Unique Diacritical Marks
Romanian uses five special characters (ă, â, î, ș, ț) that must be preserved exactly. The comma-below diacritics (ș, ț) are often confused with cedilla variants (ş, ţ) in digital documents — a distinction that matters for name accuracy in immigration filings.
Case System in a Romance Language
Unlike other Romance languages, Romanian retains a case system (nominative/accusative, genitive/dative, vocative). Legal documents use formal case constructions that must be correctly interpreted to determine who did what to whom in contracts and court orders.
Romanian vs. Moldovan Document Formats
While the language is identical, Romania and Moldova use different document formats, issuing authorities, and administrative terminology. Moldovan documents may also be bilingual (Romanian-Russian), requiring translators to handle both languages.
Definite Article as Suffix
Romanian attaches the definite article to the end of nouns (certificatul = the certificate) rather than placing it before, as in other Romance languages. This affects how titles and legal terms are parsed, especially in formal document headings.