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Title: Romanian-English, English-Romanian Dictionary by Mihai Miroiu ISBN: 0-7818-0444-2 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: September, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 1.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: "i^" = "a^"
Comment: Joe,
There was an orthographic change in Romanian made by the Romanian Academy, I believe in the early 1990s, reverting to a system used before the communist takeover, if I'm not mistaken.
The short answer is that "a" with the circumflex (^) over it is exactly the same letter/sound as "i" with the circumflex over it. (I don't have Miroiu's dictionary in front of me, but I'm guessing it uses the latter. Many communist-era texts, and some written by communist-educated emigres--not to mention some pre-20th century writings--do likewise.)
For example, the word for "bread" will look like (as best an ASCII keyboard permits) "pa^ine" as well as "pi^ine". The change to "a^" does not affect the first letter of words that start with "i^", as in the word "i^nta^lnire / i^nti^lnire" or the preposition "i^n". The "a^" is now the orthographic rule taught in schools.
As you learn Romanian, you'll get used to reading both, because you'll probably end up reading material from different historical periods. Basically, the shifts back and forth have to do with an enduring and rather politicized geographic-cultural debate over Romania's relationship to Latin, Rome and the West in general versus Slavic influences and the East.
Frank
Rating: 1
Summary: Hasn't anyone noticed why this dictionary is a joke?
Comment: One of the letters in the Romanian alphabet is an "a" with a "^" over it. But this letter does not appear in this dictionary, and consequentially every word in which this letter appears is missing! Imagine a dictionary that is missing the letter "j" and every word that has the letter "j" in it.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not even as mediocre as Bantas, just more portable
Comment: See my other review of the NTC edition of Andrei Bantas' dictionary for a more detailed explanation of the substandard situation in Romanian-English dictionaries, and why you're better off buying a better (if still substandard) dictionary in Romania than in the US.
The Miroiu dictionary has fewer words than the NTC edition of Bantas, but unlike the latter, it is paperback, smaller, and thus more portable, which is why I also gave it two stars (though it really deserved 1.5). Both, however, lack any meaningful grammatical information beyond the gender of nouns (no verb conjugations, no plurals, no genitive case mutations, no adjective forms, no participle mutations, etc.). Both have short and not infrequently dubious translations with few synonyms, and both have a lousy printing/typeface. (If you're wondering, I've studied Romanian since 1993--in spite of the frustrating dictionary situation--and speak and read it very well despite being a non-native political scientist. :-).
Bottom line: you'll have to buy marginally better foreign language dictionaries in Romania, and learn the language off two or three of them, until someone writes a Romanian-English dictionary worth the name. Such dictionary gems exist in other Balkan languages, so why not Romanian?? Mai ales daca romanii vor sa-i invete pe strainii (ca mine) mai bine despre Romania si cultura romaneasca?!
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Title: ROMANIAN CASSETTE WITH PHRASE BOOK (Cassette Packs) by Berlitz Publishing ISBN: 2831577454 Publisher: Berlitz Multimedia Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Teach Yourself Romanian Complete Course by Dennis Deletant, Yvonne Alexandrescu ISBN: 0071424733 Publisher: Teach Yourself Pub. Date: 30 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Romanian Grammar (Hippocrene Language Studies) by Christina Hoffman, Christiana Hoffman ISBN: 0870528920 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: January, 1991 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: Colloquial Romanian (Colloquial Series) by Ramona Gonczol-Davies, Dennis Deletant ISBN: 0415237831 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Romania and Moldova (2nd Edition) by David St. Vincent, Nicola Williams, Kim Wildman ISBN: 1864500581 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
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