View source for Languages of Romania

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Languages of
| country    = Romania<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf |format=PDF |title=Europeans and their Languages |date=December 2005 |website=Ec.europa.eu |access-date=2016-01-28}}</ref>
| official   = [[Romanian language|Romanian]] (>90%)
| unofficial = 
| regional   = 
| minority   = [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Romani language|Romani]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[German language|German]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Crimean Tatar language|Tatar]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]]
| foreign    = [[English language|English]] (31%)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |format=PDF |title=SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 386 Europeans and their Languages |publisher=ec.europa.eu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106183351/http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf |archive-date=2016-01-06 }}</ref><br>[[French language|French]] (17%)<br>[[Italian language|Italian]] (7%)
| sign = [[Romanian Sign Language]]
| keyboard =  [[Romanian keyboard layout]]
| keyboard image = [[File:Romanian-keyboard-layout.png|200px]]
}}
{{Culture of Romania}}

Beyond the official [[Romanian language]], multiple other languages are spoken in [[Romania]]. Laws regarding the rights of minority languages are in place, and some of them have co-official status at a local level. Although having no native speakers, [[French language]] is also a historically important language in Romania, and the country is a member of the [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie]].

==Official language==
{{main|Romanian language}}

According to the 2002 Romanian Census, Romanian is spoken by 91% of the population as a primary language. According to the Romanian Constitution<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdep.ro/pls/dic/site.page?den=act2_1&par1=1 |title=Constitutia României |website=Cdep.ro |access-date=2016-01-28}}</ref> and the law 1206 of 2006<ref>[http://www.dri.gov.ro/documents/li_h1206.pdf#page=3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221075455/http://www.dri.gov.ro/documents/li_h1206.pdf#page=3|date=February 21, 2007}}</ref> the official language in Romania is Romanian both at the national and local level.

Officially and since 2013, the Romanian language has its own holiday, the [[Romanian Language Day]], celebrated in Romania on every 31 August.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.agerpres.ro/documentare/2020/08/31/31-august-ziua-limbii-romane--563779|title=31 august - Ziua Limbii Române|newspaper=[[Agerpres]]|date=31 August 2020|language=ro}}</ref> This holiday is officially celebrated in [[Moldova]] on the same day since 2023.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://tv8.md/2023/31/08/depunere-de-flori-program-pentru-copii-si-spectacol-muzical-agenda-completa-a-evenimentelor-dedicate-zilei-limbii-romane/237915|title=Depunere de flori, program pentru copii și spectacol muzical: Agenda completă a evenimentelor dedicate Zilei Limbii Române|first=Andreea|last=Josan|newspaper=[[TV8 (Moldovan TV channel)|TV8]]|date=31 August 2023|language=ro}}</ref>

==Minority languages==
[[Image:Romania harta etnica 2011.PNG|thumb|right|300px|Ethnic composition of Romania. Localities with a Hungarian majority or plurality are shown in dark green.]]
After the fall of [[Communist Romania|Romania's communist government]] in [[Romanian Revolution|1989]], the various minority languages have received more rights, and Romania currently has extensive laws relating to the rights of minorities to use their own language in local administration and the judicial system.

While Romanian is the only official language at the national and local level, there are over 30 living languages identified as being spoken within Romania (5 of these are indigenous).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/RO/ |title=Romania : Languages of Romania |website=Ethnologue.com |date=2023-02-21 |access-date=2023-03-09}}</ref> The Romanian laws include linguistic rights for all minority groups that form over 20% of a locality's population based on the census from 1992. The list of such localities appears in the Government Decision nr. 1206/2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legex.ro/Hotararea-1206-2001-28563.aspx |title=HOTARARE Nr. 1206 din 27 noiembrie 2001 |website=legex.ro |access-date=2019-02-04}}</ref> This includes the adoption of signage in minority languages, access to local administration, public services and justice systems. The right to receive education in that language is not restricted only to these settlements.

===Hungarian===
{{main|Hungarian minority in Romania}}
Hungarian is the largest minority language in Romania: the 2011 census listed 1,227,623                         native Hungarian speakers in the country, or 6.1% of the total population. This minority largely lives in [[Transylvania]], which was part of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] until the end of [[World War I]]. ([[Northern Transylvania]] was part of Hungary again between 1940 and 1947) though there are Hungarian speaking minorities in other parts of the country as well.

