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French:
Spoiler :
Why is Romania coloured in such a deep shape of blue?
Altered Maps 2: Uber-Yugoslavia FTW
- Thread starter RedRalph
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Why is Romania coloured in such a deep shape of blue?
Godwynn
March to the Sea
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I would assume because a lot of Romanians speak French..?
Godwynn
March to the Sea
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My first thought at the actual reason is two-fold.
First, Romanian is a Romance language, so I would think it would be easier to learn than any other language.
Secondly, look at the other nations that were under the Soviet sphere of influence. They all have a lot of Russian speakers, except Romania. I am thinking that the people had to choose one foreign language, and they chose French over Russian.
SS-18 ICBM
Oscillator
Seems like a good explanation. I just wonder if there was some significant exchange or contact between the two nations that might have spurred this.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
Romania is actually a full member of "Organisation internationale de la Francophonie".
Here's what it says on wikipedia about it: French is understood and spoken by 24% of the population [2]. Historic cultural ties with France, especially during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Here's what it says on wikipedia about it: French is understood and spoken by 24% of the population [2]. Historic cultural ties with France, especially during the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Mirc
Not mIRC!!!
Romania is a full member of the francophonie. Even hosted summits and has had citizens in leading positions of the organization. In fact, it's a shame how little the number of people who speak French has become, after what it used to be. Even so, I think that only 24% understands/speaks FLUENTLY, while in fact I think that many more understand it.
Before WW2, over 2/3 of Romanians could speak French. It was by far the most spoken foreign language in the early XXth century, and actually the whole century in general, save for after the 1989 revolution when it declined massively in favor of English (and, after 2003, in favor of Italian and Spanish thanks to the massive emmigrant communities). Moreover, almost 20% of the modern Romanian vocabulary is loaned from French.
At first, nobody had to choose between French and Russian, since French was already a kind of lingua franca in Romania (where before WW2 a loooooot of minorities existed). Then, thanks to the consecutive rule of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and N. Ceausescu, both very, very active in their objective of breaking as many ties with the Soviet Union as possible (although both convinced communists, they always had this objective - which was in fact exactly what got Gheorghiu-Dej killed in the end), Romanians were not forced to take Russian in school except for a very short early period of time just after the instauration of the communist rule (and pretty much everyone hated it so no wonder the already very small period had no effect). Therefore French maintained its status as THE cultural language of Romania.
Thus, almost any cultured man over 40 here is able to speak French at least at a reasonably understandable level. Romanian is choke-full with French words and French influence everywhere (which was particularly obvious in Bucharest, where most of the city was built by architects hired from France).
So as I said, I'm surprised we don't rank even higher.
Before WW2, over 2/3 of Romanians could speak French. It was by far the most spoken foreign language in the early XXth century, and actually the whole century in general, save for after the 1989 revolution when it declined massively in favor of English (and, after 2003, in favor of Italian and Spanish thanks to the massive emmigrant communities). Moreover, almost 20% of the modern Romanian vocabulary is loaned from French.
At first, nobody had to choose between French and Russian, since French was already a kind of lingua franca in Romania (where before WW2 a loooooot of minorities existed). Then, thanks to the consecutive rule of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and N. Ceausescu, both very, very active in their objective of breaking as many ties with the Soviet Union as possible (although both convinced communists, they always had this objective - which was in fact exactly what got Gheorghiu-Dej killed in the end), Romanians were not forced to take Russian in school except for a very short early period of time just after the instauration of the communist rule (and pretty much everyone hated it so no wonder the already very small period had no effect). Therefore French maintained its status as THE cultural language of Romania.
Thus, almost any cultured man over 40 here is able to speak French at least at a reasonably understandable level. Romanian is choke-full with French words and French influence everywhere (which was particularly obvious in Bucharest, where most of the city was built by architects hired from France).
So as I said, I'm surprised we don't rank even higher.
TheLastOne36
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Interesting on the Russian graph. Seeing as Poland is in such a dark shade while nobody speaks Russian in here. I guess that the older generations (ie the ones that grew up in commie times) were all forced to learn Russian in school and thus still remember some of it, even though they never speak it.
I wonder on average, how good is the average poles Russian. I'd imagine it'd be horrible and native speakers wouldn't be able to understand them after not practicing it for so long.
There was no 'choice' if there was a choice then pretty much more then 90% of Poles would've picked English, German or French over Russian, and thus be a darker shade in that graph.
I wonder on average, how good is the average poles Russian. I'd imagine it'd be horrible and native speakers wouldn't be able to understand them after not practicing it for so long.
There was no 'choice' if there was a choice then pretty much more then 90% of Poles would've picked English, German or French over Russian, and thus be a darker shade in that graph.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
My parents can "speak" Russian, cause they were forced to learn it in school.. but what this really means is that they can decipher Russian text & understand spoken Russian, to an extent. They could put together some very basic Russian sentences, if they really tried.
I'd guess that most of the people who were included as "Russian speaking" would be as fluent in the language as my parents.
I'd guess that most of the people who were included as "Russian speaking" would be as fluent in the language as my parents.
Winner
Diverse in Unity
It's the same with my parents - they understand Russian and can read the Cyrillic, so I'd say they're "passive" speakers.
TheLastOne36
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My dad is different, the school he went to had a Russian teacher who didn't speak Russian, and he learned english from a very young age and thus never learned russian.
gangleri2001
Garbage day!!!
Bucarest was even called the little Paris in early 20th century.
That's how most people get when they don't use a language regularly. Same with me and Spanish.
Mad Man
Your lord and master
I have a good questin that no one brought up, how come Switzerland isn't highlighted at all in french?
No data available?
The map seems to be EU members only.
Mirc
Not mIRC!!!
^ That's probably why. 
But then again the German map does show Switzerland...
But then again the German map does show Switzerland...
Rossiya
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Ur HELLO? Turkey?
Mirc
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Turkey and Croatia (which is also on that map) are often included on EU-only maps, as they are recognized as "candidates" for membership.
Huayna Capac357
Deity
What about FYROM? 
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