. You could try finding a few friends/colleagues who also want to improve their Romanian and make a small group of three or four and share the cost of a private tutor. That way you get the best of both worlds.

23RON is a good price, thanks for calculating - it doesn't look so expensive anymore I might sign in for this course and also take some private classes later.
I went to the Book Shop and I've bought a very nice book 'Manual de Limba Romana' by Daniela Kohn for my home studies.

It's just so hard to practise Romanian because at work we talk only English and also when I go out with my Romanian colleagues we talk in English That's why I'll need some private lessons with a person I don't know. I hope to be confident enough to talk Romanian in the shops or when I call for the taxi - usually they just hung up when I start to speak English :)And I would love to read in Romanian as you do, it would just make me life easier here and I would learn more about the Romanian culture.

Thanks again for all the useful information, have a nice day!

Hi Margo,
you can contact me and i will tell the place where you can go to learn romanian language, you can mail me at arkhan157@yahoo.com.

I have been here a year now, and my verbal Romanian skills are still basic, well perhaps a little better than basic, but not very at all, my wife is Romanian and has given up on me, we only speak in English at home. But i work with Romanians who dont speak English, so i get by with my bad Romanian, and can actually understand quite a bit if people speak clearly and reasonably slowly. I have relied on that really so far, just listening and picking it up as i go along. It can be very frustrating though, and i wish i was not so lazy and was better at learning Romanian.

Hi Daz....really? Sounds like you are struggling a bit with Romanian....I think I read you are a British lad, but perhaps you do not have the advantage of knowing a latin language prior to start learning Romanian? But sounds like your missis should be harder on you :-) Forcing you to speak Romanian when inside your house. Practise practise practise mate (easy for me to say) :-) You enjoy the city so far? And which part of the Uk are you from if I may ask?

Yes i am English. I like it here in Bucharest and in Romania, its a good place, there are one or two things that are not so good here, but nothing too bad, you know what they say, every country and every place has its problems.

The misses is hard on me sometimes, after which i dig out my Romanian dictionarys and start to read again. I dont know any other language apart from English, and bad Romanian ofcourse.

To be honest i dont know where to start with it now, i asked my wife to give me a plan of action regarding learning the other day, once i have that i will crack on again, i am past the basic excersises and need more advanced and better sentance making skills.

Its a case of me being quite lazy with this, and not really wanting to come home from work and start to learn alot, kids, wife and the fact that i just want to relax with them after work.

Hi Margo,
I give romanian lessons,,,,ciobanescalb@gmail.com

Daz; I know it might be the last thing to want when returning, tired and all, making homework like you are once again in 2nd grade. My sister husband is Austrian and had to learn Danish. However, he never went to any school, just got it learned (quite well) from his children, that are bilingual.
So perhaps it can help you as well?
Post It notes on all things (it looks hilarious, but really can help). Loo, Tea Pot, Paper, Umbrella stand, Toaster, Knife, Fork, Spoon, Towel, Tv etc etc etc). Like when you study for examns. One is bound to get at least some of the words inside ones head (repetition, repetition).
I found it so useful to help kids with their homework (when I was in France as an Au Pair). But perhaps you do not have this posibility?
So I would suggest you to make 3-5 sentences every day or a week and just practise these to perfection. Not too many since this kills all enthusiasm. And either sentences you know or think you need the most (what you find out in your daily life asking for bread at store, directions etc) or sentences you like (meaning you have an interest in (cricket, architecture, football, beers etc) or you like/need professionally (according to your job).
This might make it easyer (more organised, not too many things at the same time) and also you might see a growing vocabulary and more usefulness every week of what you learned?
Just a thought.....and yes, all countrys have good and bad things. Even Paradise as some say God created (syre Paradise did not have Sky Tv to watch Spurs or Marmaite there) :-)

Thanks Kjesper. I have kids here too, my nephew is 12 (Romanian) and speaks good English, he helps me whenever i ask, We have a son too, who is 5, no English, and he always tells me new words, and makes me repeat them, trouble is i dont know what the words are in English to begin with :-)

The wife is a teacher, but has no patiance with me i think. I know alot more than i did a year ago though, and am learning it steadily, i just need to try a bit harder and pick up a bit more, your advice is good though, thank you for that.

Ps, Spurs fan? i am too, the defeats too Arsenal and Uts set us back a bit! game on this Sunday with Everton, need a win to stay clear of Chelsea and Arsenal, the title is a long way off yet.

Oops, bit of topic there with football, sorry everyone!

