On: French set to replace English as EU’s ‘working lan...

[MomoXenosaga]

I'm currently reading a book about the Congress of Vienna and it's amazing that the Russian Tsar argued with the English ambassador in French. Here were all the rich and powerful men of Europe dividing up the continent and there wasn't a single translator needed.

[j7ake → MomoXenosaga]

The aristocrats in Russia back then probably spoke French as well as or better than Russian if Tolstoy books are to be believed.

[dgaaaaaaaaaa → j7ake]

^ This is right. It happened because of Peter the Great's westward alignment of the royal machinery and continued till the last Tsar.

[d0mine → MomoXenosaga]

Russian tsars are likely not even native Russian speakers. I listened to a recording recently -- the accent is obvious.

Same family https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/king-george-tsar-nicholas-1...

[amilios → d0mine]

Interesting -- what kind of accent is it? Would it be most similar to the accent a German native speaker would have speaking Russian today?

[kleton → MomoXenosaga]

That would have been Aleksandr I's first language even.

[tjalfi → MomoXenosaga]

That sounds like an interesting read, what's the title of the book?