Submitted 12 hours ago by blackwitch@lemmings.world to [deleted]
This is a genuine question. I’ve always had an interest in learning languages and I have a list I want to learn. I am already somewhat decent in Spanish, so I’m picking up that, practicing my Portuguese, going to learn French and Italian, maybe German, learning Polish, and possibly Russian.
I already canceled the idea of living in Russia due to obvious reasons, but will I have any need to learn the language? Will it be useful? Will that be offensive? Many people HATE Russia and the language.
Learning the language is not a political statement, and you’ll outlive Putin. Besides we’re not solving anything by refusing to communicate with each other. If you want to learn Russian, learn Russian. Just be careful not to fall for the propaganda.
I think you’re Russian to conclusions.
Your puns are Putin this community to shame
You guys need to Finnish with these puns.
There’s never really any downsides to learning another language, provided you have the commitment and resources.
As a Russian myself, it depends.
Do you want to explore classic Russian literature without translation losses? Explore the cultural ties of Russians and how language and culture affects history and politics? Figure out what Russian politicians are saying? Hang out with Russians somewhere? Finally figure out how to wrote the word “лишишься” in cursive?
If at least one answer is “yes”, go ahead! It’s not easy, but quite rewarding. If you just want to dip your toes a little, however, and feel like you grasp something, there are better options.
Learning Russian would be handy for when you meet them on counter strike and they start raging at you, but otherwise probably not.
The only solid worst-case reason is to learn “please dont kill me ive got a family” and thats not actually going to get you anywhere so whatever.
IMO it depends on if you are interested in the language or culture, or if you plan to be in contact with Russia or Russians. For example, do you plan to translate Russian? Do you plan to read Russian-language literature?
Will that be offensive?
Bigots deserve to be offended.
Many people HATE Russia and the language.
Not your problem if people are prejudiced against Russians for the actions of the government that lords over them. If you want to learn the language, go for it.
I just plan to be a writer or teach English :)
People should be able to understand the enemy, so I say go for it.
Shout out to Interslavic! This is a language that is comprised of common words and roots from all Slavic languages, all united under consistent rules.
Learning it will enable you to understand all Slavs to a good degree, and they will in turn understand you very well.
Knowing 2 Slavic languages (3 if we count basic Czech), I can confirm it works.
Fuck Russia. Learn literally any other language. Let them and their brains dead culture rot.
Russian culture spans way beyond whatever Putin’s currently doing, and has given the world an immense cultural, scientific, historic heritage.
Trying to cancel and destroy Russian culture is akin to destroying German culture and heritage just because one German dude with a weird moustache decided to start Holocaust.
Would be a tragedy to lose either.
As a German, “German culture” is really not worth preserving.
Learn Ukrainian first maybe, and then learn Russian? It may be easier to learn if you already know Ukrainian, too.
Of course, if you already know Ukrainian, why not learn Russian too?
30 years ago we had a saying that optimists start to learn Russian now. Pessimists Chinese.
I learned Russian when I was in school - after having family who left during the pograms. Learning the Russian language, or any language, should not be about politics. You don't learn the language to embrace government policies, you do it in order to better understand the artists and the art they created. I don't have my Russian keyboard, so you'll forgive me - but there are works which work best when untranslated and understanding some context. "We" by Zamyatin, "Master & Margarita" by Bulgakov, a bunch of Tolstoy's works, "Diary of a Madman" by Gogol, "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatsky brothers, and movies like Solaris and Stalker. Not to mention the poetry.
Learn the language for the art. If it does make you political at all, it'll make you even more opposed to the Chekist in charge.
I mean, actual Russians are native Russian speakers and majority sees through Chekist bullshit, so this checks out!
I believe learning languages is generally a net good. But to answer your question, it would help to know: why do you want to learn Russian?
If you just find the idea of the language interesting, then yes! Start leaning it. If you have motivation, that will help.
Is there specific media you’re looking to consume in its original language, Russian? Then yes, absolutely :).
Are you just trying to learn “any Slavic language”, to extend the language families you have knowledge of? You already have some Polish, so what is it about Russian that attracts you? Is there another language that might have more resonance or utility for you?
