31 August – Day of Romanian Language

Romanians everywhere around the world have celebrated today, 31 August, the Day of the Romanian Language. The Romanian Cultural Institute organized, on this occasion, a series of events in Romania and abroad.

“Today, on the Day of the Romanian Language, we need unity around our national values. We have to honor all of those who contribute to the support of our Mother Tongue: teachers, parents, journalists and writers”, Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose wrote on Thursday in a Facebook post.

The Romanian Language Day has been celebrated on August 31 since 2013.

Romanian Language is taught in schools and universities in different parts of the world. In Spain, for example, dozens of Spaniards enroll each autumn and spring at Romanian language courses organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Madrid, both in the capital of Spain, as well as in Barcelona and Valencia. Also, Romanian is taught in Spain at the Universities of Granada, Sevilla, Salamanca and Barcelona, courtesy of the Romanian Language Institute, according to RRA Correspondent in Spain, Annamaria Damian.

At present, there are 50 university courses of Romanian language, culture and civilization taught in 30 countries from Europe, Asia and America, as well as a project initiated by the Romanian Language Institute in 2007, entitled 'Courses of Romanian language, culture and civilization'. The project benefits the Romanian students enrolled in education institutions in Belgium, Italy and Spain. This project has also been implemented in Portugal and Ireland since 2015.

The Romanian language originates back in history. Keeping its unique character in the area inhabited by Romanians for almost two millennia, the Romanian language has become one of the most powerful national symbols and represented a constant drive towards the unity of the Romanian people.

Romanian is the fifth most spoken of the Romanic languages, after Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian. 24 million citizens use it as their Mother Tongue.

Romanian is the Mother Tongue or spoken language of many people in Ukraine, Hungary,Serbia (Timoc Valley) and Bulgaria. It is also spoken in the ethnic Romanian communities in Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland and everywhere in the Romanian Diaspora. The Romanian language is one of the five languages in which religious services are held at the monasteries on Mount Athos.

In the Republic of Moldova, Romanian is the official language and Mother Tongue for three quarters of the population, and in the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia, Romanian is one of the six official languages.

Republic of Moldova also marks, on 31 August, the similar celebration called ‘Our Language’. Romanian became an official state language in the Republic of Moldova in 2013.

Since January 1, 2007, Romanian has been one of the official languages in the European Union.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei