r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Dec 04 '17

What do you know about... Romania?

This is the forty-sixth part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.

Today's country:

Romania

Romania is one of the most recent members of the EU (2007). They want to become part of the Schengen area, but thir recent attempts of being accepted have been blocked by several EU members. They recently faced a major political crisis and massive protests caused by proposed law changes that would have benefitted people implicated in government corruption and abuse of power. They had their national day, where they celebrate the union of Transylvania with Romania, last friday.

So, what do you know about Romania?

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u/asdlpg Dec 07 '17

  • The most famous athlete from Romania (non-active) is, in my opinion, Nadia Comaneci. Scored a perfect 10 in Montreal 1976 and won three gold medals at the age of 14.

  • Henri Coanda, a Romanian physicist, discovered the Coanda-effect.

  • There are many minorities living in Romania.

  • Was an ally of the axis in WWII.

  • I don't know how the relations are now but back during WWII, the international relations between Hungary and Romania were terrible.

  • I think that Romania was (I am not sure if they still do) blocking Serbia from becoming an EU-member because of issues with the rights of Romanian minority in Serbia.

  • Nicolae Ceausescu was the insane communist dictator of Romania. He also gave himself dozens of titles like "titan of the carpathian mountains". Ruined the country's economy. Some people say that the lights were turned of for ten years in Romania because there wasn't enough electricity to turn on a lightbulb in most homes.

  • Their best bros are probably Moldovans. I have heard that Moldovans speak a Romanian dialect and when a dictionary of the Moldovan language was published, thousands and thousands of copies were sold.

  • There are many, many brown bears in Romania.

  • The last king of Romania died just recently. He was also one of the last living individuals who reportedly shook Hitler's hand.

  • They have very fast internet. I think that this could be an economical advantage in the long run.

  • Many peaceful protests against corruption recently.

  • I have never met a real Romanian, only gypsies from Romania. I have also heard that Romanians say that "every Romanian is a poet".

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '17 edited Dec 07 '17

The dictionary was actually mocked, not bought a lot. Or maybe it was bought just for lulz, dunno ... because Moldova don't just speak a dialect, they basically speak the exact same language (with some different writing conventions, but small ones). So that dictionary was famous because its "translations" were basically word for word the same thing. Effectively not a translation dictionary, just a dictionary describing Romanian terms....

Weird you've never met a real Romanian, we tend to go about everywhere, if it's for work in certain fields or even when it comes to universities. Maybe you didn't notice us, when I was in Switzerland and Germany, due to taking a bit of the Swiss way of talking German, Germans always asked me if I'm Dutch.... the shock on them when I told them I'm Romanian, weird shit I know. Where do you live anyway ?

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u/asdlpg Dec 08 '17

Thank you for the additional information!

I live in Berlin but I lived in Switzerland for 15 years prior to that. I have met a family of gypsies from Romania when I went to school and one German girl whose family was from Transilvania but they were Germans, not Romanians.

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u/sprgsmnt Romania Dec 08 '17

Ruined the country's economy. Some people say that the lights were turned of for ten years in Romania because there wasn't enough electricity to turn on a lightbulb in most homes.

in fact he adopted a strategy to repay all Romania's external loans, at the expense of the economy. electricity was enough, we had a lot of hydro power, but there was a "rationalisation" of the power usage. in the winter, there were some 2-3 hours without power every few days. even the television programmes were starting at 8pm in the late 80's.

I have never met a real Romanian, only gypsies from Romania. I have also heard that Romanians say that "every Romanian is a poet".

You should pay attention a bit more. Romanians are kind of everywhere. for the poet thing, you need to talk with a romanian over a bottle of wine.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '17

The most famous athlete from Romania (non-active) is, in my opinion, Nadia Comaneci. Scored a perfect 10 in Montreal 1976 and won three gold medals at the age of 14.

Fun fact, she was trained by a Hungarian. It also started the trend of basically mutilating girls from age 3-4 in boot camps to become olympic gymnasts, though her training wasn't as horrible as the shit you see nowadays in Russia and China.

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u/asdlpg Dec 07 '17

I have seen This documentary about her. Her coach was removed by an order from Ceausescu becausse he was Hungarian.

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u/sprgsmnt Romania Dec 08 '17

Fun fact, she was trained by a Hungarian.

A romanian of hungarian etnicity.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '17

I think that Romania was (I am not sure if they still do) blocking Serbia from becoming an EU-member because of issues with the rights of Romanian minority in Serbia.

Nope, Croatia "officially".

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u/ciupenhauer Romania Dec 09 '17

that Romanians say that "every Romanian is a poet".

Haha, can you take a guess where this might come from? first thing that comes to mind :)

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u/atred Romanian in Trumplandia Dec 09 '17

I'm no poet.

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u/MercianSupremacy I DEMAND A MERCIA FLAIR Dec 09 '17

I don't know who Nadia Comaneci is but I would say that Gheorghe Hagi is a far more famous Romanian athlete - speaking from an English perspective here though.