Russian internationalism in Anna Karenina

[kev67]

I was rather surprised by how good the Russian nobles were at languages. They all speak French fluently, particularly when they do not want to be overheard by the servants. They seem to speak English pretty well, and German to a lesser extent. They are often engrossed in some English or French novel, although translated or in the original language it is not clear. I suppose this is the reason they employ French and English governesses. At the start of the book, Prince Oblansky is in trouble with his wife for having slept with the French governess, and their children were under the care of an English governess, Mrs Hall. It looks like there were quite a few opportunities for European servants. Prince Oblansky had his French and English governesses. Count Vronsky had an English horse trainer. A German footman was mentioned. If things had worked out differently for Jane Fairfax (Emma) or Gwendolen Harleth (Daniel Deronda), maybe they could have found employment in a new, interesting country.

All in all, the Russian aristocracy seemed to be good Europeans. They are prepared to travel hundreds and hundreds of miles to visit German spas. They keep themselves informed on all the latest scientific and philosophical developments. They were building railways. They were even starting to introduce social reforms after centuries of stagnation, no doubt influenced by what they were studying in the universities. They do not seem to be close minded.

[prendrelemick]

I seem to remember in War and Peace, members of the aristocracy were given lessons in Russian when speaking French became unpopular because of Napoleon.

[Danik 2016]

French was the language of high society in several countries of Europe and elsewhere in the late 19 C and early 20C, I guess.
I remember some stories of the Austrian author Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1875-1929), where the dialogue of the characters mixes German and French all the time. To me it sounded awfull but it seems to be the way Austrian educated society communicated at the time.
And there is the case of Oscar Wilde, who wrote his play "Salome" in French. He loved the French language, but he also knew that the play wouldn´t be welcomed by the English Victorian Society.
In Brazil, during the first decades of the 20 C they wanted to transform the capital, Rio de Janeiro, in a tropical Paris.

[OrphanPip]

It's a product of upper class education of the period. It started in the 17th-18th century with girls education being focused on vernacular languages (French, German, Italian etc.) and household management skills rather than Latin and Greek like a boys' education. Eventually it produced entire generations of upper class women who spoke a wide range of European languages and this fashion spread to the men as well and took over as the prominence of Latin as a lingua franca in Europe decline. Proficiency with a wide range of languages was a mark of your class. Even the British aristocracy of the period would be quite conversant in French and Italian usually, but they were less secluded from the general public than the Russian aristocrats who still had serfs.

[Pompey Bum]

Yes, what he said; but also remember that geography is destiny. Look at how accessible St Petersburg/Leningrad is to Western Europe in a world that could travel quickest by sea. The marvel is not that they adopted European culture but that they had an empire (and railroad) that stretched to Vladivostok, next to Korea.

[kev67]

The Russian aristocracy seemed pretty good at languages. In part 6, Dolly goes to visit Anna and Vronsky at their country estate. Vronsky has a German steward. During the uncomfortable dinner party, the steward replies only in German (that is not the only reason the dinner party was uncomfortable). Presumably everyone around the table can understand German, although I suppose they speak Russian to him. I wondered how this looked in the original Russian books. Most of it would, no doubt, be written in Cyrillic Script, with occasionally French, German, English and Latin words and phrases appearing in the Latin alphabet.

Another thing I get is that the Russians appreciated they had some catching up to do; hence all the interest in what was going on abroad. Vronsky, for instance, is only willing to splash out on machinery if it is new and amazing to his peers. Also, I get the impression that nearly every rich person is Russia was from a landowning family. There were no industrialists like in Bleak House or North and South. Maybe they were worried about this.