Radio România Internațional

Tag: habits

  • Romanians and their reading habits

    Romanians and their reading habits

    “The only thing you need to know is to be able to find your way to the library.” The quotation is attributed to Albert Einstein. It was a real encouragement for people to read. Yet people have stopped reading just as much, ever since high-tech has become so very accessible. Scrolling up on your cell phone screen, continuously, for hours on end, sometimes, steals people the time which is precious for themselves…and that time never returns.

     

    The cell phone empties our lives of what is the most precious thing for us : time, quality time, a time we spend with our nearest and dearest, a time we should use to learn, to develop as human beings endowed with superior intelligence.

     

    There once was a time when the books, banned by then the communist regime, succeeded to sidestep the system and reach the people, who were reading them avidly. At present, when we have all sorts of book at our fingertips and access to the printed books has never been easier, we opt for being glued to the screens of our cell phones instead of reading. Perhaps this is one of the paradoxes the modern man has to face: if something is like a forbidden fruit for someone, they will try their best to go and get it; give them free access to that particular something and people will lose interest in it.

     

     

    In a world where the habit of reading is on the wane, the Romanians are among those who read rather less. In 2023, the book sales turnover in Romania exceeded 6 million Euro, yet this apparently impressive figure is by far outweighed by Germany, where the book sales turnover in 2023 stood at 9 billion euros. Besides, if you buy a book, that does not necessarily mean you are going to read it…However, that shows you have a smidgen of interest in reading.

     

    In Romania, the people who read, read a lot and constantly, while those who do not read…do not read anything at all. There people who can live quite all right without reading a single line!

     

    Alina Ilioi Mureșan is the PR of Bookzone, the publishers who can brag about being able to arouse the interest of many Romanians with an appetite for reading. She tells us that, nonetheless, the Romanians with an appetite for reading buy a lot of books.

     

    “The Romanian book market is continuously growing, wheel the genres read by the Romanians are ever more diverse. Of course, I am happy when I see Romanians who orders books, who read printed matter and who are thrilled with the prospects of having their own bookcase. I believe last year was a very good one in every respect, in terms of sales but also as regards an editorial plan. Romanians read a lot about personal development and books where they can find out how they can improve their lives in any respect. They are interested in the health of the brain, in healthy diets, in emotional of psychological balance. Also, the geopolitical books are extremely sought-after, considering the context and the times we’re living. The least present, as far as we’re concerned, on their purchase lists were the fantasy books, although, As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow has nonetheless enjoyed a tremendous success. However, by and large, the Romanians are not that keen on reading fiction any longer. Not OUR readers, at least. »

     

    However, it appears that the preference towards certain genres differs, from one generation to the next. The Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) prefers the Classic literature, the Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) chose thrillers, the X Generation (those born between 1960 and 1980) prefers contemporary classics, biographies, but also science fiction (it is, actually, the generation that reads the most, and whose reading is the most diversified) the Y Generation or the Millenials (1981 – 1996) prefers contemporary literature, while the Z Generation (1997 – 2012) prefers the fantasy genre, personal development, entrepreneurship.

     

    As regards the interest for reading, Alina Ilioi Mureșan believes it is growing, considering the book sales:

     

    “The book market this year is continuously growing. Of course, that is, however, hard to predict. The experience that I’ve had tells me many times we’re highly likely to be taken by surprise, according to certain circumstances. ”

     

    If we have a closer look at the figures, it appears that, notwithstanding, the Romanians are not among those who are the last to open a book. So we’re not completely lagging behind when it comes to reading?

     

    Alina Ilioi Muresan gives us a couple of reasons why we should be optimistic:

     

    ” I do not believe that. I find it impossible to believe, as every day I run into the number of books ordered by Romanians and I do not think they read the least in Europe. Certainly, the Romanians order the books to read them, and not to put them away so that a layer of dust sets on them. Is it, nonetheless, a financial investment, an effort they make. Yes, the Romanians read, and they read a lot. “

  • Armes et vêtements daces et romaines de Dacie

    Armes et vêtements daces et romaines de Dacie

    À l’antiquité, le territoire délimité par le Danube, la mer
    Noire, les Carpates et le bassin intra-carpatique était habité par les tribus
    des Gètes et des Daces. Des traces de leur civilisation matérielle ont été
    découvertes lors de fouilles archéologiques, les objets datant aussi bien
    d’avant que d’après la conquête romaine de la Dacie et la fusion daco-romaine ultérieure.
    Les armes occupent une place importante parmi ces objets, qui aident les
    archéologues à comprendre le niveau de développement des Gètes et des Daces,
    comparé aux Romains.


