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French or Russian? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| gogglehead Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 6081 days ago 248 posts - 320 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 1 of 60 28 November 2008 at 6:09am | IP Logged |
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Hi all
I find myself in a bit of a dilemma, in which I cannot decide which language to study next. The two that interest me most, for different reasons, are Russian and French. I have a few hours to spare each day before working, I currently study only Italian, and maintain my other romance languages using authentic native media and music. I feel I have the time to spare to study another language, but I cannot decide between them. Russian interests me greatly because of it's strange alphabet and grammar, and would be a completely different linguistic direction for me. I began studying it once before, but soon gave up due to circumstances beyond my control. French also interests me, and if I chose it I would use the excellent assimil, as I do for Italian. I also feel it is a natural progression on my path through Spanish, Portuguese, Italian... I can't decide what to do, and I highly doubt I would have the time to do both... Thanks in advance G 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7152 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 2 of 60 28 November 2008 at 6:25am | IP Logged |
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I would try French first and then Russian afterwards.
If you know Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, French will be a walk in the park. You will learn it easily and quickly with Assimil. It is easy to practise French. Get used to hearing it spoken with Assimil. Read web sites and magazines. Watch movies. Russian will take a lot longer and more effort. Actually, French and Russian are my two favourite foreign languages. I love the sound of both and I love my French and Russian courses which has helped. I wish you success with both. But the final decision comes down to what you really want to do. I would recommend my excellent Russian courses but they are now out of print as they were produced during the soviet era. There must still be good stuff available. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| chelovek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6093 days ago 413 posts - 461 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 60 28 November 2008 at 8:07am | IP Logged |
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Having studied both...I'd say that Russian is probably more fun and more "exotic" (unless you're Slavic, obviously), but it is much harder. It will take several months, perhaps even a full year before you really start getting comfortable with the syntax, and even then you'll still have tons to learn.
The grammar is basically like a pyramid, so there will be an intimidating amount to learn when you first start. However, as you learn different cases, you'll find that everything builds on what came before it. Eventually everything will start feeling really natural and logical, and then it'll just be a matter of learning a whole bunch of vocabulary. In fact, vocab is probably the hardest part, simply because most of the words are unrecognizable if you don't already know a Slavic language. French is great too though, and I remember being very passionate about learning it. After a while I kind of lost interest though, and I've never regained it. Go with whichever one you like best. EDIT: I will say, however, that Russian is ultimately more useful. French media, literature, and people are pretty accessible if you're an anglophone, whereas if you want to really get involved with the Russian-speaking world, then you need to know some Russian. Edited by chelovek on 28 November 2008 at 8:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jimbo baby! Senior Member United States Joined 5983 days ago 202 posts - 208 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 60 28 November 2008 at 9:01am | IP Logged |
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I recommend French because it starts out easier. Same alphabet and many cognates make it easier for an English speaker. It will be easier for you to make progress in the early stages and you will see results faster if you learn French. Russian will take longer and it can be frustrating and cause you to abandon it. French is still a difficult language to master. Fast spoken French in the movies can sometimes sound like a completely different language to an intermediate learner. Both will require work but French will come easier in the early stages. Russian in the early stages can be overwhelming for the beginner. But that won't really matter if you're committed to learning it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| maya_star17 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5921 days ago 269 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Spanish Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 60 28 November 2008 at 3:08pm | IP Logged |
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Go for Russian.
If you already know Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, learning French is basically taking the cowardly/lazy route. Isn't learning languages all about discovering new things? You will discover very little learning French. Learning Russian will introduce you to a new grammar, a largely new vocabulary, a new culture, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6040 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 6 of 60 29 November 2008 at 6:29pm | IP Logged |
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I agree with the previous posts that opt for Russian. Generally, I would advise you to lean French, but given that you already know so many romance languages, it would be very unexciting.
Later on, if you really need to learn French (due to some unforeseen circumstances), you can do it relatively quickly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| gogglehead Triglot Senior Member Argentina Joined 6081 days ago 248 posts - 320 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 7 of 60 30 November 2008 at 6:31am | IP Logged |
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Thanks guys, seems that opinion on this subject is still very much divided.
My Italian is still very far from perfect - indeed only with my recent use of the Assimil method have I noticed any sort of progression at all. I have, in my opinion, however, acquired sufficient grounding to be able to afford the time and effort to take on another language. I agree with many that the "exoticism" of Russian is a huge draw, indeed for me it is THE draw. However I neglected to mention that I also hope to have more time for study in the future, and that both are definitely on my list anyway, my only dilemma is which one I take on next. Russian is admittedly more exotic and exciting (for me, anyway) than French, I just considered that a logical pattern would be to "take down" the romance family first. As of yet, it may still be a distant dream, but I am aiming at learning more languages in the future, possible eight or more, if that is at all possible/realistic. As I mentioned, I hope to have the time in the future to maintain more languages. If only I hade the time now to take on French AND Russian! Hope I have given a bit of a better insight into my situation, if you guys have any more advice? Thanks! Mr G Head 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| chelovek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6093 days ago 413 posts - 461 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 60 30 November 2008 at 11:23am | IP Logged |
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I'd say it doesn't really matter as far as "logical progression". Assuming you don't forget the Romance languages you've learned, you won't get any added benefit by studying French now versus later.
I would recommend becoming fluent in Italian though, as Russian will take a lot of devotion. If you drop Italian now and come back to it later, you'll definitely lose a good deal of your knowledge. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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