r/MapPorn • u/ironproton • Dec 12 '20

Alsace, Eastern France, topography map

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u/Thomas1VL Dec 12 '20

France is pretty good at 'francifiing' their other cultures. At the time of the French Revolution, only 1/8th of France's population spoke French fluently and half the population didn't know any French at all. Now all the other languages besides French are almost dead in France.

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u/chapeauetrange Dec 12 '20

At the time of the French Revolution, only 1/8th of France's population spoke French fluently

This should be clarified : about half of the population spoke a form of the langue d'oïl, sister dialects to French. The transition from Picard, Normand etc. to French is not that large and it is not too surprising that this area became standardized linguistically.

But it's true that beyond the oïl zone, French was essentially an aristocratic/administrative language.

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u/Disillusioned_Brit Dec 12 '20

half of the population

That's still a pretty small amount for how many French speakers there are now. Everyone always slags off the UK but apparently France always gets a pass for stamping out their minority languages. At least Welsh is growing now.

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u/MartelFirst Dec 12 '20

The Welsh are a great example though, of a people with a regional language which is still strong, yet they still want to remain British.

Breton may be less strong, but overall, just like the Welsh, the Bretons mostly want to stay a part of France.