I have a very unusual request, but I figure if anyone could help me, it would be my fellow Dopers.
Long story short, I want to write a thank you note to my eldest nephew’s best friend’s parents (follow all of that?) whole speak and read only Romanian. My husband’s grandfather is from Transalvania, but he’s also suffering from Alzheimer’s and I don’t want to bother him. I also don’t feel comfortable using one of those on-line translators to compose an entire letter. Here’s what I’d like to say:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. *****,
Thank you so much for letting my nephew, Dan, stay over your house so often. He has been very unhappy lately because of his parents’ divorce, but I’m told he’s doing much better now and I’m certain your generosity has had a lot to do with his improvemnt. I’ve enclosed some movie passes with this note as a small token of my graditude for your kindness. Please let me know if there is something more I could do for you in return.
Sincerely,
Patty Marvel
Any help would be greatly appreciated! And do you think I should give them movie passes? I’m just wondering because of the language barrier. Any suggestions on that front? Maybe a gift card to a store instead?
Just to clarify a little, my co-worker* Zeljko tells me there are really two languages spoken there, Serbian and Croatian. That’s not a problem,though - they’re close enough to be mutually intelligible anyway. I’ve mailed him to see if he can give a translation into Serbian, which ought to do.
*That’s really ‘former co-worker’. See here for a plug.
If you don’t have what you need by tomorrow, you might try contacting LilRogue. Her husband is from Romania and I’m sure they would be happy to help with whatever advice and translating you need.
Romanian is very different from Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian. Romanian is a Romance language (relatied to Latin), for one thing, and Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian is a Slav language. Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian is spoken in the countries of the former Yugoslavia and by Serbian speaking minorites in Romania, Hungary and elsewhere in Europe. It wouldn’t be useful to get a translation in Serbian if you only spoke Romanian.
Having it translated in Serbian or Croatian would be about as intelligible to them as Russian. Romanian is related to Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
:rolleyes: Good grief, get it right Unkie
Marvel, my husband will be home from work in a few hours, and I will have him translate it if you would like.
Okay, here’s your translation. If the couple is here in America, my husband thought that a gift certificate to a store would be better than movie tickets (since they don’t play many movies here in Romanian!) If you have any questions, feel free to ask
Draga Domnule si Doamna ****,
Va multumesc foarte mult pentru ca a-ti fost amabili si la-ti gazduit de atatea ori pe nepotul meu Dan. El a fost foarte nefericit in ultumul timp din cauza divortului parintilor lui, dar mi s-a spus ca este mult mai bine acum si sunt sigur ca influenta dumneavoastra are mult de a face cu imbunatatirea starii lui. Am inclus *cateva bilete de cinema* cu acest bilet, ca un semn de apreciere pentru bunatatea dumneavoastra. Va rog sa-mi spuneti daca este orice altceva ce pot face pentru dumneavoastra in schimb.
Cu sinceritate,
Patty Marvel
*means a few movie passes
If you want to say you included a gift certificate to a shop, replace the part between the * with “ cateva certificate pentru (store name) “
This thread CAN’T – or at least SHOULDN’T – conclude before we learn some good Romanian cuss words, slang, etc. So, how would I tell Count Dracula to, uh, bite me?
He doesn’t have to tell you but he can tell us. My first full time adult job was in the summer holidays in high school when I worked on a building site. Most of the labourers were Czechs and had much more interseting food to eat so I hung around with them a lot. They used to swear at the foremen in Czech while smiling at them. They taught me lots of Czech swearing (which I no longer remember) but some of it was fantastic - one phrase translated as “may you be fucked by a bolt of lightning”, we used it all the time.
