time colum
"Eh ! bien, mon prince, Genes et Lucques ne sont plus que des apanages, des domaines de la famille Buonaparte..."
The sentence is an opening of "War and Peace," an epic novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of European languages may easily find out it is written in French, and some of them might also think it is somewhat out of place in this Russian novel. However, Russian history tells that it was common among Russian aristocrats to speak French in their daily conversations. At its height, France and its culture exerted influence on every corner of Europe, and even Russians on the felt a mixed not only did they admire French culture but also its langauge.
When william the conquror crossed the English channel, he forced his knights and vassals to use his native tougne, French. So French remained dominant on the British isles for more than a century. Believe it or not, English was considered vulgar and less refined under the rule of Willam. Would his English peasants ever expect the world where their "vulgar" language became lingua franca?
such an interesting phenomenon is called bilingualism. it simply means the act of using two languages, but in terms of sociolinguistics, bilingualism is often reffered to a society where different classes of people use different lanagues. Causes and representations of bilingualism may vary in a great degree; for example, colonists in the imperial era spread their languages all over the world. The recent rapid globalization also necessiated learning foreign languages. Bilinguals may have wanted to a new tongue or have been force to do so.
Let alone all the political correctness; every language is completely logical and efficient in its own way. Some lanauges may be a little harder to learn, but it cannot depreciate the value of language. However, we must admit; some langauges are more influential than others. They just happened to have a largernumber of speakers or be
The sentence is an opening of "War and Peace," an epic novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of European languages may easily find out it is written in French, and some of them might also think it is somewhat out of place in this Russian novel. However, Russian history tells that it was common among Russian aristocrats to speak French in their daily conversations. At its height, France and its culture exerted influence on every corner of Europe, and even Russians on the felt a mixed not only did they admire French culture but also its langauge.
When william the conquror crossed the English channel, he forced his knights and vassals to use his native tougne, French. So French remained dominant on the British isles for more than a century. Believe it or not, English was considered vulgar and less refined under the rule of Willam. Would his English peasants ever expect the world where their "vulgar" language became lingua franca?
such an interesting phenomenon is called bilingualism. it simply means the act of using two languages, but in terms of sociolinguistics, bilingualism is often reffered to a society where different classes of people use different lanagues. Causes and representations of bilingualism may vary in a great degree; for example, colonists in the imperial era spread their languages all over the world. The recent rapid globalization also necessiated learning foreign languages. Bilinguals may have wanted to a new tongue or have been force to do so.
Let alone all the political correctness; every language is completely logical and efficient in its own way. Some lanauges may be a little harder to learn, but it cannot depreciate the value of language. However, we must admit; some langauges are more influential than others. They just happened to have a largernumber of speakers or be