[tehFrance]

Hello

I am looking for a language to learn, I currently speak French (Native), English (Fluent) and Italian (Basicish) however I have gotten bored with Italian as despite how much I enjoy the country and the culture I don't go there often enough to make full use of it so I am leaving it for now.

So on to the question, which is the best Eastern European Language to learn? I have ties to Poland (dads side) however I am not fond of going that way unless it is far reaching. I have been told that Ukrainian is useless by 3 Ukrainians, they apparently speak Russian more than Ukrainian

So that leaves the rest, which is the most wide reaching language to learn? I was thinking Russian but former Soviet states wouldn't be too happy if I go around speaking Russian in their country would they?

So please advise me

Cheers

[Alexandra's Box]

I think that Russian would actually be very useful... you could become a spy.

[Pop_tart]

(Original post by tehFrance)
Hello

I am looking for a language to learn, I currently speak French (Native), English (Fluent) and Italian (Basicish) however I have gotten bored with Italian as despite how much I enjoy the country and the culture I don't go there often enough to make full use of it so I am leaving it for now.

So on to the question, which is the best Eastern European Language to learn? I have ties to Poland (dads side) however I am not fond of going that way unless it is far reaching. I have been told that Ukrainian is useless by 3 Ukrainians, they apparently speak Russian more than Ukrainian

So that leaves the rest, which is the most wide reaching language to learn? I was thinking Russian but former Soviet states wouldn't be too happy if I go around speaking Russian in their country would they?

So please advise me

Cheers

You would probably get most out of Russian though. It has by far the most speakers compared to all the other eastern countries.

You still got Estonian,Latvian,Lithuania, Czech, slovakian, Croatian, etc.

[tehFrance]

(Original post by Alexandra's Box)
I think that Russian would actually be very useful... you could become a spy.

I don't ever wish to be a spy

(Original post by Pop_tart)
You would probably get most out of Russian though. It has by far the most speakers compared to all the other eastern countries.

You still got Estonian,Latvian,Lithuania, Czech, slovakian, Croatian, etc.

Really? it is just my reasoning for not learning it was that the former Soviet republics may not appreciate it but if I would get further than I may as well.

I know there are lots of languages, I just want to study one that I can use in more than one country (interchangeable if you will).

[najinaji]

Russian, though Czech is good too.

[xmarilynx]

I would definitely say Russian, as it's by the far the most useful Eastern European language. Very widely spoken, with Russia being one of the largest countries in the world and home to 143 million people, job prospects are great in the business world if you don't fancy becoming a spy (the Russian economy's pretty much booming thanks to their natural resources; the EU and France in particular are its main trading partners, and Russian is one of the official UN languages). You'd also be able to access a very rich culture in terms of history, literature and...vodka

Even if you're not keen on using it on other Eastern European countries for understandable reasons, Russian would still be a great gateway language if you wanted to learn other Slavic languages later. Although a challenge, it's not as difficult as some Eastern European languages (Hungarian has a whopping 18 cases, for example, whereas Russian has 6). You'd have a slight advantage being a native French speaker too, I've noticed quite a few similarities between the two and all the French students in my Russian class have a far better accent than me

[Pop_tart]

(Original post by tehFrance)
I don't ever wish to be a spy

Really? it is just my reasoning for not learning it was that the former Soviet republics may not appreciate it but if I would get further than I may as well.

I know there are lots of languages, I just want to study one that I can use in more than one country (interchangeable if you will).

well let me tell you a story. I once went on an exchange trip with school to Latvia, a country that was occupied by the Russians and in fact, currently more Russian people live in Latvia than actual Latvians! Meaning that pretty much everyone in Latvia speaks Russian that doesn't mean that they like it though. We had a Russian teacher with us and she spoke to this lady who answered her in English Eventhough she asked the question in Russian. So you are right that in some countries they still hold grudges, even though they speak the language but of all languages I think Russian would get you furthest.

