This guide adapts rules and examples from Microsoft’s Localization Style Guide for Romanian (originally written for software/UI localization). The underlying linguistic rules apply universally — to legal contracts, medical documents, marketing copy, and any Romanian translation work. Restructured and reformatted as a general Romanian translator reference by ChatsControl.

Romanian Translation Style Guide — Voice, Word Choice & Common Pitfalls (Legal, Medical, Marketing, IT)¶

TL;DR¶

• Romanian translation across all spheres requires a warm, scannable register — avoid stiff calques like “aveți posibilitatea să” (use “puteți să”), “în mod curent” (use “în prezent”), “eșuat” (use “nereușit”).
• Address user formally with second-person plural (dvs.) and verb conjugation (Dați PC-ului…, Verificați-o, Continuați?); avoid “utilizator” in third person; second-person plural is the standard formal register in Romanian software/UI.
• Avoid common English-influenced pitfalls: clic dreapta (not clic cu butonul din dreapta), conectați-vă (not faceți log in), suplimentare (not adiționale), găsi (not localiza), e-mail (not poștă electronică), rula (not executa for verbs).
• Reference DOOM3 (2021) as top-priority orthography/morphology; GALR (Gramatica Limbii Române, 2008) for grammar; Dicționarul Explicativ al Limbii Române (DEX) for lexicography. DOOM3 reform shifted i-/î- spelling rules.
• Gender-neutral writing: prefer collective/abstract nouns (persoană, oameni, persoane, cursanți, personal de curățenie); use demonstratives (această persoană) and possessive adjectives (său/sa/săi/sale) over personal pronouns (lui/ei/lor); use plural forms (dezvoltatorii, utilizatorii) over singular masculine.

Register and tone for modern Romanian translation¶

Three principles define the modern Romanian register for consumer-facing content:

• Warm and relaxed. Sounds like honest conversation, not a formal notice. Less institutional, more grounded — matching how Romanians actually speak.
• Crisp and clear. Written for scanning first, reading second. Sentences short enough to parse on a phone screen.
• Ready to help. Anticipates what the reader needs and offers it at the right moment.

Put yourself on the other side of the screen: is the language supportive and is the information appropriate for the situation and actually helpful? Don’t translate as an expert for another expert. The translation must be suitable for experienced users, but also for less familiarized users.

When localizing source text, feel free to choose words that aren’t standard translations if you think that’s the best way to stay true to the intent. Take the liberty to play with sentence structure, improve, use synonyms — don’t be afraid of innovation in style.

Why this matters: Bureaucratic register damages outcomes across spheres. In marketing copy it kills conversion — readers bounce when text sounds like a tax form. In patient-facing medical materials (prospecte, instrucțiuni) it reduces comprehension and compliance. In software UI it creates friction. In consumer-facing legal documents (RGPD-mandated privacy notices, terms of service) regulators increasingly demand plain language. Only sworn legal translation (traducere autorizată) and pure technical specifications retain the older formal register.

Flexibility: when to translate literally vs. when to rewrite¶

Translators should modify or rewrite translated strings to be more natural for Romanian customers. Understand the whole intention of sentences/paragraphs/pages, then rewrite as if writing the content yourself. Sometimes remove unnecessary content.

Word choice: approved terminology and conversational vocabulary¶

Short word forms aren’t applicable to Romanian. When possible, use everyday words to render the modern voice in the translation.

Words and phrases to avoid (unnecessary formality / English-influenced calques)¶

For combining “log in” with “connect”, find a solution like: “to log on to your user account and connect to the things you care about” → “pentru a vă autentifica în contul de utilizator și a vă conecta la lucrurile importante pentru dvs.”

Why this matters: These distinctions appear in legal templates and government forms out of institutional habit but feel alien in modern consumer products, patient-facing medical materials, brand-led marketing, and user-friendly software.

Word-to-word translation: why direct mapping fails¶

To achieve fluent translation, avoid word-to-word. If translated directly without overall understanding of paragraph/page, contents will not be natural — even ridiculous. Strict word-to-word translation makes tone stiff. Text may be split into sentences for simplicity. Omit descriptors for snappier text.

Sample voice: focusing on user action¶

Explanatory text and support¶

Promoting a feature¶

How-to guidelines¶

Inclusive language¶

General principles: comply with local language laws; use plain words; mind regional/cultural references; represent diverse perspectives; don’t generalize/stereotype; don’t use profane/derogatory terms or military/political jargon.

