Would anyone be kind enough to advise, please?

[Sally_Forth]

Greetings, Unilangers!

I'm an author who wishes to write a Romanian character into her latest novel. In the interests of authenticity, and to do this unique Romance language justice, I hope someone will be willing to help me with my character's dialogue. The character is a middle-aged man from Transnistria who has come to Australia looking for his daughter. Because my audience is primarily English speaking, he will mostly speak English, except for some slang/idioms in Romanian.

I've heard that the Romanian accent is not strong when speaking foreign languages (i.e. English). Do you agree?

Thanks so much for your time

[shirkka]

Transnistria is not a part of Romania, so Transnistrian slang may be very different than any other slang from any Romanian region. Maybe someone who lives/lived there can help.

My opinion about Romanian accent in speaking English is that as long as the person doesn`t use English every day and in an English native country, the accent is pretty ugly. I know when I speak English to a Romanian, it`s extremly easy to recognize it.
Sorry, no offence! I`ve been there too.

[Sally_Forth]

Thanks Shirkka - good point re. geopolitical seperation of Transistria from Moldova.

For the purposes of my book, though, Moldova is probably close enough. It's an adventure story set in Australia, and this guy is a minor character.

When you say you find the accent ugly, can you be more specific? Eg: guttural; slurred; hard to understand; substitution of consanants (w for v)...?

[shirkka]

Hi Sally!
It`s not hard to understand, just that many Romanians pronounce the V and C very clear, they don`t use soft sounds. And the vowels are most of the time made longer than they are.

[Sally_Forth]

I'm interested to hear about the strong "V" - I thought (don't ask me why) there might be that Eastern European V / W confusion.

Thanks so much - and Merry Christmas (if you celebrate it). Either way, Happy New Year!

[shirkka]

Ow, when I wrote V and C, I meant vowels and consonants, they are pronounced very clear and stressed sometimes, there is no softness in speaking. Also "th"is pronounced as "z".

Merry Christmas to you too!

[Sally_Forth]

LOL - my mistake! I'm obviously a language idiot

Thanks again.. the z bit is good to know.

[AdiJapan]

Sally_Forth, I suppose in order to suggest the Romanian accent of the character you could alter the English spelling when rendering his words and possibly include some grammar errors. Here is how I would rewrite your initial text with such alterations:

I'm a ausserr who wish too rrite a Rromanian cheracter intoo herr latest novel. In ze interrests of aussenticity, end too doo zis unique Rromence lenguage jastice, I hop someone will bee willing too help mee wiss my cheracter's dialogue. Ze cheracter is a middle-aged men from Trensnistria who hes come too Australia looking forr his daughterr. Because my audience is primerrily Engleesh speaking, he will mostly speak Engleesh, except forr some sleng/idioms in Rromanian.

Romanian has fewer vowels than English, so for example bat and bet will be confused. There is no distinction between long and short vowels (feel and fill sound the same; depending on how much you want to shock or amuse your readers, you could go for a confusion between sheet and shit). When Romanians speak English they often trill their r's (including in words like hard, burn, car), turn th's into z's or s's, and generally have a sort of Italian accent without the singing part, or a Russian accent without the palatalization (that is, without pronouncing for example net as nyet).

For slang samples you will need help from a true Moldovan. Try contacting the forum moderator, AndreiB: memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=12168

[Sally_Forth]

Hey Adi,

Thank you for taking the time to post such a detailed and useful reply! I've got some Australian for you:

Thanks, mate - that's bonza! Have a ripper of a Chrissie and a beaut New Years!
(trans: Thank you very much, my friend - that's fabulous. Have a fantastic Christmas and a marvellous New Year!)

All the best,

Sally

[AdiJapan]

What da ya know, I was just preparing a Christmas present for my Aussie friend and thinking about what to write. Now I can impress her with my newly acquired Australian. Thanks, mate, that's bonza!

[Sally_Forth]

Good one (rrans: well done), Adi! No kangaroos in your top paddock (trans: your mental functioning is unimpaired)

[Balaur]

Hmm... the 'th', or /θ/ and /ð/, turning into [s] and [z] must not be universal among all Romanians. My parents make them stops, [t̪] and [d̪], when they speak. It must vary from region to region. Make sure to see what it is that Moldovans do specifically before deciding the character's pronunciation of those sounds, Sally.

