I frequently take cabs in Chicago. I have found that the lion’s share of cab drivers are Pakistani, Indian, Nigerian, Ghanan and. . . . Romanian. There seem to be quite a few young men – and a few young women – from Romania who are driving hacks. And most of these, rather than coming from Bucharest, are from Transylvania.
Romanian is one language on which I haven’t a clue. So I inevitably ask questions of the drivers to pick up tidbits of information. Romanian I have learned is a Romance and not a Slavic language. It is derived from Latin and is most closely-related to Italian and Spanish. It often causes a stir when I get in a taxi, do a quick diagnosis of the driver, and ask “What part of Transylvania are you from?” Gets ’em every time. . . . .