    La
    présence des Romains au nord du Danube remonte au siècle I avant l’ère chrétienne. Une bonne
    partie des tribus des Gètes et des Daces avaient rejoint l’orbite de la
    civilisation romaine, mais d’autres refusaient le clientélisme romain. A la fin
    du premier siècle de l’ère chrétienne, le roi dace le plus rebelle était Decebal,
    qui régnait sur un territoire situé dans la zone de centre-sud-est de la
    Roumanie actuelle, dans les Monts Șureanu, des Carpates méridionales. Au bout
    de deux guerres menées par l’empereur Trajan en 101-102 et en 105-106, Decebal
    est vaincu et décapité et son royaume est conquis par Rome. C’était le point de
    départ de la synthèse daco-romaine, que les historiens considère comme la base/la
    fondation sur laquelle s’est formée le peuple roumain.


    L’association « Terra
    Dacica Aeterna », créée en 2007, rassemble un groupe de passionnés de
    reconstituions historiques, qui mettent en lumière la culture des Gètes et des
    Daces. Pour que les gens se fassent une idée des armes employées par les
    belligérants dans les guerres daco-romaines d’il y a 1900 ans, Andrei Duduman,
    de l’association mentionnée, habillé en costume de guerrier dace, a présenté
    les armes des Daces, lors du vernissage de l’exposition « Dacia, ultima
    frontieră a romanității/La Dacie, dernière frontière de la romanité ». « C’est un guerrier dace, une sorte de commandant d’infanterie
    lourde. Pour tout tel guerrier, l’élément visuel le plus important était son
    bouclier. Pour réaliser celui que vous voyez, on s’est inspiré des images
    sculptées sur la Colonne de Trajan et
    dont des copies peuvent être admirées au     lapidarium du Musée national d’histoire de
    Roumanie. Un second élément très important est l’épée de type celtique, dont le
    fourreau est décoré de motifs à retrouver sur le célèbre moule     dace découvert à
    Sarmizegetusa. C’est une épée très légère, facile à manœuvrer. La cotte de
    mailles est un autre élément important, de protection du guerrier. Dans ce cas
    précis, c’est une cotte de mailles rivetée    , pour un guerrier plus riche. Les rivets apportaient une meilleure résistance
    à cette armure contre les coups destinés à trancher ou, moins, à percer. Sur la
    tête, c’est un casque de type Spangenhelm, d’inspiration Sarmate, réalisé à
    base de bandes de fer. Dans sa partie civile, pour ainsi dire, le costume
    inclut des bijoux en argent, les célèbres clous daces. Ce costume en a trois,
    mais je sais qu’il y en a eu avec 5, 7 et 9, selon les moyens de celui qui
    portait le costume. Il y a aussi quelques perles de verre et, bien-sûr, des
    bagues en argent, des répliques d’objets découverts par les archéologues. Un
    élément très important, appartenant à un noble dace, est la très connue
    « sica-la dague» dace. »



    A son tour, Lucian Vulpe a joué le rôle d’un
    légionnaire romain. : « Si les Daces n’avaient pas
    d’équipement standardisé, les éléments d’une même catégorie ne se ressemblant
    pas, chez les Romains tout était standardisé. L’armée romaine était une armée
    professionnelle, où tous les militaires s’habillaient et combattaient de la
    même façon. Le légionnaire romain typique avait une seule arme de base – l’épée
    Gladius ou le glaive, une arme de type ibérique, dont les origines se seraient
    trouvées en Espagne, utilisée le plus souvent non pas pour des duels, mais pour
    transpercer l’adversaire. Car les légionnaires étaient nombreux et ne pouvaient
    pas bouger beaucoup. Chaque légionnaire se protégeait en enfilant une « lorica
    segmentata », une cuirasse articulée très flexible, très mobile, composée
    de bandes de fer, très facile à réparer durant le combat. Il avait aussi un
    casque qui le protégeait très bien contre les armes recourbées ou droites des
    Daces. Après la première guerre daco-romaine, le casque romain a été renforcé,
    deux bandes de fer étant ajoutées au milieu pour assurer une meilleure protection
    contre les falx (épées) des Daces. A tout cela s’ajoutait le bouclier romain,
    décorés d’ailes et du nom de la légion, dans ce cas précis il s’agit de la Vème
    Légion Macedonica, dont la garnison se trouvait à Turda. Le légionnaire romain
    chaussait des caligae, les sandales romaines classiques. Celles d’un centurion
    avaient une décoration plus riche et leur qualité était meilleure que celle des
    simples légionnaires. Il portait aussi une tunique et une cape appelée pennula,
    qui le protégeait de la pluie et du froid. »



