Quote:
Originally Posted by mtravellerh
Why is it that so many Romanians (at least of the ones I know) are fluent in French? Is there some secret connection that has escaped me 'til now?
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I've always considered it normal, without looking into it.
There was a good number of Romanian students around when I was doing my engineering studies.
I searched in Wikipedia to try to understand.
It seems the main reason is the great cultural influence that France had during the "Age of Enlightenment" (Siècle des Lumières).
Immigration in the last decades has also strenghtened that bond.
Romania hosted the Francophonie (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophonie) summit in 2006 and around 25% of the Romanians speak French, according to the data posted in Wikipedia.
EDIT :
About the language itself, it is very frustrating to hear, because you always seem to recognize a word but you can't understand what is said.
I never tried to read it, though.