[tehFrance]

(Original post by xmarilynx)
I would definitely say Russian, as it's by the far the most useful Eastern European language. Very widely spoken, with Russia being one of the largest countries in the world and home to 143 million people, job prospects are great in the business world if you don't fancy becoming a spy (the Russian economy's pretty much booming thanks to their natural resources; the EU and France in particular are its main trading partners, and Russian is one of the official UN languages). You'd also be able to access a very rich culture in terms of history, literature and...vodka

Even if you're not keen on using it on other Eastern European countries for understandable reasons, Russian would still be a great gateway language if you wanted to learn other Slavic languages later. Although a challenge, it's not as difficult as some Eastern European languages (Hungarian has a whopping 18 cases, for example, whereas Russian has 6). You'd have a slight advantage being a native French speaker too, I've noticed quite a few similarities between the two and all the French students in my Russian class have a far better accent than me

That does sound like a good case for Russian, as I do want to do business there at some point in time. Vodka is meh I do hear that the Russian females like a guy that can speak a bit of Russian if you are over there, you don't have to impress them much either with drinking as is the case here

A good gateway language sounds brilliant I mean if it helps more than one of the other Slavic languages then all the better, I am starting to lean towards it greatly and really? didn't realise that there were than many similarities between Russian and French, I know there are with Romanian for instance but didn't know it was the case with Russian.

Cheers

(Original post by Pop_tart)
well let me tell you a story. I once went on an exchange trip with school to Latvia, a country that was occupied by the Russians and in fact, currently more Russian people live in Latvia than actual Latvians! Meaning that pretty much everyone in Latvia speaks Russian that doesn't mean that they like it though. We had a Russian teacher with us and she spoke to this lady who answered her in English Eventhough she asked the question in Russian. So you are right that in some countries they still hold grudges, even though they speak the language but of all languages I think Russian would get you furthest.

Ah thank you

[xmarilynx]

(Original post by tehFrance)
A good gateway language sounds brilliant I mean if it helps more than one of the other Slavic languages then all the better, I am starting to lean towards it greatly

Well its closest relations language wise are Ukranian and Belarussian so Russians can usually understand those pretty easily. Even Slavic languages that use the Latin alphabet, like Polish, have a lot of loan words from Russian.

According to this site the vocabulary of other slavic languages ranges from being 40% (Czech) to 90% (Ukranian and Bulgarian) similar to Russian

(Original post by tehFrance)
and really? didn't realise that there were than many similarities between Russian and French, I know there are with Romanian for instance but didn't know it was the case with Russian.

Cheers

Well lots of the words on our vocabulary sheets are similar to the French equivalents, for example the possessive pronouns (мой = mon, твой = ton). I don't want to exaggerate though, obviously it's not like French and Italian/Spanish or whatever and similarities vocabulary wise aren't going to help you with the 6 cases, verbs of motion and other ridiculously complicated grammar points. The girls are though so that should help keep you motivated

[domino0806]

Polish.

[MancStudent098]

(Original post by Pop_tart)
in fact, currently more Russian people live in Latvia than actual Latvians!

In Riga I believe that this is still the case but for the country as a whole about 60% are ethnically and linguistically Latvian.

(Original post by tehFrance)
I am looking for a language to learn, I currently speak French (Native), English (Fluent) and Italian (Basicish) however I have gotten bored with Italian as despite how much I enjoy the country and the culture I don't go there often enough to make full use of it so I am leaving it for now.

Personally I'd pick Polish - nice country, sort of Latin alphabet, 40million people and a growing economy. Plus it's Slavic, so it'll give you a hand should you wish to learn any of the others.

In the end though the main question is what works for you, which country will you be motivated/able to visit and speak the language of the most?

[Pop_tart]

(Original post by MancStudent098)
In Riga I believe that this is still the case but for the country as a whole about 60% are ethnically and linguistically Latvian

Thanks for clarifying that

[-raisa]

Definitely do Russian!

It's not only useful in Russia, but in many the other ex-Soviet republics.

As for Ukrainian, all the ethnic Ukrainians I know are native Russian speakers; none of them actually speak Ukrainian

& Like others have said, knowing Russian would be great if you ever want to learn other Slavic languages, like Ukrainian!

EDIT:
Why the neg rep? If it's related to the whole Ukrainian-Russian thing, all the Ukrainians I KNOW do only speak Russian...

