Welcome to the Romani language resource centre! What do we do here? We provide translating services, lectures on Romani culture, history and language, and can also provide advice to various institutions and individuals. For further information concerning these matters, please contact us via e-mail.
The major focus of this website is the Romani language and the teaching of it. The reason for teaching Romani over the internet is that its population is internationally spread. This means that both institutions and individuals who work with issues concerning the Roma people can attain background knowledge of Roma, in order to avoid misunderstanding and distrust between Roma and non-Roma.
This course also serves the purpose of re-introducing Romani to Roma who do not speak the language because of assimilation or other environmental causes.

Before we continue and explain how the course functions, we would first like to establish background information on the Romani language. There are approximately 62 dialects in Romani. Some are more integrated with one another, others are not (that is, not all dialects cross communicate with each other). Romani does not have a written standard, and this has been a serious problem when it comes to instructing in Romani. Books and materials available today are written with different phonetic systems, causing confusion and instability in the learning process. The construction of our courses is based on what the dialects first have in common. We are aware that Romani shares a vocabulary with Indian, and loans from countries the Roma people crossed on their way to Europe. Here they split up and spread into various parts of Europe, where the different groups evolved separately in language, history and culture. What is it then that makes Roma identifiable as a cultural group? It is the “core culture”, and as there is indeed a core culture, there is, as well, a “core language”. We will therefore concentrate our course on the most widely spread dialects, using the words most common across the dialects. Later, in the chapter on “dialectal history”, we will look at the existing variations, so that one may learn to communicate across the varieties.
The phonetic system we use is intended to satisfy the most common differences in pronunciation. This is done by combining letters and using single letters for distinct pronunciation and double pronunciation. As the vocabulary grows during the course, one will automatically be able to distinguish where and when there is a double or single pronunciation.
The course starts out with simple nouns, and each page explains the grammatical rules for each word class. Besides using grammatical classification for explanation, we also explain the grammatical terms. We do this because we realize that grammatical classification is important for order, but that not all people learn easily through such. It is much easier to understand how something functions when exemplified and applied through concepts that help lock knowledge to memory.
The first lesson provided on the phonetic system has audio with it to illustrate what pronunciation applies to which symbols. Examples are provided that one can refer to in the future. The second lesson on nouns shows the basic rules, and on this page a link is provided to interactive hangmen games and puzzles. Afterwards an exam is given based on what was found in the practice games. The purpuse of this exam is only to identify problem areas, so that each student can then develop an individual plan. This is done by internet meetings and e-mail contact. Each lesson has its own password and one cannot move forward until completing the first lesson. This serves a special purpose, which is to avoid confusion and make it easy for the learning process to follow the steps provided. During each lesson, students are provided with word lists. In the nouns section some of these lists are categorized by animal category, foods, buildings, etc.
Once one completes the sections on verbs, nouns, adjectives and possessive forms at the beginner’s level, one can advance to the next level. Here we present the less common rules for these word classes as well as a section on semantics. Mind you, the beginner’s level is available in English and Swedish at this time, but the advanced (Semantics and onward) is only available in English. The section on semantics shows how words can be used in a proper context, although we discuss throughout the earlier sections. Words in English such as “powerful” and “strong” that have a similar meaning but cannot be used in the same context, the same is true for Romani. As an example we find it more common to say “”strong coffee” rather than “powerful coffee”, and “powerful engine” rather than “strong engine”. There are reasons for this and throughout the sections we will provide an explanation on how to use vocabulary in a proper context when speaking Romani, but particularly concentrate efforts on this in our advanced section on semantics.
Sections on prepositions and word order help one to construct sentences. Although one may already be able to construct sentences after the lesson on possessive forms, this section helps in understanding how to form questions and answers by changing word order. In the final stage of the course, we will work with translations, writing poetry and music. In the near future we will also have courses for translators and instructors.
In order for us to cover our costs for the course, we charge 200 Swedish kronor, 23 Euros or 30 US dollars a month per student. Alternatively, the fee is 1000 SEK, 200 EUR or 300 USD a year. Once tuition costs are paid, a student is provided with a password for the first lesson, and thereafter gets a new password with each new lesson. One can use PayPal as method of payment or direct payment to our Plusgirot (Bank) account.

We hope you will enjoy our courses and please notify us on how you learned about them. Good luck!

Our bank/postgirot account is 1385862-6. If you will be making your payment via postgirot please write the first two letters of your first name, then add the first three from your last name and place this in the message as your code. After which you should email us with your code to romanopaso@hotmail.com, the amount and date of payment made, and we shall then send you your password and other documents once confirmation is made. If you choose to pay by credit card or paypal, send us an email and what course you wish to take, 1 year or month to month and we will invoice you.  


OBSERVE: The contents of this website are a reference material, and one needs to particpate in the email disuccsions, online lessons, the practice materials and tests sent via email, and the interactive games in order for the webbased material to be of use.