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Why study Russian?

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
64 messages over 8 pages: 1 2 35 6 7 8 Next >>
Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5335 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 25 of 64
13 December 2011 at 6:55pm | IP Logged 
Марк wrote:
"As for phonology, the difference between Russian and Polish phonology is as significant
as that between Russian and Finnish. "
You are a freak.


And guys. Play nice. I do not want the thread closed just as I am eagerly waiting for your answers...
1 person has voted this message useful



Oleg
Triglot
Groupie
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5830 days ago

57 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, Polish, English
Studies: Spanish, French, Italian

 
 Message 26 of 64
13 December 2011 at 7:06pm | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
I do not want the thread closed just as I am eagerly waiting for your answers...

Yep, I was waiting for answers as well, but Mark isn't the right person to get them from. =)

Aha, by the way: Russian is a perfect tool for quarreling! And one of the most mysterious languages I know: you can talk in Russian for hours without making any sense. But it calls for work, that's no doubt. It's much easier to speak comprehensible Russian, so it's a good motivation for learners!
1 person has voted this message useful



Merv
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5274 days ago

414 posts - 749 votes 
Speaks: English*, Serbo-Croatian*
Studies: Spanish, French

 
 Message 27 of 64
13 December 2011 at 7:12pm | IP Logged 
There's no such thing as a "typical" anything language. We can just call it archaic or innovative. Sorbian is an archaic
Slavic language, just as Icelandic is archaic Germanic and Sardinian is archaic Romance.

Russian, I agree, is not a "typical" East Slavic language in that it has a massive amount of South Slavic (and indirectly
Byzantine Greek) influence through the liturgical language. Other than that, it's a pretty "typical" European language
in that it bears a lot of loan words from the usual "culprits" in Europe: French, English, German, Latin, Italian, and
ancient Greek. Of course there's also some Polish, Finno-Ugric, Norse, and Turkic influence as well.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5057 days ago

2096 posts - 2972 votes 
Speaks: Russian*

 
 Message 28 of 64
13 December 2011 at 7:16pm | IP Logged 
Merv wrote:
There's no such thing as a "typical" anything language. We can just call
it archaic or innovative. Sorbian is an archaic
Slavic language, just as Icelandic is archaic Germanic and Sardinian is archaic
Romance.

Russian, I agree, is not a "typical" East Slavic language in that it has a massive
amount of South Slavic (and indirectly
Byzantine Greek) influence through the liturgical language. Other than that, it's a
pretty "typical" European language
in that it bears a lot of loan words from the usual "culprits" in Europe:
French, English, German, Latin, Italian, and
ancient Greek. Of course there's also some Polish, Finno-Ugric, Norse, and Turkic
influence as well.

OK. Can we say that it doesn't differ more from other Slavic languages than any other
Slavic language?
1 person has voted this message useful



Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5057 days ago

2096 posts - 2972 votes 
Speaks: Russian*

 
 Message 29 of 64
13 December 2011 at 7:34pm | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
Марк wrote:
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
so you are most
welcome to this thread, particularly if you
come up with some reeasons to study Russian which make people run and get their Russian
books!

Thank you. But why do you want me to find a reason?


You seem to be baffled that not more people want to learn Russian. I am giving you an
opportunity to tell
people all the wonderful, crazy, interesting and unique things about Russian which will
make them want to
study it. As I have said before, this is the unique gift you native speakers can give
to the rest of the forum. I
would like to hear the opinion of all the non natives as well, but you Russians can
tell us about little cultural
and linguistic gems that nobody else know about :-)

You see me better than I myself. In that thread I argued against the reasons were given
why it is not so popular. And against the opinion that Russian is "overstudied". It has
potential to be learnt more and to be taken more seriously.
The number of speakers and geographical proximity are the only objective points that
make Russian preferable. For many Europeans it is an easy language because they speak a
Slavic language.
Russia is more conservative than Europe and the history makes us think of it, we
therefore have different views.
1 person has voted this message useful



Oleg
Triglot
Groupie
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5830 days ago

57 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, Polish, English
Studies: Spanish, French, Italian

 
 Message 30 of 64
13 December 2011 at 8:39pm | IP Logged 
Марк wrote:

Russia is more conservative than Europe and the history makes us think of it, we
therefore have different views.

Oh really. =) How does it manifest itself?

1 person has voted this message useful



espejismo
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5052 days ago

498 posts - 905 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani

 
 Message 31 of 64
13 December 2011 at 9:48pm | IP Logged 
I opened a [URL=http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=30348&PN=1]thread]/URL] yesterday on Russian music that some of you might already have seen, but I'll post it here just in case.
1 person has voted this message useful



Alanjazz
Triglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 4816 days ago

65 posts - 129 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Portuguese

 
 Message 32 of 64
14 December 2011 at 1:12am | IP Logged 
As a beginning learner of Russian, I'd like to chime in some key reasons for learning Russian -

Russian has to have one of the world's richest literatures. From Pushkin to Dostoeyevsky, there is an enormous
amount of amazing Russian-language text to be explored.

Secondly, learning Russian opens you up to learning about 'the other side' of the Cold War and of the global
ideological struggle of Marxism and Capitalism. As a citizen of the United States, the entirety of my public
education has been a tacit and at times open explanation of the infinite and inevitable superiority of capitalism
over all other kinds of economic and political organization. Russian allows you to explore what is called in
German 'Ostolgie' (correct me if I am wrong) or a longing for pre-Westernized times. So, learning Russian allows
you to see another history as a westerner.

Lastly, Russian-language online media. There are a fair number of stimulating and timely left-oriented websites
on art and politics that are only available in the Russian language. I do not mean to suggest that you have to be
leftist to appreciate this language, just that there are a number of resources of interest in it if you are.


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