Does the Romani (Gypsy) Language Really Exist?

Myths and Reality

(From the series “The Language That Seems Not to Exist”)

Author: Tymur Levitin — Founder, Director, and Head Teacher at Levitin Language School / Start Language School by Tymur Levitin
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Dedicated to my friend Anatolii —
a man with a kind heart, a sharp mind, and a deep sense of language.
This series of articles was inspired by our conversations,
our shared love of words, and the way language connects people through meaning and respect.

1. A Language Everyone Knows — and No One Believes Exists

Ask ten people if the Gypsies have their own language, and nine will tell you:

“No, they just speak a mix of Romanian, Russian, and something else.”

But the truth is: Romani is a real, ancient, living language.
It belongs to the Indo-Aryan family, related to Hindi and Punjabi, not to Romanian or Russian.
The Roma carried it from Northern India more than a thousand years ago.

It’s a language that exists — but hides in plain sight.

2. Why So Few People Know It Exists

Romani doesn’t have a single “standard” form.
It’s divided into dozens of dialects — Vlax, Balkan, Carpathian, Kalderash, Sinti, and more.
Each adapted to the local languages of the countries where Roma settled.

To outsiders, this variety looks like chaos.
But inside, it’s order — a family of dialects that share one soul.
And because the Roma community keeps its inner life private, the language remains both real and invisible.

3. Words from Romani That Live in Our Languages

Below is a table of real Romani-origin words that entered Russian, Ukrainian, and European slang.
Each word carries its own story of migration, adaptation, and survival.

4. Pronunciation and Sound Patterns

Romani is musical and rhythmic.

• kh = deep sound from the throat (like “loch” in Scottish).
• č / ch = “church.”
• š / sh = “shoe.”
• Stress usually falls on the last syllable: la-VÉ, rak-LÓ, shu-KÁR.

5. Language as a Cultural Mirror

When raklo entered Russian, it stopped meaning “non-Roma” and started meaning “guy” or “outsider.”
When lavé became slang for “money,” it carried irony — “words cost money.”
When papandaša appeared in songs, it became humor — not a numeral, but a moment of shared laughter.

Each borrowed word is a cultural fingerprint.

6. Why It Matters

You can learn grammar and vocabulary — but to really understand a language, you must hear its intent.
Romani shows that language can be both visible and hidden at once — spoken everywhere, yet never taught anywhere.

It’s not just about words. It’s about how people survive through them.

Expert Commentary

Tymur Levitin — linguist, translator, teacher

“Romani isn’t chaos. It’s a traveling mirror of history.
It carried Indian roots through Persia, Greece, the Balkans, and Europe.
Every word — raklo, lavé, shukárno — is a small world where laughter, pride, and pain mix together.
To teach language, you must understand how people mean, not just what they say.”

7. Conclusion

Yes, the Romani language exists.
It’s not a dialect, not a “mix,” but a complete system with its own grammar, logic, and soul.
It simply chose to live quietly — hidden in music, in humor, in borrowed words.

A language that hides doesn’t die — it protects itself.

Author

© Tymur Levitin — Founder, Director, and Head Teacher of Levitin Language School
Author, translator, and educator with over 20 years of teaching experience.
Specialist in intercultural linguistics and translation of untranslatable meanings.

🌐 Other Versions

• 🇷🇺 Read in Russian: https://timurlevitin.blogspot.com/2025/10/blog-post_10.html
• 🇺🇦 Read in Ukrainian: https://timurlevitin.blogspot.com/2025/10/blog-post_47.html

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