===Romani===
{{main|Roma minority in Romania}}

[[Image:Budeşti.JPG|thumb|150px|right|The location of Budești within [[Călărași County]] and of Călărași County within Romania.]]

[[Roma people|Roma]] make up the second largest minority in Romania and 241,617 [[Romani language|Romani]] speakers were reported in the 2002 census, or 1.1% of the total population. Dialects of Romani spoken include [[Balkan Romani]], [[Vlax Romani]], and [[Carpathian Romani]]. Romani is used in local signage, administration, education and justice in 79 [[Communes of Romania|communes]] and one town ([[Budești]]).

===Ukrainian===
{{main|Ukrainians of Romania}}
There are 57,593 Ukrainian speakers in Romania, mostly concentrated in [[Maramureș County]], where they make up 6.67% of the population, but also in [[Suceava County|Suceava]] and [[Timiș County|Timiș]] counties. Ukrainians make up the majority in four communes: [[Bistra, Maramureș]], [[Rona de Sus]], [[Știuca]] and [[Copăcele]].

===German===
{{main|Germans of Romania}}
[[Image:SibiuHermannstadtSchild.jpg|thumb|right|150px|German/Romanian signage in [[Sibiu]] (known as Hermannstadt in German), home of the [[Transylvanian Landler]].]]
There are many different groups of Germans in Romania, the largest of whom have historically been known as the [[Transylvanian Saxons]] and the [[Banat Swabians]]. Germans once constituted a much larger portion of the Romanian population than they do today, though they are still the fourth largest ethno-linguistic group. In 1938 there were 780,000, and in 1992 there were 111,301, but the 2002 census reported only 45,129 Germans. Since 1989 they have been represented by the [[Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania]], which functions in the German language.

===Russian===
[[Image:Tulcea.png|thumb|right|150px|Tulcea County, where most Romanian Lipovans live.]]

There are 29,890 [[Lipovans]], ethnically Russian emigrants from the Russian Empire who left because of religious differences with the [[Russian Orthodox Church]], in Romania. They mostly speak the [[Russian language]], and most live in [[Tulcea County]].

===Turkic languages===
====Turkish====
{{main|Turks of Romania}}
[[Turkish language|Turkish]] speakers make up 0.1% of the population, with a community of some 28,714 speakers. The Turkish speaking community is largely a legacy of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] rule of a large part of Romania. They live in the east parts of Romania ([[Constanța]]).

====Tatar====
{{main|Tatars of Romania}}
[[Tatars]] also make up roughly 0.1% of the Romanian population, with a community of 21,482 speakers. Most [[Crimean Tatars]] speak the [[Crimean Tatar language]], and the greater part of the community lives in [[Constanța County]].

===Other languages===
[[Image:South slavs romania.png|thumb|right|150px|Communities of South Slavs in Romania]]
Lesser spoken languages in Romania include: [[Serbo-Croatian]] (26,732: 20,377 [[Serbian people|Serbians]], 6,355 [[Croatian people|Croatians]]), [[Slovak language|Slovak]] (16,108), [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] (6,747), [[Greek language|Greek]] (4,146).

The use of [[French language|French]] developed among Romanian elites from the 18th century. [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]], who visited Romania in 1934, noted that although the elites were all [[bilingual]], their [[mother tongue]] was French, "of a particularly pure, cool, and charming kind."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fermor |first1=Patrick Leigh |author1-link=Patrick Leigh Fermor |title=[[The Broken Road (travel book)|The Broken Road]] |date=2013 |page=181}}</ref> Today around a quarter of Romanians have studied French.  Since 1993, Romania has been a member of [[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie]] despite not having a native French-speaking population or ever being part of any French empire.

== See also ==

* [[Italian language in Romania]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Languages of Romania}}
*[https://www.ethnologue.com/country/RO/ Ethnologue report for Romania]
*{{in lang|ro}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20080325223653/http://www.recensamant.ro/pagini/rezultate.html%23 Romanian National Census 2002, POPULATIA DUPA LIMBA MATERNA section]

{{Languages of Romania}}
{{Romanian topics}}
{{Languages of Europe}}
{{Minority languages of Europe}}

[[Category:Languages of Romania| ]]