In 1995 Romania signed the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and in 2007 the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was ratified. While Romanian is the official language, there are ten minority languages that have general protection: Albanian, Armenian, Greek, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Romani, Ruthenian, Tatar and Yiddish and ten languages with enhanced protection: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, German, Hungarian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Although topics related to these languages appear sometimes in mass media, data regarding the topic are still scarce. At a national level, information can only be found in the National Census with a question regarding the mother tongue. In addition, Romania was included in Eurobarometer 63.4 from 2005 (Europeans and languages) where respondents were asked about their mother language, other languages known and their language competence level. Data about the use of minority languages in education are also available at the National Statistics Institute and at the Ministry of Education¹.

¹ https://statistici.insse.ro

Foreign languages at the pre-primary level are optional. However, most of nurseries include a foreign language in their curriculum. The fact that a year of nursery is mandatory ensures that most of the children are acquainted with a foreign language before beginning primary education. 

Also noteworthy is that, legally, all the children of the recognised minority have the right to education in their own language. While this is an important positive aspect, there are still differences in the implementation of this law within different minority groups. 

The migration history of the country, with the emigration rate higher than that of immigration, is one of the main causes for the absence of an important educational offer for immigrants. The most important immigrant group comes from the Republic of Moldova but language education is not an issue as they have the same language and a very similar culture to Romanians.

A similar situation can be found in primary education. Here one foreign language is mandatory, with the school deciding what this should be, although some schools also give children and their parents the opportunity to choose which language to learn. Furthermore, some schools provide instruction fully or partially in minority languages, mostly in Hungarian. Here all classes can be taught in the minority language with the exception of Romanian language and literature classes. Still, there are no provisions on the use of immigrant languages in primary schools.

The new education law gives more autonomy to the schools and increases the competitiveness between them. It can be expected that this process will enhance the quality of the foreign languages taught as it is an important factor in the choice of school. The recent provisions based on the new law will also encourage schools to offer Romani language and Roma culture classes at the parents’ request.

Secondary education has similar characteristics to primary. In most cases, pupils continue the study of the foreign language started in primary school. They also start a second foreign language in the first year of secondary level. At the national level, there are schools with intensive study programmes in foreign languages and also specialised high schools where the medium of instruction is in a specific foreign language, such as: English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.

Education in minority languages at secondary school level exists in specific regions of the country. The main minority language with the necessary institutions and staffing is Hungarian, followed by German, Ukrainian, Serbian and Slovak. Pupils have the opportunity to take their final national exams in the minority language with an adapted Romanian language test.

At the vocational training level the language profile taken as a whole is somewhat moderate with a strong national and foreign languages representation and just a few Hungarian and Romani courses offered in Cluj. However, Hungarian and German, as the main minority languages, are well represented at the tertiary level in regions where the minority population is significant. The national and foreign languages are strongly represented. Here English and French come first with specialised sections in foreign languages or even postgraduate levels such as Master or PhD programmes taught partially or entirely in these languages.

Recent developments have seen more and more investment in courses taught in foreign languages, mainly English and French, with some universities also maintaining sections for Hungarian and German. Romani, as well as other national minority languages, are also studied in several language/ pedagogical higher education units as they prepare future teachers to teach (in) these languages. Here, again, there is no provision for immigrant languages.

Traditionally mass media in Romania are in national and minority languages. Most of the films and foreign television programmes are subtitled while the rest of the broadcasts are in the national language. There is some space for Hungarian and German programmes on the public national TV channels and some specialised local TV programmes that are entirely in these minority languages. TV channels in Hungarian, German, Serbian and other minority languages are widely available through cable operators. Relatively recently, cartoons have begun to be dubbed while the language of some programmes can be changed by the viewer’s choice. 

Newspapers are mainly in Romanian. There are some international English, French or German newspapers available in some bookstores and shops. In the central and western part of the country there are also Hungarian and German newspapers and magazines. Online media is also available in national and minority languages, as well as in some immigrant languages such as Arabic and Chinese.

Some public institutions supply information in several languages, for example websites are available in English or French as well as the national language. Hungarian is also available in the central and western part of the country, be it through online material or for some of the services that are available to the public. Minority language use is associated with the population structure. In areas where a certain minority population represents at least 20% of the local population, public administration and public services institutions will ensure there is communication in the minority language as stipulated in the Constitution, and in accordance with international treaties that Romania has adhered to.

