Russian Life & People Digest
Question by J.A.N.E.T. 9: What language(s) did Alexei Romanov speak?
I read that he was still learning Russian, French, and English when he was around 9. So, what did he speak when he was younger than 9? Surely he must have spoke something.
So his Russian class was like English class in American schools?
Answers and Views:
Answer by mayonaise
im sure he spoke russian….
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Feisty says
His father spoke Russian, English, German, French and Danish. French was the language of the Russian aristocracy. His mother spoke French, German and English (she was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria).
Nicholas wanted his children tied to Russia, so he spoke to them in Russian and his wife in English (she never learned good Russian).
The children were also tutored in French, English and German. I doubt Alexei was old enough before he died to become fluent in them however.
EDIT: No, no. He didn't go to "school". The Romanovs were privately tutored as were the rest of the aristocracy. In addition, you have to remember that he was a sick little boy — a hemophiliac so even if they DID attend school, he most likely would not have. His English tutor was Charles Sydney Gibbes. Here's a book about him if you wish to pursue it: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904095488…
ezzar says
The Romanovs spoke Russian at home. Later his German wasn't bad either.
ramashka_ramesh says
He refused to speak anything but Russian
old lady says
True, but if you stop and think about it, nine-year olds in English speaking countries are still learning English. Children haven't completed learning a language by age 9. They may be able to communicate, but ber in mind that Romanov had to communicate with courtiers, ambassadors, nobility etc. And he had to do it correctly. European languages, unlike English languages, are very formal and very precise in usage. For example, in German, every noun is either masculine, feminine or neuter, so it is preceded by either 'der' 'die' or 'das'. All three of those correspond to the English 'the' – but since 'the' is gender neutral, it is often omitted in English speech, but this can't happen in French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc.
There are further complications that pertain to who is speaking to whom. In French, or in Spanish (or other Romance languages) if I want to speak to you directly – meaning you, as one person, I use the word 'you'. I also use the word 'you' to mean a group of people.
But in French, for example, you have different words – 'vous' is how you speak to someone when you don't know them well. 'tu' is how you speak to them when they are close to you. In fact, the French have a verb, 'tutoyer' which means to speak to someone you know well, or with whom you are intimate.
These are only a few examples of the complexity of European languages, and poor little Alexei had to master them all.
By the way, I'm assuming that you are older than nine, but in your last sentence, you state: Surely he must have spoke something.
Young Alexei would have been smacked upside the head and sent to his room if he composed a sentence like that. The correct form is 'Surely he must have spoken something'.
So the fact that Alexei was learning Russisan, French and English when he was around nine, doesn't mean that he didn't already have a working knowledge of those languages, It only meant that he was working on perfecting them.