Romanian

Romanian (limba română), the only Romance language taught at Inalco, is spoken by over 25 million people in Romania, the Republic of Moldova and the Romanian diaspora (Western and Eastern Europe, USA). Since Romania joined the European Union in 2007, it has been one of the country's official languages.

paysage du Maramures — Paysage du Maramures © DR‎

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Marked by a Thracian substratum predating the Roman conquest (II^e century), enriched from the IX^e century onwards with numerous foreign lexical elements (Slavic, Hungarian, Turkish and Greek), Romanian has more than 60% of its lexicon inherited from Latin. The first Romanian text dates back to 1521, but the real literary language was created in the second half of the 17th century. The massive addition of French-derived vocabulary in the 19th century (30% of the total lexicon) contributed to its further development.

Studying Romanian at Inalco

The teaching of Romanian at Inalco dates back to the 19th century: it was in 1875 that Émile Picot, secretary to Prince Carol in the 1860s and then diplomatic representative in Timişoara, a connoisseur of the language as well as Romanian realities, gave the first Romanian course there. Today, teaching is open to beginners: no linguistic competence in Romanian is required.

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Training courses

You can study Romanian language and civilization at Inalco as part of a bachelor's, master's or doctorate degree; as part of a Romanian language and civilization establishment diploma; or as part of Continuing Education for employees, individuals or companies. From the 2nd year of the bachelor's degree, students can also choose one of 5 career paths: international business, intercultural communication and training, didactics of world languages and French as a foreign language, international relations, multilingual digital processing.

Career opportunities

Public service, teaching and diplomacy, international organizations and the voluntary sector, translation and interpreting, international trade, tourism, multilingual engineering, publishing, journalism and communication

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Why learn Romanian at Inalco?

The course enables students not only to master the language, but also to understand Romanian literature and civilization. This comprehensive curriculum is in fact open to Romanian culture in its various components: it includes courses devoted to the historical evolution of the Romanian language, artistic and historical issues in Romanian-speaking areas, as well as geopolitical issues. The emphasis placed on practical courses enables the acquisition of solid linguistic skills, easily mobilized in the context of communication, professional life and scientific research.

Studying in Romania

ERASMUS mobility, under bilateral agreements with the universities of Bucharest, Cluj, Iaşi and Craiova is possible from the second year of the curriculum. For more advanced students, a free agreement for scientific research has been signed with the University of Bucharest. These study stays in Romania, lasting from 3 months to 1 year, enable students to perfect their language skills, come into direct contact with Romanian culture and civilization and, on their return, have their achievements validated on the basis of the study program established prior to departure. Inalco's International Relations Commission assists students with their mobility projects, in particular by granting specific assistance. Other departure assistance procedures also exist for students wishing to undertake contracted internships abroad.