numbers and pronounciations recently i had a long language adventure in a taxi. my driver spoke 3 languages and wanted to help me to perfect my romanian :) while i can converse in romanian i'm interested in speaking in a manner that is common and correct. while it's incredibly important to know the grammar - it's also incredibly important to be able to learn nuances. here's an example of some nuances with numbers....

when buying a bus ticket and asking about the route that is best i was told to take bus #29....while i understood the number it was the first time i noticed this subtley

what they teach you in school #29 = doua zeci si noua (eng pron - dough-a ze-ch she no-a)

what is commonly said #29 = can't figure out how to spell this in ro but you say - dosh-noua

of course after i noticed it now i hear it all the time.

although i was taught some verbal abbreviations of numbers in the teens by angela - when i used them in conversation with andrada she corrected me to use the formal number - USE THE CONTRACTED FORM - frankly this is not used even with people you don't know - so it's good to know but in speech which is most important use the abbr forms/contracted forms

11 - un-şpe
12 - doi-şpe
13 - trei-şpe
14 - pai-şpe
15 - cinch-şpe
16 - şai-şpe
etc  ¶ 9:32 a.m.