Romanian · English · C1–C2
Advanced Romanian stories, with the English alongside (C1–C2)
Poe, Bierce, Hawthorne, Melville and Twain in Romanian: dense, stylish prose, with the English original there for the sentences worth a second look.
13 free advanced stories in Romanian
Each one opens in your browser with no account, the Romanian and the English side by side, paragraph by paragraph, shortest first. Every story is also a free Romanian–English ebook for Kindle, Kobo or any e-reader: downloading needs a free account, no payment (which file to pick).
Open the advanced Romanian–English stories in the library, where you can search them and switch to another level or pair.
- C1

Portretul oval
The Oval Portrait
Edgar Allan Poe · Romanian · 5 min
- C1

Inima care-și spune taina
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe · Romanian · 10 min
- C1

Butoiul de Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe · Romanian · 10 min
- C1

Masca Morții Roșii
The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar Allan Poe · Romanian · 15 min
- C2

Celebra broască săltăreață din ținutul Calaveras
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain · Romanian · 15 min
- C1

Tobermory
Saki · Romanian · 15 min
- C1

Frumoasa adormită din pădure
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
Charles Perrault · Romanian · 20 min
- C1

Experimentul doctorului Heidegger
Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment
Nathaniel Hawthorne · Romanian · 20 min
- C1

O întâmplare la podul de pe Owl Creek
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Ambrose Bierce · Romanian · 20 min
- C1

Pisica neagră
The Black Cat
Edgar Allan Poe · Romanian · 20 min
- C1

Tapetul galben
The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman · Romanian · 35 min
- C1

Legenda văii Somnoroase
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving · Romanian · 1 h
- C2

Bartleby, copistul
Bartleby the Scrivener
Herman Melville · Romanian · 1 h 30 min
What advanced Romanian stories are like
Advanced stories are dense on purpose: Poe’s narrators circle their own guilt, Bierce bends time, Melville’s Bartleby prefers not to. The Romanian carries that style with long sentences, rare words and a literary register.
At this level you rarely need the English for the plot. It is there for the phrases that are hard to pin down, and for comparing how the same effect is achieved in two languages.
How to read Romanian at C1–C2
Read the Romanian as literature
Read at your normal pace and let unfamiliar words go when the meaning is clear. Stop only where the style or a turn of phrase interests you.
Use the English for nuance
When a word could mean two things, the English shows which one the story needs. That is where advanced readers still learn the most.
Read aloud
Literary Romanian has rhythm. Reading a paragraph aloud, then checking its English, trains your ear as well as your eye.
More on the method in how to read a parallel text.