[duko]

To add my 2 eurocents: someone from Transnistria would probably have an accent that could be mistaken for Russian, due to the importance of Russian in that area.
Second issue: I'm not sure how you could expres this in writing, but Romanian has syllable timing. Romanians speaking English will often use syllable timing when speaking Englishand that adds to the "foreign accent" because English is a language with stress timing

Transnistria is de-facto part of the Republic of Moldova,although it is a separatist .
Romanian is rarely spoken in Transnistria(although there live many Moldovans),so Russian is by far the first language spoken there.So I guess you should describe that accent as Russian

[Sally_Forth]

Thank you both ! I have to confess complete ignorance about the stresses, though... If it's not too much trouble, could you please show me in a sentence? Just put caps where the stress is, maybe. It would be interesting to try to write, I'm sure I could work out a nomenclature.

[AdiJapan]

Thank you both ! I have to confess complete ignorance about the stresses, though... If it's not too much trouble, could you please show me in a sentence? Just put caps where the stress is, maybe. It would be interesting to try to write, I'm sure I could work out a nomenclature.

Unfortunately, it would be quite hard to understand the difference in language timing from a written text, no matter how carefully we would write it and you would read it. You have to hear the different rhythms to understand the difference. And then, even after you do understand, you'd have a hard time trying to put that in writing, in the mouth of your character.

Anyway, the idea of stress timing (how English is pronounced) is that you speed up and slow down your words so that the time between two successive stressed vowels is roughly the same. For instance, you take about the same time to pronounce these two sentences:

- Did you hear me?
- Didn't you hear me?

because the number of stressed vowels is the same. But in Romanian the speed is constant, that is, if you add some unstressed syllables you lengthen the time. A Romanian speaking English will unknowingly import that feature into English and give you the impression that he speaks with a broken rhythm, somewhat like inserting lots of commas where they aren't supposed to be. Something like this:

The character, is a middle, aged man from, Transnistria, who has come to, Australia, looking for his, daughter.

[Sally_Forth]

Okay, I have some understanding of what you mean, now, Adi. Enough, anyway, to see the problem. The correct stresses might have to go into the category of "job for the screenwriter"... you know, when film-makers are clamouring to make my bestseller into a box-office blockbuster (roflol )

Thanks again for you patience and kindness in helping me. Hope you are enjoying the festive season!

[AdiJapan]

when film-makers are clamouring to make my bestseller into a box-office blockbuster (roflol )

Well, why not?

Hope you are enjoying the festive season!

Yes, I'm cooking, which means I'll have a ripper of a Chrissie Eve! Same to you!

[Sally_Forth]

Hey, thanks for the support. If you'd like some chapters to read, I'll email them.

And on a language note, awesome use of the word "ripper", congrats. So what are you cooking... it's cold over there right now, I think? Scorching here, I'm serving cold prawns and salad after a trip to the surf .

[AdiJapan]

Hey, thanks for the support. If you'd like some chapters to read, I'll email them.

And on a language note, awesome use of the word "ripper", congrats. So what are you cooking... it's cold over there right now, I think? Scorching here, I'm serving cold prawns and salad after a trip to the surf .

Oh, Sally, I already have six books near my bed, long waiting to be read, and I have no idea when that's going to happen... But I would like to read something you wrote. In particular, when you finish writing the parts with the Romanian guy in Australia, I'd like to see how well you've depicted him from the linguistic point of view.

It's off-topic, but since you asked, I'm cooking traditional Romanian food: a large pot of sarmale, which is little balls of minced pork, rice, onion and spices, wrapped in cabbage leaves and boiled with a tomato-flavored sauce; I've finished that already. Sarmale is a word of Turkish origin, but I had Turkish sarma and I realized that there is little similarity beyond the name. Today I'll cook an eggplant salad (grilled eggplants, peeled and mashed, then mixed with sunflower oil and chopped onion) and cozonac, a sort of sweet bread, for dessert. That menu works very well in Japan, because it's indeed cold, but I'm pretty sure my Christmas dinner would be quite different were I to live in Australia. I still have to experience your hot Christmas, wearing short pants and t-shirt, and eating ice cream.

[Sally_Forth]

Yum! I've just got back from a surf and we'll tuck into the salads, soon. I'll dedicate a scoop of icecream to you, Adi. Hope you're enjoying Romanian Christmas in Japan, and staying warm.