· 6 min read
How to Learn Romanian Fast: A Realistic Plan
By Language Lab editorial team
How to learn Romanian fast: use its Latin vocabulary, learn the special letters, handle two cases and three genders early, train word stress and speak daily.
Romanian is one of the quickest languages for an English speaker. The US State Department lists it in Category I, languages close to English, at 24 weeks of classes. It is a Romance language, descended from the Latin brought to the region by the Romans, and it shares approximately 70 percent of its vocabulary with the other Romance languages, mostly Italian and French. So if you know any of those, or simply the Latin side of English, you start with many familiar-looking words. What is new: a few special letters, a small case system that other Romance languages lack, and stress that can fall on any syllable and change a word's meaning. Learn those early, test yourself, space your reviews and speak every day.
The scale of the task
| Language | State Department category | Class time |
|---|---|---|
| Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch | Category I | 24 weeks |
| Spanish, French | Category I | 30 weeks |
| German | Category II | About 36 weeks (828 class hours) |
| Russian, Polish, Hungarian | Category III | About 44 weeks (1,012 class hours) |
| Arabic, Chinese, Japanese | Category IV | 88 weeks (2,200 class hours) |
Category I as a whole runs from 552 to 690 class hours, and Romanian is listed at the 24-week end of it. The State Department gives these as the time usually expected to reach a speaking and listening score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, describes a typical week as 23 hours in class and 17 hours of self-study, and notes that actual time varies with ability, prior language-learning experience and time in the classroom. At 10 hours a week, 552 hours is about 55 weeks. The Department previously published this list under the name Foreign Service Institute (FSI); an archived version of the page gives identical class-hour totals to the current one.
1. Use the Latin vocabulary
A language profile from UCLA describes Romanian as a Romance language, closely related to Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and the only Romance language to have developed in eastern Europe. It shares approximately 70 percent of its vocabulary with the other Romance languages. When you meet a new Romanian word, look first for a French, Italian or Spanish relative, or for an English word of Latin origin. Romanian has also borrowed from its Slavic neighbours, and from Turkish, Greek and Hungarian, so not every word will be familiar.
2. Learn the special letters
Romanian is written in the Roman alphabet with a few additions. It uses diacritics over certain vowels, and a mark under the letters s and t shows the sounds sh and ts. You can see both in two everyday phrases: Mulțumesc, thank you, and Vorbiți englezește?, do you speak English? Learn these letters in your first days.
3. Train word stress
UCLA's profile notes that stress in Romanian can fall on any syllable, and that changing the stressed syllable can change the meaning. Learn every new word from audio, and mark the stress in your notes. The sound system itself is compact: seven vowels and three diphthongs.
4. Meet the cases and genders early
Unlike other Romance languages, Romanian has kept a case system, but it is a small one: two cases, one covering the nominative and accusative and one covering the genitive and dative. A third, the vocative, is rarely used. There are three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and a third group of nouns that are masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural. Learn each noun together with its plural.
5. Use English word order
The usual word order is subject, verb, object, as in English. That lets you build correct simple sentences from the first week while you are still learning endings.
6. Speak from the first week
| Romanian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Salut. | Hello. |
| La revedere. | Goodbye. |
| Mulțumesc. | Thank you. |
| Da. | Yes. |
| Mă numesc ... | My name is ... |
| Îmi pare bine. | Pleased to meet you. |
| Vorbiți englezește? | Do you speak English? |
These are from the BBC's archived list of essential Romanian phrases. Say them aloud until they are automatic.
7. Test yourself and space it out
A 2013 review of ten learning techniques, led by John Dunlosky, rated two as high utility: practice testing and distributed practice. Rereading and highlighting were rated low. A 2006 meta-analysis of 317 experiments on distributed practice found that the best gap between study sessions grows with how long you need to remember the material.
- Cover the Romanian and say it from the English.
- Say a noun with its plural, then check.
- Begin each session by recalling the last one.
- Return to each lesson after a day, a week and a month.
Where Romanian is used
Romanian is the official language of Romania, where UCLA's profile says more than 90 percent of the population speak it as a first language. The BBC's language profile adds that it is also spoken in Moldova and in parts of Ukraine and Hungary.
A week that works
- Five days, 20 minutes: one lesson of a structured course.
- Daily, 10 minutes: new words from audio, with stress marked.
- Daily, 5 minutes: the phrases above, from memory.
- Twice a week, 15 minutes: nouns with their plurals.
- Every day: speak, starting with Salut and Mă numesc, my name is.
Language Lab's Romanian course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, so you can practise speaking between lessons.
Frequently asked
What is the fastest way to learn Romanian?
Build on its Latin vocabulary, learn the special letters and word stress early, get the two cases and three genders in place, test yourself, space your reviews and speak from the first week.
How long does it take to learn Romanian?
The US State Department lists Romanian at 24 weeks of classes, the short end of a Category I range of 552 to 690 class hours. At 10 hours a week, 552 hours is about 55 weeks.
Is Romanian easy for English speakers?
The US State Department places it in Category I, the group it describes as languages close to English.
Is Romanian a Slavic language?
No. Romanian is a Romance language, descended from Latin. It has borrowed vocabulary from the surrounding Slavic languages.
Is Romanian similar to Italian?
Yes. UCLA's profile calls Romanian closely related to Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and says it shares approximately 70 percent of its vocabulary with the other Romance languages, mostly Italian and French.
Does Romanian have cases?
Yes, a small system: one case for the nominative and accusative, one for the genitive and dative, and a rarely used vocative.
Sources: US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; UCLA Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures, Background Information (Romanian); BBC Languages, European Languages: Romanian, and Quick Fix essential Romanian phrases (archived); Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013; Cepeda et al., Psychological Bulletin, 2006. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Transfăgărășan road seen from Bâlea Lake, Andrei Stroe / CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