As far as I am aware, mostly sue to Soviet influence, Russian is probably the most-widely-understood Slavic language, so this does offer some advantages. I have spoken with Ukranians and Georgians who now don’t like speaking Russian, for obvious reasons, though I don’t know how widespread this feeling really is. And at least here in Germany, I feel like Croatian, Czech, or Slovakian would be a more useful day-to-day or holiday language, but itball depends on your goals.
And, as a dentist once told me in regards to dental floss, but it applies here too: The best language to learn is the one that you will actually learn. If there’s a language you’ll actually stick with, that’s good.
I think the main thing holding me back in my attempts to learn languages is not having anyone to talk to. I’ve tried to learn Spanish, Mandarin, German, French, and Japanese. Never got that far in any of them, but I did best with Spanish and French. The former when I worked with Mexicans who don’t speak much English, and the latter when I vacationed in France and didn’t want to seem like one of those Americans, and studied like crazy ahead of time.
I can’t think of many Russians I’d want to talk to. Maybe if I was in contact with dissidents I’d be able to put in the effort.
Of course not. If we blamed the language for the bad actions of the people who spoke it during, there would be virtually no language left in a pristine enough condition to learn.
That being said, tempers can boil over. So maybe don’t shout your Duolingo answers at a full Starbucks. I mean, that’s good advice regardless of the language but you know what I mean.
Learning Russian could be useful in certain geographical areas near Russia, in the military, or translator position. It’s also possible that when hostilities end (or escalate) more position openings could occur. But to learn for personal life the use will be limited.
I don’t personally see how learning a language could be offensive, it’s knowledge not a lifestyle or way of supporting current hostilities. The hate people have is mainly towards the Russian government and policies, anyone who extends that to a language likely also have a lot of other issues they lump together and are being small minded.
The only person who can determine the need to learn the language is yourself. I doubt the world will be overrun by Russian speaking soldiers any time soon, Mandarin is more likely in that kind of a situation.
I’ll chime in to add that Russian grammar is fairly complex! As long as you’re willing to spend the time on it, I don’t personally see any downsides. As others have pointed out, Russian can help with other Slavic languages, and can also be useful for other countries in that area.
The only use I could see for learning the language is if you use a lot of Russian torrent sites, and are too lazy to switch the language back to English when installing games from them.
I’m of the general opinion that learning new things is never a bad idea, but let’s break down your sub question regarding usefulness.
At the very least a basic understanding is certainly useful. I make a point to at least learn alphabets and their sounds so I have a fighting chance putting what I hear into a translation engine. Similarly, Russian isn’t the only language that uses Cyrillic.
Paet that though? In my lifetime it was first unthinkable that I could ever visit Russia, then became possible and even a tourist destination (see: Trans-Siberian rail), and back to basically unthinkable to me.
It’ll most likely swing again.
If you’re OK with being a slav sympathizer go for it.
What the fuck is “slav sympathizer” supposed to mean?
A casual reminder is that Slavs are a diverse group of people not united by the same ideas and political agenda.
If your worry is association with Russia specifically, several Slavic countries are actively anti-Russia and are parts of NATO.
Ukraine is Slavic, too.
Is Polish ok then?
ok for what? talking to poles who don’t speak english? definitely. talking to anyone else? no.
Yup!
I’m going OG and learning Latin.
I'm Canadian so I wouldn't know firsthand, but is there any remaining bad blood in Europe about the Romans conquering so much of it? Might want to be careful busting out the Latin in some neighbourhoods, just in case someone's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather got killed by Roman soldiers or sold into slavery or something and they're still sore about that.
Well, the Celts got distracted by the influx of Germanic tribes and as such had more immediate things to worry about and hate than the Romans, but I figure if the Franks, Saxons, Vikings, et. al. decided to stay home, the modern Britons would still grumble about the Romans occasionally.
I mean, the Germanic invasions started over a millennium ago and dislike of that's still on a low boil, so I figure two millennia isn't out of the question.
On the other hand, the Romans did go home. The Saxons, not so much.
Well, we have People’s Front of Judea.
Learn Mandarin, Spanish, and maybe Hindi, if you’re planning for the future.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
It is never a bad idea to know the language of your enemy.