Romania is unique in this part of Europe because they have a Latin-based language, Romanian, even though they are surrounded by Slavic- or Hungarian-speaking countries. Romanian shares many words with Spanish, French, Italian and even English. For example, the word for problem is problemă, pronounced pro-blay-muh.
Some Romanians also speak Hunagarian, German or Balkan Romani. Many people also learn English in schools while they're growing up.
Romanian's use leu, or lei in plural, for money, which translates to "lion," named for the lions on early currency. Four Romanian lei are equal to one U.S. dollar. Each leu is made up of 100 bani, or cents. Bani is also the word used for money in general.
A bottle of water costs 50 bani, or 12.5 cents in U.S. dollars. The water you buy is either apa plata, which is still water, or apa minerala, which is sparkling water.