Term replacements¶

Avoiding gender bias¶

Use gender-neutral alternatives. Avoid compounds containing gender-specific terms.

When presenting generalization, use plural noun forms (oameni, persoane, cursanți).

Don’t use gendered pronouns (ea, a ei, el, al lui) in generic references. Instead:

• Rewrite to use a more neutral form (această persoană, persoana respectivă, a sa).
• Rewrite the sentence to have a plural noun and pronoun.
• Use articles instead of a pronoun (documentul instead of documentul lui).
• Refer to a person’s role (cititor, angajat, client) and use plural.
• Use persoană.

In Romanian, if you can’t rewrite the sentence in a gender-neutral manner, use a demonstrative pronoun with or without the word “persoană” (această persoană, acestei persoane, aceasta, acesteia) in generic references to a single person. Don’t use el/ea or ei/lui constructions. Favor possessive adjectives instead of personal pronoun forms: său/sa/săi/sale instead of lui/ei/lor.

Real people: Use the pronouns the person prefers (el, ea, dumnealui, dumneaei, or another). Gendered pronouns are fine for real people who use them.

Accessibility¶

Focus on people, not disabilities. Don’t use pity-implying words. Preferred option: don’t mention disability unless relevant.

Use generic verbs (Selectați not Faceți clic) that apply to all input methods.

Keep paragraphs short. Spell out symbols (& as “și”) since screen readers misread them.

Language-specific standards¶

Abbreviations¶

Common Romanian abbreviations:

Acronyms¶

Acronyms in all caps, no periods or spaces. Plural by adding “-uri” or “-i” depending on usage.

Localized acronyms spell out term in Romanian followed by acronym in parentheses on first use.

Unlocalized acronyms like ANSI, ISO, USB, HTML remain in English.

Adjectives¶

Romanian adjectives typically follow the noun. They agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify.

Possessive adjectives: Romanian uses possessive adjectives less frequently than English. Don’t transfer English overuse to Romanian.

Articles¶

Romanian uses both definite and indefinite articles. Definite article attaches to noun as suffix (-ul, -a, -i, -le). Microsoft product names treated as proper nouns — no article.

Capitalization¶

Romanian uses sentence case for titles. Days, months, languages, nationalities (adjective form) are lowercase.

Compounds¶

Compounds should be understandable. Avoid overly long/complex compounds. Use hyphens where natural (e-mail, nord-est).

Gender¶

Romanian has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. Adjectives, articles, past participles agree.

Localizing colloquialism, idioms, metaphors¶

Three options:

1. Don’t replace source colloquialism with a Romanian one unless it’s a perfect, natural fit.
2. Translate the intended meaning (not literally) if integral.
3. If colloquialism can be omitted without affecting meaning, omit it.

Non-breaking spaces¶

Use non-breaking spaces between numbers and units, between currency symbols and amounts, between items that shouldn’t separate (Microsoft Office).

Numbers¶

Numbers 1-9 spelled out in non-technical text; numerals for 10 and above. In technical/scientific/marketing: numerals.

Decimal separator: comma (,). Thousand separator: period (.) or space.

Prepositions¶

Romanian prepositions don’t always map 1:1 to English. Common errors: omitting prepositions, using wrong contractions, calquing English structure.

Pronouns¶

Address user as dvs. (dumneavoastră — second-person plural formal). Use verb forms in second-person plural (faceți, selectați).

Avoid third-person utilizator references — sound institutional.

Omit subject pronouns when verb conjugation makes person clear.

Punctuation¶

Comma: Follow Romanian rules. No Oxford comma. Subordinate clauses set off by commas.

Colon: Used to introduce lists, explanations. Lowercase after colon (unless proper noun).

Hyphen: Used in compound words (e-mail, drag-and-drop), divisions.

En dash (–): Used as minus sign and in ranges.

Em dash (—): Used to emphasize isolated elements.

Ellipsis (…): Three dots, no spaces between.

Period: End of sentence. No double space.

Quotation marks: Romanian convention is „lower-upper” or « ». Period inside or outside per Romanian grammar.

Parentheses: No space between parentheses and text inside.

Sentence fragments¶

Sentence fragments help convey conversational tone — used whenever possible.

Verbs¶

Use simple tenses. Prefer present (Faceți, Apăsați, Selectați). Past simple (Perfectul compus) for past events. Avoid overly complex compound tenses.

Localization considerations¶

Accessibility¶

Some accessible products may not be available in Romanian-speaking markets. General accessibility info: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/.

