4 ms·

French was a minority language in France until the 20th century. The other languages were basically beaten and shamed out of school children.

• toomanybeersies 8y ago
  Same situation with Italian. The introduction of the radio and the television played a big part in the shift to Italian and French becoming the normal languages for their respective countries over the multitude of regional languages.
  • pjmlp 8y ago
    I really enjoy that Napolitan and Sicilian dialects are kind of still being spoken.
    • JBReefer 8y ago
      Sicilian is still spoken a bit in the New York Metro area - a lot of New Jersey Italians that speak fluent Italian have trouble communicating with people in Italy, because it's Sicilian!
• pvaldes 8y ago
  Fortunately for french children that currently aren't forced to learn five dialects to communicate the same thing in five different french cities. The opposite way is leading to a few very bizarre and unfair situations.