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Romani Resources? | ||
Tags: Romani/Romanes | Resources | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 1 of 20 16 May 2010 at 1:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi everyone,
One of my friends has expressed an interest in learning Romani (as in the language of the Gypsies, not Romanian), but has been having trouble finding good resources. I was able to help her find a couple that the Wikipedia linked to, but does anyone know of a course (book, audio, anything!) that could actually teach the language? If given the choice, her preferred dialect would be Crimean. Thanks! --Philip P.S. Has anyone here ever studied it at all? I just checked the list of members who study it and there is NOBODY. Just two people who have it listed as a low priority on their hit lists. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 2 of 20 16 May 2010 at 4:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I've actually heard a bit of Romani first-hand on one occasion. This happened when my friend and I got talking to a gypsy traveller we oddly met on the road after clubbing one night.
What strikes me as fascinating now is that he was able to tell me nearly every place I'd ever lived (including all the areas in England), and tell us both exactly where we were born and where our parents came from. No-one's ever been able to do this with me before either. It was like some kind of ancient gypsy magic! I guess he must have traveled all over Europe and had a really good ear for accents, but all the same, this was quite an amazing feat and like something out of My Fair Lady. He was also so very proud of his old tattered birth certificate proving that he was a true born traveller, which he carried around with him at all times (so he told us) and which he showed us too. For place of birth it read something like: "Unknown lay-by, gypsy wagon by side of road, near Abergavenny". The oddest thing however is that I felt like I'd met him before somewhere (even though I knew I couldn't have). It was almost like a dream, both at the time and in retrospect. I know it all sounds quite crazy, but it really happened. [edit] Anyway, enough of my gypsy tales. To answer your good question, Manchester University currently offers links and resources as part of their Romani Project. They also provide an interesting interactive Flash introduction online here, which looks like good fun. Edited by Teango on 16 May 2010 at 5:53am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6440 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 20 16 May 2010 at 5:18am | IP Logged | ||
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The bible in Romani is an option. Gypsy-> Romanese-> Tsigene-> Vlax Romany
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| Saif Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5613 days ago 122 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Levantine)*, French | Message 4 of 20 16 May 2010 at 5:57am | IP Logged | ||
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There is a book on Amazon for $25 that looks like a good introduction. "Learn Romani:
Das-duma Rromanes" by Ronald Lee. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 5 of 20 16 May 2010 at 6:03am | IP Logged | ||
Thank you SOOO much Saif! That book looks like exactly what she was looking for. I think she is going to get it. Thanks!!! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 6 of 20 16 May 2010 at 6:04am | IP Logged | ||
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I never knew "pal" (friend) and "chav" (brother) were Romani words until now. I wonder what other English words have their roots in this language?
What's particularly interesting is how Romani (and its various dialects) picked up so many other languages along the way through migration and traveling. There's also quite an emphasis on music and dance in the culture, which may very likely help with oral tradition and preserving the original foundations of the language. Indeed I wonder whether gypsies would make really good linguists on the whole (which would explain the exceptional ear for accents and perhaps telling fortunes too)? Edited by Teango on 16 May 2010 at 6:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tracker465 Senior Member United States Joined 5353 days ago 355 posts - 496 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 7 of 20 16 May 2010 at 6:12am | IP Logged | ||
I was also going to suggest this book, as I had seen it one other time when I was researching Romani. There is also another book from Amazon titled "Romani: A Linguistic Introduction". I find the Romani people to be interesting, and have heard that there are some patches of Romani people in my state, Pennsylvania, although I believe that they are unfortunately to be found in the cities, where I am not located. I would love to study Romani, but the differences between dialects, lack of sources in general, and the difficulty which I seem to have of finding native speakers makes the struggle to learn this language pretty great, I believe. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| maaku Senior Member United States Joined 5575 days ago 359 posts - 562 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 20 16 May 2010 at 11:30am | IP Logged | ||
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I studied Vlax Romani, and would also recommend "Learn Romani: Das-duma Rromanes" by Ronald Lee. It is the best (and sadly, only) complete course available.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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