Romanian is primarily spoken in Romania and Moldova. However, these countries are unique since they do not border the Mediterranean, unlike many European countries that speak Romance languages. Many of their words are derived from Latin. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Romanian are Sicilian, Italian, Spanish, Asturian, and Venetian. Please note that the Moldovan language can be considered a form of Romanian.
- Sicilian (77.2)
Spoken on the island of Sicily, Sicilian is arguably the closest language to Romanian. Both Sicilian and Romanian have been influenced by both the Greek and Roman Empires. The languages share similar vocabulary and phonetic features. - Italian (74.3)
Italian is often considered to be the closest Romance language to Latin. As a result, it shares a significant amount of vocabulary and grammar with Romanian. Both languages use similar verb conjugations and noun gender classifications. - Spanish (71.0)
Another major Romance language is Spanish. Despite the geographical distance, the two languages exhibit notable lexical and grammatical parallels. Certain sounds, such as the rolled ‘r’, are common in both languages. - Asturian (69.3)
Asturian is extremely similar to Spanish. It is primarily spoken in the Asturias region of Spain. Both Asturian and Romanian have preserved certain archaic Latin forms and have been influenced by surrounding languages, yet maintain a strong Latin core. - Venetian (68.9)
Venetian, spoken in the Veneto region of Italy, shows substantial similarities with Romanian due to their common Latin ancestry and the historical interaction through trade. The two languages share a similar sound system, especially in the vowel sounds.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)