Astăzi încerc să vorbesc mai puțin și să ascult mai mult.

Astăzi means today.

Yes, it is related to azi, which also means today. In everyday Romanian, both are common. Azi is a shorter form, while astăzi can sound a little fuller or slightly more formal, depending on context.

So this sentence could also be: Azi încerc să vorbesc mai puțin și să ascult mai mult.

Romanian often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

Here, încerc means I try / I am trying, so eu (I) is not necessary.

You could say: Eu încerc să vorbesc mai puțin și să ascult mai mult.

But normally, Romanian prefers to leave eu out unless you want emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Încerc comes from the verb a încerca, meaning to try.

In this sentence, încerc is:

• 1st person singular
• present tense

So încerc = I try or I am trying.

Romanian present tense can often translate into either simple present or present continuous in English, depending on context.

In Romanian, să is very commonly used after certain verbs to introduce another verb, somewhat like to in English, though it does not work exactly the same way.

After a încerca (to try), Romanian normally uses:

• a încerca să + verb

So:

• încerc să vorbesc = I try to speak
• încerc să ascult = I try to listen

In this sentence, să appears twice because there are two coordinated verbs:

• să vorbesc
• să ascult

Romanian often repeats să in this structure, and that sounds natural.

They are in the 1st person singular present subjunctive form, triggered by să.

After să, many Romanian verbs take a subjunctive form. In this sentence:

• să vorbesc = that I speak / to speak
• să ascult = that I listen / to listen

Because the subject is still I, the verbs are in the I form.

This is why Romanian does not use the dictionary form (a vorbi, a asculta) here.

Not literally, no. It is better to think of it as the Romanian structure that corresponds to English to speak after certain verbs.

English says:

• I try to speak

Romanian says:

• Încerc să vorbesc

So in translation, să vorbesc often matches to speak, but grammatically Romanian is using a subjunctive-type construction rather than an infinitive.

Here they mean:

• mai puțin = less
• mai mult = more

So:

• să vorbesc mai puțin = to speak less
• să ascult mai mult = to listen more

These are very common Romanian expressions.

Mai is often used in Romanian to form comparative ideas such as more or less.

Examples:

• mai mult = more
• mai puțin = less
• mai bine = better
• mai repede = faster / more quickly

So in this sentence, mai helps build the comparison:

• speak less
• listen more

It can cover several of those ideas depending on context.

In să vorbesc mai puțin, it most naturally means:

• to speak less
• to talk less
• possibly to talk less much / less often, depending on the situation

Romanian often leaves that kind of nuance to context, just as English sometimes does.

Și means and.

It connects the two actions:

• să vorbesc mai puțin
• să ascult mai mult

So the sentence is built as:

• Today, I try [to speak less] and [to listen more].

Romanian commonly repeats să when two verbs are linked in this kind of structure.

So this is natural:

• încerc să vorbesc mai puțin și să ascult mai mult

Repeating să makes the structure clear and balanced. It is the standard way to say it.

Yes, Romanian word order is somewhat flexible, but the original version is the most natural and neutral:

Astăzi încerc să vorbesc mai puțin și să ascult mai mult.

You might also hear:

• Încerc astăzi să vorbesc mai puțin și să ascult mai mult.

That still makes sense, but it puts astăzi in a slightly different position. The original sentence sounds very normal and straightforward.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker would be:

AH-stuhz ee in-CHERK suh vor-BESK my poo-TSEEN shuh suh as-KOOLT my MOOLT

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• ă is a short neutral vowel, like the a in sofa
• â / î is a central Romanian vowel with no exact English equivalent
• c before e in încerc sounds like ch
• ș in și sounds like sh
• ț in puțin sounds like ts

It can often mean both speak and talk, depending on context.

So:

• să vorbesc mai puțin could be translated as to speak less
• or to talk less

In natural English, talk less and listen more may sound especially idiomatic, but speak less and listen more is also perfectly fine.

Grammatically, încerc is present tense: I try / I am trying.

But the full sentence can express a present effort, habit, or intention for today:

• Today I’m trying to speak less and listen more
• Today I try to speak less and listen more

In natural English, I’m trying is often the smoothest translation here, especially because astăzi points to what is happening today.