I’ve been a fan of Smiley for a while now, even before I moved to Romania. He usually produces simple pop songs and they’re easy to learn the words and sing along.

My new favorite is Vals (Waltz)

This song in particular is slow and the words really follow the rhythm. Sometimes when you are using music to learn a foreign language, the singers tend to combine syllables (like when şi acum becomes ş’acum, looking at you, Carla’s Dreams), but in this song the words are pretty straightforward. Also, Vals is incredibly catchy. Once it gets in your head, it will never leave.

Here are the lyrics:

Nu stiu cum am facut
Sau cine a vrut sa faca primul pas
Inca de la inceput
Am dat-o din greseala in vals, vals, vals

M-ai lasat sa conduc
Fara sa stim de urmatorul pas
1, 2, 3, stang, drept, stang
Am dat-o din greseala in vals, vals, vals
Vals, vals, vals

Chiar si cand ne-am oprit
Noi mereu ne-am regasit
Dar cand n-aud muzica
Ma omoara linistea

Dansand cu ea, numai cu ea
Mi-am auzit inima cum canta
Cand ma privea, lumea era
Doar o orchestra ce ne acompania

Dansand cu ea, numai cu ea
Mi-am auzit inima cum canta
Cand ma privea, lumea era
Doar o orchestra ce ne acompania

Am mai si calcat stramb
Nu-i nimic, ca doar noi vom observa
Si intregul Pamant
Este doar un ring de dans, dans, dans

Unul suflet si trup
O pereche in tot cu adevarat
Totul a inceput
Ca am dat-o din greseala in vals, vals, vals
Vals, vals, vals

Chiar si cand ne-am oprit
Noi mereu ne-am regasit
Dar cand n-aud muzica
Ma omoara linistea

Dansand cu ea, numai cu ea
Mi-am auzit inima cum canta
Cand ma privea, lumea era
Doar o orchestra ce ne acompania

Dansand cu ea, numai cu ea
Mi-am auzit inima cum canta
Cand ma privea, lumea era
Doar o orchestra ce ne acompania

Chiar si cand ne-am oprit
Noi mereu ne-am regasit
Dar cand n-aud muzica
Ma omoara linistea

[Update: There’s a new version! This one has lyrics and you can sing along!]

Other “Learning Romanian” news:

If you haven’t heard, Learn Romanian with Nico is back in full force and she’s written a book 🙂 You can buy her grammar book here!

She’s been doing some videos with simple phrases and I love how useful they are! My problem when speaking Romanian is that I don’t sound natural (well, my accent definitely needs work), but I am missing all those little filler words and phrases that native speakers use. I still want someone to explain to me all the uses of “aşa”.

Here’s her latest Romanian phrases video:

…and God bless her, she did a video on confusing word pairs! I’m sure Claudiu is so thankful he doesn’t have to explain these to me anymore 😛 I won’t lie, the chai/ce-ai one has always thrown me for a loop.

For example, the phrase “Fă rai din ce ai” (make heaven with what you have) confused me the first time I saw it. I was like, make heaven from tea??! Ahhh, Romanian.