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For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 552–690 class hours. Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words look alike, so some Romanian words will feel familiar if you know Italian, but most will not.
For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 552–690 class hours. These are the figures behind the how long does it take to learn a language calculator, from the US Foreign Service Institute's published language training times.
| Romanian | Italian | |
|---|---|---|
| FSI difficulty group | Category I | Category I |
| Class hours to working proficiency | 552–690 | 552–690 |
| Full-time weeks | 24–30 | 24–30 |
The hours are for a native English speaker in full-time classes aiming at professional working proficiency. Useful everyday conversation comes sooner, and the calculator breaks the time down by level.
Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words look alike, so some Romanian words will feel familiar if you know Italian, but most will not.
A few everyday words that look alike in Romanian and Italian:
| English | Romanian | Italian |
|---|---|---|
| American | american | americano |
| adventure | aventură | avventura |
| airport | aeroport | aeroporto |
| centimeter | centimetru | centimetro |
| continent | continent | continente |
| material | material | materiale |
| photographer | fotograf | fotografo |
| photography | fotografie | fotografia |
And a few everyday words that look completely different:
| English | Romanian | Italian |
|---|---|---|
| address | adresă | indirizzo |
| carrot | morcov | carota |
| donut | gogoașă | ciambella |
| game | meci | partita |
| ladybug | buburuză | coccinella |
| orange | portocaliu | arancione |
| room | cameră | stanza |
| spoon | lingură | cucchiaio |
| Romanian | Italian | |
|---|---|---|
| Writing system | Latin alphabet | Latin alphabet |
| Grammatical genders | 3 (masculine, feminine, neuter) | 2 (masculine, feminine) |
| Noun cases | Two case forms (nominative/accusative, genitive/dative) plus a vocative | None |
| Tones | No | No |
Study time will not decide this one, because the two ask for about the same. If you want to reach a particular place, a person or a job, start with the one you will actually use: steady motivation counts for more than the difference in hours.
For an English speaker the two sit in the same difficulty group, so neither is officially easier: the Foreign Service Institute puts both at 552–690 class hours. Hours are for a native English speaker reaching professional working proficiency in full-time classes; casual learning gets you to useful conversation well before that.
Their everyday vocabulary overlaps in places: roughly 3 in 10 everyday words look alike, so some Romanian words will feel familiar if you know Italian, but most will not. They are both Romance languages, both descended from Latin.
Study time will not decide this one, because the two ask for about the same. If you want to reach a particular place, a person or a job, start with the one you will actually use: steady motivation counts for more than the difference in hours.
Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch
Watch Your Language puts Romanian or Italian words in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting, so the practice carries on every time you check the time.
