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Attitude toward Russian in Europe | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4769 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes  Speaks: Russian | Message 1 of 128 30 November 2011 at 6:57am | IP Logged | ||
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My question is directed particularly to those in Western and Northern Europe
I know that many Scandinavians, for example, consider themselves citizens of the world, most of them being multi-lingual. However, what I find surprising is how few of them are interested in learning Russian, which certainly would give them solid credentials as world citizens. Many of them often say they want to hear the other point of view, Russia clearly being a country with another point of view. It seems to me that many in in Northern Europe, if they choose to learn a third or fourth language, often study one like Zulu or Vietnamese, which is fine, but wouldn't be of much use to them in their own countries. Would anyone out there be kind enough to explain this to me? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5557 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 2 of 128 30 November 2011 at 7:33am | IP Logged | ||
I hope I don't come across as blunt or aggressive here, but why is that surprising? And why would learning Russian give them or anyone else for that matter more credentials as a world citizen than by learning any other language? The richness of a peoples culture is not determined nor bounded by the size of its land, and if I were living in Northern or Western Europe, I'd imagine learning a language from a culture which is outside of Europe, rather than within it, would go further to expanding my ideas of both the world and its people. Also there are many countries who's culture and views are in complete contrast (in certain aspects that is, perhaps in others not) to that of Western and Northern Europe, such as Japan, India, Iran, Yemen, Brazil etc. and I would give someone just as much respect for learning any of those countries languages as I would Russian. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5042 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani | Message 3 of 128 30 November 2011 at 7:53am | IP Logged | ||
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One of the most fluent Russian speakers whom I have ever met was Norwegian.
But yeah, I don't see why Russian should stand out among Persian, Thai, Ukrainian or Zulu in terms of different worldviews. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4769 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes Speaks: Russian | Message 4 of 128 30 November 2011 at 7:59am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Vos, thank you for your reply.
I myself am fluent in 3 languages-English, Russian, and Armenian, and have great respect for all the cultures you mentioned, but it seems to me the proximity of Europe to Russia makes it a language of particular importance, just as the proximity of Russia of Russia to China makes Mandarin a language of stategic importance in Russia. It wouldn't hurt if more Russians would study Mandarin or Japanese and I know some who do. No one language is superior or inferior to another. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5557 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 5 of 128 30 November 2011 at 9:13am | IP Logged | ||
You're very welcome Tanya. I'm still curious though, if we're using proximity as a way to gauge the importance of a language to a people of a certain country, why is it then still expected that people learn Russian? Wouldn't people of say Italy or Greece then learn say French, Croation or Turkish? Or the People of Denmark Finnish, German or Dutch? I think what I'm finding a bit odd here is that you seem to be comparing Russia to the entirety of Europe's many countries and peoples, and doing so in a way that implies that one has more worth than the other. Now if you're talking on the basis of culture, than that is absurd, as people love different cultures for different reasons and all have their merits and intrinsic worth, there is no such thing as cultural supremacy. However if you're basing this off economic reasons, than again, why wouldn't they learn German or French, or go a bit further across the globe and learn Mandarin or Japanese? I still feel as though you're equating size with importance, which means nothing culturally and barely anything economically. Now If people want to learn Russian because they're intrigued by and interested in the language and culture, fantastic! But I don't see why it should be expected that more Europeans learn Russian over any other language and culture. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5325 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 128 30 November 2011 at 9:46am | IP Logged | ||
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This is actually a very good question. Why have I learned English, which belongs to a superpower at the other side of the Atlantic, and Spanish which is at the opposite side of Europe, and not Russian, which is the language of the superpower next door?
I think the quick answer to that, is that most people learn languages because they have some sort of use for them. You cannot live in Norway without speaking English; French, German and Spanish are much more likely to give you job opportunities than Russian, and it is much easier to go visit those countries. In all my life I have only once been asked at a job interview if I could speak Russian, and there is very little opportunity to learn it. The only reason why I am learning it now is because I made some Ukrainian friends while I was living in Belgium, and because Russia is becoming more important in the France based organiation that I work with. Both of them reasons which do not apply to the average Scandinavian. I do not think most people chose their languages because they want to be considered citizens of the world, they just learn the languages they need or fall in love with. In 98% of the cases, when I hear someone wanting to learn a foreign language, what they want to learn is Spanish, which feels exotic yet useful to most people. That being said, I would love to see more people learning Russian, and 50% of the people who work for me speak Russian (not as impressive as it may sound - I have just two guys working for me, and one speaks Russian :-). There is also a guy in my company who has taken a year off to study at the University of Oslo, and he has chosen English and Russian. I am afraid that when it comes to learning languages neither size, nor merits nor beauty is taken into account. The world is an unfair place. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 30 November 2011 at 9:56am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5047 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 7 of 128 30 November 2011 at 10:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Why is there little opportunity to learn Russian? I don't think it is difficult to visit
Russian speaking countries. There is also inertia and fashion. In Russia many people study French and German, although they won't probably be as useful as Mandarin. All the other languages, becides English, are neglected. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5325 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 128 30 November 2011 at 10:28am | IP Logged | ||
If you live in Northern Norway next to the border of Russia, there are plenty of opportunities to study Russian, but for those of us who live in the South it is really hard. In the Oslo area there are no junior high schools that offer Russian. There is one high school that I know of which offers Russian, there are a couple of evening classes and then you have private lessons. Not terribly impressive, and this is in the capital. In the rest of the country you have to wait until you go to University to study Russian, and since there is very little demand for it few people do. Ukraine is easy to get to, but for Russia you need a Visa, and it is a hazzle to get, and very time consuming. To the countries in Western Europe you can decide in the evening that you want to go, get a ticket on the internet and go the next morning. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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