Talk:Csángós

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The original article is in English. "Estimates put the total number of Csángó people at around 70,000." - What estimates?

Most of the Romanian Roman Catholics of Bacău are Csango people that were assimilated through the ages. Now, you may consider it debatable whether Csango that no longer speak their Hungarian dialect are still Csango. bogdan ʤjuʃkə | ^Talk 16:59, 26 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This is indeed a good question. But bear in mind that most Csángós interpret their identity primarily in religious terms. In this sense, (virtually) all Catholics in Bacău would be Csángó (and most of them Romanian as well, both at the same time: identities need not be exclusive). But of course, there are surely Catholics of Csángó origin who are so assimilated that they feel they are simply Romanian. Questions concerning identities are always tricky, so I guess we cannot answer this question by producing a single magic number. Maybe we should give several numbers, as economists do with regard to Money_supply :) --Tamas 17:59, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I met a Csango some months ago. And she was cute! Hmm... this could be a novel pickup line: "I want to talk to you because I'm researching for a Wikipedia article" :-)

I didn't sense any strong accent when she was speaking, so she probably grew up in a community speaking much Romanian. Anyway, I really doubt she'll get back to her village and continue speaking her dialect. bogdan ʤjuʃkə | ^Talk 20:12, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Of course, this is quite typical for rapidly assimilating rural communities. Once people leave their village, they are quite unlikely to go back and stick to the old ways of their (grand)parents, including clothing, dialect etc. That's how traditional rural dialects are dying out all over Europe.

Actually, me too met a Romanian girl about a year ago from Méhkerék (Micherec), Hungary. And she too was cute! :) (I mean, really.) And she spoke Hungarian without any accent. Actually it only turned out that she was Romanian (or of Romanian origin) when she told me where she came from, and I happened to know that that particular village has had a Romanian population historically. So assimilation is really quick and probably irreversible in (linguistically) isolated small communities. Which is of course a pity from a cultural/ethnographical point of view.--Tamas 14:54, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Numbers, again

Hello, I am puzzled by some apparent inconsistencies in this article. So, first of all, Csango live "mostly in Bacau county", where they are 5,794 (by counting all Hungarian-speaking folks, not only the ones declaring themselves Csango). Then, you have the info about 60-70.000. So, where are the remaining Csango? It's a problem of consistency.

Second, I also feel that the "it is thought that" (by who?) of the 1521 recommendation cannot be simply translated into "estimates put the figures at". What's puzzling is that the 1521 recommendation is actually talking about people speaking csango (and not, as bogdan seemed to think, all people having csango ancestors).

May I suggest adding some explanation for puzzled readers? :) Dpotop 12:44, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The trouble is that identity as such is almost an elusive concept, and all the more so for the Csángó. It is not easy to tell what makes one a Csángó. Is it religion, language, ethnic identification? Can you be a Csángó (in terms of religion, mother tongue) and feel that you are Romanian by ethnicity at the same time? (I think you can, but that's my private opinion, and most of my fellow Hungarians would have me stoned for it:) ) So the most we can do is to give data in terms of ethnic identification, religion and language use, and that's the end of it. There are some things that cannot be pinned down by scientific precision, and identity is one of them.--Tamas 13:41, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]