Applications, products, features¶

Product names rarely translated. Feature names occasionally trademarked. Verify before translating.

Version numbers always contain period (Version 4.2).

Version strings with copyright should be translated using approved Microsoft Terminology.

Trademarks¶

Don’t localize trademarked names unless local laws require. Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks.

Error messages¶

Apply voice principles for natural, empathetic, non-robotic translations.

Standard phrases:

• Cannot / Could not / Unable to → “Nu se poate” / “Nu poate”
• Failed to / Failure of → “Nu a reușit”
• Not enough memory → “Memorie insuficientă”
• …is not available → “nu este disponibil”

Keys, keyboard shortcuts¶

Key names in normal text. Most English key names not translated. Romanian translations for arrow keys (Săgeată sus/jos/stânga/dreapta) and special keys (Bara de spațiu, Tastatura Windows).

Reference materials: authoritative Romanian references¶

Normative references (deviation automatically fails most strings):

Spelling and morphology:

1. DOOM3 (Dicționar ortografic, ortoepic și morfologic) — Editura Univers Enciclopedic, București, 2021 (Academia Română, Institutul de lingvistică “Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”). Top priority for Romanian language. Note: DOOM is an orthography and morphology reference giving correct spelling and morphology — it is NOT a style guide. Don’t use words just because they’re in DOOM. Style choice belongs to this guide.

Grammar norms:

2. Gramatica Limbii Române (GALR), latest revised edition — Editura Academiei Române, București, 2008. Vol I-II. Check the latest edition.

Lexicography:

3. Dicționarul Explicativ al Limbii Române (DEX) — definitive Romanian explanatory dictionary.

Informative references:

1. Merriam-Webster Online — for English-language reference.
2. Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary, 5th Edition (Microsoft Press, May 2002).

FAQ¶

What’s the modern register for Romanian translation across professional contexts?¶

Warm, conversational, scannable. Applies to medical patient materials, marketing copy, software UI, consumer-facing legal documents. Sworn legal translation (traducere autorizată), formal contracts, academic texts retain more formal register including extensive nominalization and reflexive constructions.

How should I address users in Romanian translation?¶

Use second-person plural formal (dvs.) — this is the standard Romanian formal register. Verb forms in second-person plural carry the address (Verificați, Apăsați, Selectați). Avoid ‘utilizator’ in third person — sounds institutional. Avoid Brazilian-style ‘tu’ in software/consumer-facing text — too informal.

What are the most common Romanian translation pitfalls?¶

Avoid English-influenced calques: ‘aveți posibilitatea să’ (use ‘puteți’), ‘clic cu butonul din dreapta’ (use ‘clic dreapta’), ‘faceți log in’ (use ‘conectați-vă’), ‘în mod curent’ (use ‘în prezent’), ‘eșuat’ (use ‘nereușit’), ‘adiționale’ (use ‘suplimentare’), ‘localiza’ (use ‘găsi’), ‘poștă electronică’ (use ‘e-mail’). Avoid ‘cu succes’ adverbial padding (a fost actualizat, not a fost actualizat cu succes).

How do I handle gender in Romanian translation?¶

Use plural nouns for generalization (oameni, persoane, cursanți). Don’t use gendered pronouns (ea, a ei, el, al lui) in generic references. Rewrite to use neutral forms (această persoană, persoana respectivă, a sa) or plural nouns and pronouns. Use articles instead of pronouns (documentul not documentul lui). Favor possessive adjectives (său/sa/săi/sale) over personal pronoun forms (lui/ei/lor).

Which Romanian normative references should I follow?¶

DOOM3 (Dicționar ortografic, ortoepic și morfologic, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 2021 — Academia Română) is top priority for orthography and morphology. Gramatica Limbii Române (GALR, Editura Academiei Române, 2008) for grammar. Dicționarul Explicativ al Limbii Române (DEX) for lexicography. Note DOOM is not a style guide — don’t use words just because they’re in DOOM.

How does Romanian punctuation differ from English?¶

Decimal separator is comma (,), not period. Romanian uses „lower-upper” or « » quotation marks. Subordinate clauses set off by commas. No Oxford comma. Periods inside/outside quotation marks per Romanian grammar (typically outside for software references).

Sources¶

• Microsoft Localization Style Guide for Romanian (PDF)
• Microsoft Globalization Style Guides hub
• Dicționarul Explicativ al Limbii Române online
• Microsoft Accessibility