[tehFrance]

I am looking into Russian then guys although I like the look of Romanian (40% shared with French apparently ) so that could be an even better option... plus I like Romania more than Russia (people are more bubbly I think).

I shall look into both though before I start learning, thank you

[MagLatus]

In terms of a vast part of the Eurasian continent accessible to you, I'd also say Russian is definitely a good choice, not only because of the vast area covered by Russia and other former USSR countries themselves but also because in most countries adjacent you will find at least some people speaking Russian and be able to get around. And it may also come in handy economically as a language in the future, when any number of the countries where it is commonly spoken become more involved in trade with the UK/other English speaking countries. Romanian is pretty cool as well though, but it is a Romance language (like French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) you'll want to keep that in mind if you were originally looking to learn a Slavic language such as Russian, Czech, Slovenian, etc.

[Colpejafort]

Polish - for the reasons someone gave above

[tehFrance]

(Original post by MagLatus)
In terms of a vast part of the Eurasian continent accessible to you, I'd also say Russian is definitely a good choice, not only because of the vast area covered by Russia and other former USSR countries themselves but also because in most countries adjacent you will find at least some people speaking Russian and be able to get around. And it may also come in handy economically as a language in the future, when any number of the countries where it is commonly spoken become more involved in trade with the UK/other English speaking countries. Romanian is pretty cool as well though, but it is a Romance language (like French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) you'll want to keep that in mind if you were originally looking to learn a Slavic language such as Russian, Czech, Slovenian, etc.

I was thinking that economically Russia is booming and apparently Russians trust a foreigner more if they speak a bit of Russian so business wise it will be great

As for learning Romance or Slavic tbh I am not too bothered although I am leaning to Russian (mainly because of Rosetta Stone offering Russian and no Romanian).

I shall find a language teacher/natives and talk to them about both languages

(Original post by Colpejafort)
Polish - for the reasons someone gave above

I'm not so sure, although my dads family originally come from Poland... within the family Poland isn't looked upon favourably hence me asking for something other than Polish

[IlliteratePedant]

I also think Russian, the alphabet really isn't anything to worry about - its easy to learn, and according to my Russian tutor, if you get your Russian up to high standard, speakers of other slavic languages like Polish, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian will understand 80-90% of what you say since there's a lot of overlap.

[Presumptuous]

(Original post by tehFrance)
Hello

I am looking for a language to learn, I currently speak French (Native), English (Fluent) and Italian (Basicish) however I have gotten bored with Italian as despite how much I enjoy the country and the culture I don't go there often enough to make full use of it so I am leaving it for now.

So on to the question, which is the best Eastern European Language to learn? I have ties to Poland (dads side) however I am not fond of going that way unless it is far reaching. I have been told that Ukrainian is useless by 3 Ukrainians, they apparently speak Russian more than Ukrainian

So that leaves the rest, which is the most wide reaching language to learn? I was thinking Russian but former Soviet states wouldn't be too happy if I go around speaking Russian in their country would they?

So please advise me

Cheers

hahha you are quite right about Ukrainian

I'm a student of Ukrainian language and literature (and Linguistics) at university of Zagreb in Croatia. When i was in Kiev most of people spoke Russian. But that depends on a part of Ukraine - in Lavov they hate Russian and everybody speak Ukrainian.

But still...Ukrainian language is rather repressed by Russian language. History of Russia And Ukraine is rather familiar. In 50 years Russian people forbidden 20 times Ukrainian language in books, schools etc.


Well i know a bit of Polish and it's very sweet language - i loved it - i wish i studied Polish instead of Ukrainian.
Croatian - im native - my boyfriend is English - he is spitting blood trying to learn Croatian - objectively it's a very hard language.

Lithuanian - i had a course in Linguistics - i also find it nice
Czech - well weird way of expressing things with tones in sentences - it can be catchy but it's not my fav exactly
Slovak - ok i guess nothing special to say

Russian is the most useful one
but i recommend Polish <3

[cl_steele]

Russian definitely, many of the former soviet states speak it as a second language [or so i hear], its quickly regaining its super power status and will be a dominant force in international politics and from with more specific regards to your interests nothing beats russian Vodka