Learning the Romanian language was difficult at times, but my ambition trumped the trials. I was desperate to learn the tongue, and so, during my first year, I devoted all my energies to making the language become my own. Even before I moved to Romania, I was seeking advice on how to learn the language quickly.
One translator told me to try to think in Romanian once I understood enough to get by. “Think in Romanian,” he said. “Don’t translate. Learn to understand the words for what they are and not for their English equivalents.”
The tip sounded impossible at first, but I eventually came to understand what it meant. Although at the beginning of the language-learning process, one must translate concepts, words, and phrases into his own language, once you get a good handle on the new language, it is best to begin learning words for what they are, based on their context, rather than their equivalent in your own language.
There are many Romanian words without exact English equivalents. Amazingly, one can understand these words, even if clueless about how they would translate. One understands them as they are, not based on their English translations.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
