What percentage of Russian is French?

Did Russian royalty speak French?

The Russian nobility of the 19th century quickly became extremely fluent in French. For many of them, just like for Prince Dmitry Golitsyn, French was more comfortable than Russian. They also looked up to French culture. About 70 percent of books in a Russian nobleman’s library were in French.

Why did the Russian elite speak French?

Russian was used to talk to the servants. It reflected the importance of France from a political and cultural point of view, especially because of the Enlightenment. Often the local language was looked down upon by aristocrats in favour of French.

What was the influence of French literature in Russia?

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Russian nobility still preferred French to Russian for everyday use, and were familiar with French authors such as Jean de la Fontaine, George Sand, Eugene Sue, Victor Hugo, and Honor é de Balzac. The influence of France was equally strong in the area of social and political ideas.

How did France influence the Russian Revolution?

The first real manifestations of the influence of France in Russia date from Russia’s first political opening toward Europe, undertaken by Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725) and further advanced by Catherine II (r. 1762–1796).

Why does Russia have two written languages?

Due to this fact and the Church’s retaining the traditional OCS, Russia today has essentially two distinct written languages that are not mutually intelligible. Both of the writing systems, however, have served as valuable sources for clues about the history of the Russian language.

What is the history of the French language?

History of French. French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance spoken in northern France. The discussion of the history of a language is typically divided into “external history”, describing the ethnic, political, social, technological,…