    Les Daces et les Romains, avec leurs armes et leurs
    habits, sont revenus à la vie au Musée national d’histoire de Roumanie, à
    Bucarest. Un monde disparu que des passionnés du passé font revivre devant nos
    yeux. (Trad. Ileana Taroi)



  • The Covid-19 pandemic changes consumer behavior

    The Covid-19 pandemic changes consumer behavior

    According to an EY Future Consumer Index study, the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted four distinct categories of consumer behavior: “Drastically reduce spending”, “Stay calm, carry on”, “Save and stockpile” and “Hibernate and spend ”. Consumers in the “Cut deep” segment (27.3%) spend less in all categories of consumption, because the pandemic has a more severe effect on their professional status. Those in the category “Stay calm, carry on”, (26.2%) did not change their consumption habits. However, most consumers (35.1%) fall into the category “Save and stockpile”, are pessimistic and less confident about the future. Consumers in the “Hibernate and spend” segment (11.4%) spend the most on all product categories.



    Asked if the tastes of Romanians have changed during the pandemic, Bogdan Voicu, a sociologist with the Research Institute for Quality of Life, said: “We dont know. Last year, which was a pandemic year just like this one, are special years, when consumption periods differed and there was not a clear pattern. We need to analyze consumption habits over a slightly longer period, with no changes. By changes I mean new lockdowns, restrictions upon entering stores and so on. However, online consumption has apparently increased, meaning that we have more people who order online, people who did not use to buy online before but now they do. That would be the major change. But I would not necessarily blame it on the pandemic, which in my opinion only sped up a process which was already under way, although Romania was a little bit behind other countries in this respect. I wouldnt rush to blame it on the pandemic. “



    A famous chocolate maker in Romania had recently launched the idea that chocolate consumption has increased during the pandemic, so I asked Bogdan Voicu for his opinion in this respect: “There are many things that the pandemic gave a boost to. In fact, in general, such major negative events have the role of pushing humanity forward a bit. It does not mean that they are desirable, but they also have such unexpected effects. I also saw the study on chocolate consumption, but I am not sure it reflects the reality, because the reports we saw there were related to the financial volume. If prices go up, and they have, the variation between the past and present revenues should take into account the price increase index. It would be really interesting to see if the quantities sold have changed as well, but I dont see any reporting on that. I think it is too early to say. Chocolate consumption may have increased a bit, but that must be compared to the consumption value before the pandemic. People no longer spent holidays abroad, which has automatically triggered an increase in domestic consumption. People no longer went abroad, so they spent more time indoor and and consumed more at home. “



    Judging by social networks, many Romanians began to cook at home. But Bogdan Voicu does not think this change has any chance of becoming a trend: “For a few months, when it was practically impossible for most people to go out, they cooked mostly at home and did not eat at the office as they used to. It remains to be seen whether this new habit will be maintained in the long run. I doubt it. On the contrary, I expect the number of people who eat out more often to increase, because this is the natural trend in the development of the Romanian society. ”



    Bogdan Voicu also said: “I do not believe that some habits formed in a couple of months when people could not leave their house will produce changes in major consumption habits. I expect most people to return to previous practices as soon as the pandemic ends. On the other hand, it is something else that is happening and it is important and will change the consumption pattern – namely people, in this case both employers, companies and employees, have discovered that they can work from home, remotely, which decreases the chances of them working from the office again, after the pandemic. It is something that has been discovered for a long time and which the pandemic has accelerated, in the sense of making the work schedule more flexible, which in turn results in the disappearance of the lunch break you spend with office colleagues. That is why I think that restaurants with home delivery will proliferate and will have even more customers than they had before. In fact, this is already happening, as there are many new localities or neighborhoods, where food units were opened during the pandemic. ” (EE)