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Russian : why so popular ? | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Thor1987 Groupie Canada Joined 4739 days ago 65 posts - 84 votes  Studies: German | Message 25 of 107 25 February 2012 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Population has little to do with a languages value, just look at hindi, it's not even on
the list, yet it's one of the most spoken language on the planet, not the mention it's impact on the world as a whole. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 26 of 107 25 February 2012 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Latin is widely studied, while it doesn't have native speakers.
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| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5420 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 27 of 107 26 February 2012 at 1:00am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
I specifically used nominal GDP because people tend to study the languages of richer countries (hence why the Scandinavian languages are so popular, relative to their small number of speakers), and the higher valuation of a nominal GDP accounts for this effect.
And so are languages' popularity. Germany's popularity has exploded in recent years, as German has fared exceedingly better than its neighbors through the EU debt crisis. I'm sure I needn't point out the likewise explosion of interest in Chinese over the past decade.
Latin is a more academic pursuit, studied by most students for the same reasons as piano and chemistry. It really isn't comparable to other living languages, and it's a one-of-a-kind exception either way.
Yes, and their economies have likewise been bigger. Germany has always had the largest GDP in its region, and historically China has always had the largest GDP in its region. If Cambodia and Azerbaijan had trillion-dollar economies, you could be sure Khmer and Azerbaijani would be studied as well.
China's share of world GDP was MUCH larger in the past than it is now or will be over the next few decades. This coincides perfectly with you pointing out that intellectuals and linguists studied its language centuries ago (when it was the reigning economic hegemon of East Asia).
And Germany's role in culture and history would be nothing if it didn't have a corresponding economy. You seem to think that I'm implying that economic influence is the reason these languages are studied. I'm not. I'm saying it's an indicator, as well as a prerequisite for the other factors that you mention.
Precisely. And it's certainly not because Azerbaijan and Cambodia don't have culture. It's because they're not as influential, and influence is a consequence of economic weight. Money makes the world go 'round.
Yes, we all know. But do you think this is because Russian culture is superior to Polish or Georgian culture? No, it's because Russia is more influential, and this is a direct consequence of its greater measurable economic scale. Edited by nway on 26 February 2012 at 1:06am 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 28 of 107 26 February 2012 at 6:55am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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No, it's because Russia is more influential, and this is a direct consequence of its
greater measurable economic scale. Russian is more widely spoken and has many more second language speakers. Russian will help you in Poland and Georgia, but Georgian and Polish will give you nothing in Russia. And so are languages' popularity. Germany's popularity has exploded in recent years, as German has fared exceedingly better than its neighbors through the EU debt crisis. I'm sure I needn't point out the likewise explosion of interest in Chinese over the past decade. I'm sure there was no any increase of the number of German learners in the last years. German has been widely taught for centuries in Russia despite any economic situation, so has French. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6602 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 29 of 107 26 February 2012 at 11:41am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Among the people I know outside this forum, the main reason seems to be German music nowadays. And a desire to immigrate, without any specific plans. Also in many cases it's a situation of needing to choose between German and French. Many pick German because they've heard the French pronunciation and orthography are difficult. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mad Max Tetraglot Groupie Spain Joined 5056 days ago 79 posts - 146 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, Russian Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 30 of 107 26 February 2012 at 11:45am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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If we want to know which languages are important, I would add the concept of "key
language": It is a language useful because it is spoken (or at least understood) in a big area, by a lot of people, and English is not very studied there. For example, Chinese (China), Spanish (Latin America), Russian (former USSR) and Arabic (Arabic World) are key languages in the World. In Europe, a Germanic language, a Romance language and a Slavic one can be considered "key languages". So, if you speak English, Spanish (or French) and Russian, you can be understood by almost all Europeans, in different degrees. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6039 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 31 of 107 26 February 2012 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
As native speaker of Italian, the phonetics of Bulgarian should be a piece of cake for you ( and the opposite is also true ). And grammar is just like English grammar, so you don't have to worry about that either ;-p. I think Russian is very interesting from the point of view of literature, and I have some vague plans of studying it as a dead language, sort of like a Slavic version of Latin. However, I'm not sure it's worth the investment in time to study pronunciation, practice speaking and so on. I can't see how that can fit in my life. Edited by Sennin on 26 February 2012 at 1:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5061 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 32 of 107 26 February 2012 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Including soft consonants and vowel reduction? And grammar is just like English grammar, so you don't have to worry about that either ;- p. ??? sort of like a Slavic version of Latin. What does it mean? Edited by Марк on 26 February 2012 at 2:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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