Investment in language skills inside public institutions is not consistent. However, some institutions seem to have adapted to the local situation. In areas with large minority groups the services are provided by personnel who can usually speak the correspondent minority language. In the case of the Roma minority, mediators are hired to help in the communication between the ethnic groups.

The businesses surveyed show a medium to low language profile. While some have a language strategy and practice, the investment in language skills for their employees is very low. Most of the time it looks like the skills were acquired prior to employment. The national language and English seem to emerge as the main languages used, followed by French and German.

Policies highlighting the importance of languages and the necessity of private investment in these skills are recommended to increase the multilingual practices in businesses.

Romania presents a situation where national, minority and foreign languages seem to be well promoted especially in the education system. The businesses researched here appear to use foreign languages adequately, but do not invest significantly in language skills for employees.

Minority languages are supported legally both through the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and through the new education law. But this reality does not lead necessarily to equal results for all minorities. While some minority languages, for example Hungarian, are represented in educational and cultural activities, others such as Romani are not. While investments have been made to help the access of Roma to administration, schools and other public services through mediators, there is still much more to be done in order to ensure real opportunities for using Romani language in education and in the public space. While these necessities are known and legal statements have been made regarding Roma language and culture (Ministry of Education Notification 29323/20.04.2004), more practical measures are still required.

Another aspect that needs urgent attention is the immigrant population, and language issues that are related to them, for example access to education. Long term immigration is most likely to increase and policies to meet their needs should be discussed and implemented.

Another point of improvement could be the offer of the universities regarding the Romanian language as a foreign language. This would be useful for foreign students that want to study in Romania. 

The development of language skills among workers in public institutions and the improvement of communication strategies, especially disseminating information in more languages, would be of great social and economic importance for both immigrant population and foreign entrepreneurs.

The linguistic landscape of present day Romania is diverse and there is a growing tendency to recognise and promote multilingualism as a societal resource and value. Some of the propitious initiatives in this field are briefly described below.

At the governmental level, one example is the Department for Inter-ethnic Relations study on Multilingualism and minority languages in Romania¹, developed together with the Romanian Academy. The programmes of the Romanian Immigration Office or Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, from Cluj Napoca are also worth mentioning (e.g. the project on Bilingual Form). The Romanian Ministry of Education recent policy options and projects are relevant as well. For example, the new education law, issued in January 2011 and the new draft of the curriculum framework highlight the importance of developing the students’ communicative competence in several languages.

The recent initiative of the National Association for Community Programmes, the Representation of the European Commission to Romania and the Department for Inter-ethnic Relations to organise the event MALLtilingualism – Voices and Colour at a shopping mall in Bucharest is an example of innovative ways of reaching wider audiences in a non-formal environment. The celebration of the European Day of Languages 2011 by the Romanian Cultural Institute and EUNIC Romania within the format of a cultural activities ‘swap-shop’ is part of the same effort to convey the cultural diversity message to the public. 

Another example of collaboration between governmental bodies and civil society is the project Learn Romanian carried out by West University of Timisoara, the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara and the Romanian Ministry of Education. Together with the project Migrant in Romania², also funded by the European Fund for Integration and implemented in partnership by the Intercultural Institute of Timisoara and the Association of Refugee Women in Romania, the aforementioned initiative is aiming to support the learning of basic Romanian.

The increased awareness of the importance of multilingualism is evident by the numerous research projects and scientific debates at university level, that have been recently organized by both language and non-language faculties. These initiatives are in line with a suggestion from Leonard Orban, European Commissioner for Multilingualism between 2007 and 2010, to set up multilingualism chairs within universities³. One example is the conference organised by the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj called From Immigration to Integration through Multilingualism⁴.

¹ www.insse.ro, www.edu.ro, www.dri.gov.ro

² www.migrant.ro

³ http://www.ziare.com/tv/ - interview, 23 November 2009

⁴ http://www.lumebuna.ro/2011/05/29/conferinta-%E2%80%9Cde-la-imigrare-la-integrare-prin-multilingvism%E2%80%9D/

Alexe, I. and Păunescu, B. (ed.) (2011). Studiua asupra fenomenului imigrație în România.

Integrarea străinilor în societatea românească. București: Fundația Soros

European Commission; Statistical Office of the European Communities. (2010). Europe in figures - Eurostat yearbook 2010. Luxembourg: European Commission.

Sandu, D. (2010). Lumile sociale ale migrației. Iași: Polirom.