Don't worry Daz; if you're talking about Spurs, you're not talking about football.

I think I will just ignore Maykal last remark :-)
Pretty confident however, that Spurs will ride the challenge from The Gunners off in the end and secure the crucial 3rd sppot. We miss champions league - and champions league certainly miss Van der Vart and Bale. Auderre est Facere. Hope we manage The Toffees, even I will happily settle for one point. (and game against Arsenal???? Think that one slipped my memory...)

Watched the game last night, lost 1.0 to Everton at Goodison park, threw everything at them too in the secod half, but just could'nt break them down, if Arsenal win the gap will be just 1 point.

Oh well.......

Here's a site I've but together for learning Ro that you might find interesting.  It's public access.  I'll be going for 6 weeks this May/June and might also do the RCI course in Buc in June?  Anyway, have a gander:  http://hisp462.tamu.edu/romanian.html.  Reply if interested in dialogue to bimhoff5@gmail.com if ya like.

Hi Brian, i cant get the link to work, just get directed to google.

try copying or typing the full address in your browser address line instead of clicking on it:

   http://hisp462.tamu.edu/romanian.html/

(Or maybe without the final / )

Best,
Brian

Original link has a full stop at the end which has become part of the url - just delete it and it works fine.

Ah, yes thanks lads! got the link working now.

The Halt Language Center on Bld Regina Maria offers Romanian lessons. From what I hear they are not so expensive.

Do you have a rough idea how much they might be? (in lei)

Sorry I don't but the prices are different depending on the number of learners in the group.
Here is the website
http://www.halt.ro/

According to their site the courses are 32 hours in total, comprising 2 lessons of 2 hours per week for 8 weeks with 6 participants in a group. They don't give their prices directly on the website, so I guess they must be top secret. One of the things that really annoys me about local businesses here is their tendency to refuse to give you a price for their services - a lot of hotels do the same thing.

On another site they had an advert saying that courses 'started from' 450 RON, which, if it's for 32 hours of lesson, works out at about 15 RON an hour - very reasonable, even for small group lessons. All depends what they mean by 'starting from' though, doesn't it?

I work for them and by far they are the best school I have worked for yet. The students are quite happy there as well.

I mean in terms of niceness not how much they pay.

So how much is it for one module?

I don't know. :-( You will have to call to find out.

hi i want to learn Romanian too, right now my romanian is ZERO, which school would be best for me,

If you want to learn romanian...
then before joins a school..
you should start leaning romanian at home and learn its background and origin ...
then you can start with some audio books for its start up..

Go for private lessons, more value for your money

Hey, same here.
Ana Maria, she is good anamaria.plopeanu@gmail.com

Where are you from?
What do you do?

Guy

I am English, from Lincolnshire. Been living in Romania for over two years now, but came back to England in December untill this June to earn some money.

By trade i am a landscape gardener, there is not much call for that in Romania so when i come home i must learn Romanian properly so i can get a better job, i was working in a park in Bucharest untill i decided to come to England again for six months.

Thanks for the email address, i will give her a try.

I am interested in attending formal Romanian language classes. I am going to see an organization called Rolang. Can anybody give me some feedback on this organization. Specifically, has anybody heard anything about their classes. Are they good. Can anybody recommend other good Romanian language course. Thanks. Would appreciate comments and suggestions. Ray

I have worked with Rolang many times and advise my clients to go there.

You will not be disappointed

Dean

Hi Dean, Thanks for the heads up. I will go see them tomorrow. Ray

I moved from UK to a village three years ago where nobody speaks English, except one other expat who owns a house nearby but only visits ins summer for a couple of weeks. I did learn a few phrases in the early 90's when making humanitarian aid trips to villages near Cluj but haven't had any formal lessons. By immersing myself in the culture I have picked up quite a bit and can understand Romanians, as long as they speak clearly! I have a Romanian girlfriend, who speaks no English but am happy to have a conversation with her and her family, occasionally resorting to a dictionary.

Laurie

Hello.
I teach romanian as a foreign language. Please contact me at mihaela.ionda@gmail.com.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Mihaela  Ionda

Hi there
Looking for someone living near a place called Timisoara ??  That speaks English
Let me kno thanks

Rollbac

Hi,

I'm from Bucharest. I can teach you , for free ,the Romanian language for a easier adaptation here ( how can you handle the situations that you are faced everyday, grammar ,etc). My english level is intermediate so , I have , also , much to learn from you.
I would like to go out with you( parks , cinema ,etc).

Thank you