superstacker Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5806 days ago 25 posts - 28 votes Studies: French, Russian, Spanish
| Message 41 of 64 14 December 2011 at 10:03pm | IP Logged |
For me studying Russian was about doing something difficult that not many others could
do. Foreign language learners are hard enough to come by in the UK, Russian language
learners are fewer, so when that moment happens that your "skill" manifests itself, the
look of awe on peoples faces is amazing.
I still have a long way to go sadly!
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Alanjazz Triglot Groupie United States Joined 4816 days ago 65 posts - 129 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese
| Message 42 of 64 15 December 2011 at 12:22am | IP Logged |
Cavesa, you are absolutely right. There are so many other great Russian-language others that I could have put in
place of the most commonly mentioned ones I did.
A reason I forgot about, but now remember, is Russian-language films. Andrei Tarkovsky alone could be a reason to
learn this language (as Ingmar Bergman could be with Swedish.) Beyond him, there are of course very well-known
classic directors such as Eisenstein and less-known directors like Andrei Zvyagintsev. Also, not to forget the works
of Alexander Sokurov, who brought us Russian Ark...
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zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5345 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish
| Message 43 of 64 15 December 2011 at 3:56am | IP Logged |
I want to learn Russian, because I find it an incredible and beautiful language next to
German. I've always wanted to travel to Russia and visit a lot of cities like St.
Petersburg, Moscow, etc. I absolutely love Russian heavy metal music like Слот. Oh I
cannot forget about the Russian women ;D.
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tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4779 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes Speaks: Russian
| Message 44 of 64 15 December 2011 at 7:19am | IP Logged |
Why study Russian? It has the 3 most important things that should captivate any language learner.
1) It is widely used
2) It is beautiful
3) It has "mystique"
One of my favorite languages is Welsh. Let's say someone devoted their life to studying this beautiful, mysterious language. In the final analysis, it might be almost pointless it because there is such a limited number of Welsh speakers, in a small geographic area, all of whom also speak English. Russian has all the beauty and mystery that Welsh has, but is spoken my so many more people, so it just makes more sense
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Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5057 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian*
| Message 45 of 64 15 December 2011 at 9:58am | IP Logged |
About literature. There is a lot interesting literature in Russian, but so is in many
other languages. Most literature is translated and anyway you have to learn Russian very
well in order to understand books in the original better than in the translation.
I would advice two authors who are something between sociology, hisrory and philosophy:
Alexandr Alexandrovich Zinoviev (Александр Александрович Зиновьев) and Igor
Rostislavovich Shafarevich (Игорь Ростиславович Шафаревич). They have opposite attempts
and views but both thought a lot and honestly trying to find the truth.
About the language. Russian doesn't have obvious advantages over other languages except
for the size. You like palatalized consonants - learn Irish. You want to learn a
conservative IE language - learn Lithuanian. You want to try something unusual with
complex grammar - Georgian, Basque and Cree wait for you (not to mention dead languages).
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Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5057 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian*
| Message 46 of 64 15 December 2011 at 9:59am | IP Logged |
tanya b wrote:
Why study Russian? It has the 3 most important things that should
captivate any language learner.
1) It is widely used
2) It is beautiful
3) It has "mystique"
One of my favorite languages is Welsh. Let's say someone devoted their life to studying
this beautiful, mysterious language. In the final analysis, it might be almost
pointless it because there is such a limited number of Welsh speakers, in a small
geographic area, all of whom also speak English. Russian has all the beauty and mystery
that Welsh has, but is spoken my so many more people, so it just makes more
sense |
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The second and the third are very subjective things.
1 person has voted this message useful
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Michael K. Senior Member United States Joined 5730 days ago 568 posts - 886 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto
| Message 47 of 64 15 December 2011 at 2:04pm | IP Logged |
One reason could be that Russian immigrants are very grateful when someone makes an attempt to learn their language.
I remember a video that Moses McCormick made when he was working in a gas station. These Russians would come in and say "ten" to him in Russian and hand him a $10 bill. He found out they were Russians so he tried to learn a little of their language. One day the guy came in and motioned for Moses to go outside. The Russian guy had a camera and wanted to take pictures of Moses posing with members of his family since he was so glad someone would try to learn a little of their language.
I don't know if all Russians would be that pleased that someone would try to learn their language, but I've heard Russians are usually happy when someone chooses to learn their language and forgive mistakes rather easily.
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Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5057 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian*
| Message 48 of 64 15 December 2011 at 2:20pm | IP Logged |
Michael K. wrote:
I don't know if all Russians would be that pleased that someone would try to learn their
language, but I've heard Russians are usually happy when someone chooses to learn their
language and forgive mistakes rather easily. |
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I'm not sure that's true because in the twentieth century Russian was studied by tens of
millions of people. But learners of Russian will tell you a more correct view.
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