Salut! Romanian is my mother tongue!

More and more children all over the world are growing up speaking two or more languages. Being bilingual has incredible advantages for children, and speaking a language like Romanian is super helpful for learning other romance languages like Italian or Spanish.

Romanian is a Romance language which means it originally came from Latin. It is spoken by over 24 million people around the world. It is also the most popular language in Moldova which is a small country north of Romania. How cool!

In this fun podcast we produced with RTE’ Junior you can hear Felix and Fabia, two siblings from Romania who live in Ireland. Their mum is Romanian and their Dad is Irish. Here they tell us some fun facts about Romania, teach us some new words and share their favourite Romanian food.

If you are a Romanian speaker living abroad and want your child to keep up your language, here are some tips:

– start as early as possible: speak Romanian to your baby from birth, or as early as possible.

– make it part of your routines: use Romanian regularly in your routines, from preparing breakfast, to walking to the park, to bed-time routines.

– make a plan: plan games and activities to do together in Romanian, and check out our website for ideas and resources

– identify resources: find books, games and other resources that can help you along the way. We have produced a series of videos resources for parents to help children learning from home various topic, and you can do it in your language! Check out the Romanian videos below.

– find someone to help you: it is important for children to see that there are other families who speak Romanian in their environment. Find a Romanian parent and toddler group in your area or arrange meetings with other families who speak Romanian. For older children, try to find a language class so your child can experience the language and the culture also outside the home.

– Praise your child’s success: when your child says a new word, when they talk to you in Romanian, or when they learn to read, don’t focus on the errors but praise their efforts and show them how much you enjoy speaking Romanian to them.

Want more? Check out our resources below!