Should I study Russian?

At Uni I want to study a modern language Ab Initio (from beginner) along with History. I am very interested in Russian History and know that it has some incredibly influential writers and artists. My question is whether it is worth studying Russian which is a country (and by extension a language) that is projected to not have as much of an impact on the world stage in the next 50 years economically and culturally as, for instance: Mandarin or Japanese. I am also open to learning these languages and have an interest in those countries' history and culture however my only worry is that they are less similar to the romance and germanic languages I've had experience studying and so it might be more difficult to gain fluency in them... Other than that no reservations... Any suggestions?

Reply 1

University of Bath Postgraduate

Official Rep

Original post by graio

Hello!

I studied ab initio Russian at undergrad and now have my postgrad in interpreting and translating with Russian and Spanish. I would recommend studying Russian if it interests you, and I think it will still be important as long as there are people who speak it, which of course there are! Mandarin and Japanese would also be great, but they would be difficult to learn and you would need to persevere, which may be more difficult if you were less interested in the history, culture, etc. That isn't to say Russian is easy - it's very different to the Romance languages. It has cases, like German, but as far as I know they aren't identical systems.

So really, I'd say at this point, choose whatever interests you the most! Learning any language is useful for your future career.

Best wishes,

Maya