Rumänische

Rumänische, in English Romanian, is a Romance language spoken mainly in Romania and Moldova. It is the native language of about 24 to 26 million people and is also used by communities in neighboring countries and by a large global diaspora.

Classification and features: Romanian belongs to the Eastern Romance subgroup of the Romance languages, alongside Moldovan Romanian. It developed from Vulgar Latin and has been shaped by Balkan language contact, including influences from Bulgarian and Greek. Romanian shares core features with other Romance languages—such as a Latin-based vocabulary and a largely SVO word order—while preserving unique Balkan characteristics, including a system of definite articles that is postposed to nouns.

Writing system and phonology: Romanian is written in the Latin alphabet with five diacritics: ă, â, î, ș, ț. The diacritics indicate distinct phonemes, such as a mid-central vowel (ă) and a close central/front vowel distinction (â/î). Orthography was standardized in the 19th century by the Romanian Academy. Nominal inflection has been greatly reduced compared with Latin; pronouns and adjectives retain gender and number agreement.

Dialects and standardization: Standard Romanian is largely based on the Daco-Romanian dialect spoken in Wallachia and Moldavia. Moldovan Romanian is a closely related standard variety used in Moldova. Dialect groups include northern, southern, and western varieties, with some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, though mutual intelligibility remains high.

Status and usage: Romanian is an official language of Romania and Moldova. It is taught in schools, used in government and media, and has recognition within the European Union. The language has closely related relatives in the Eastern Romance family, notably Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian.