Questions about the Russian Language

Onesimus

Hello to all, I am considering taking up russian as a Language, However I'm doing so because I was told its important to Learn Russian before I learn any other slavic language such as Ukrainian?

Is this true?

I hope to hear back from you

Onesimus

robindch

It's possible that you were told this by a Russian

I'd have said that the main benefit of learning Russian is that it's easy to find courses in Dublin (I recommend the evening course in Trinity College) and there are plenty of Russian-speakers around the place, so it's relatively easy to practice. Though the administrative crap that the Russian government throws in the way of anybody wanting to visit the country casually certainly doesn't make travelling there very easy or enjoyable, at least in comparison to somewhere like Ukraine, where visas, accommodation vouchers and other bureaucratic rubbish are not required.

I'm not sufficiently familiar with the other Slavic languages to be able to advise you if Russian is the best Slavic language to learn, if your ultimate aim is to become proficient in more than one. Off the top of my head, I'd have said it was as good as any other, but somebody with more familiarity with the whole language group will no doubt have something more useful to say than this.

Onesimus

Thank you Robin, I'll have to give plenty of thought to what you have just said. I hope someone can clear up my confusion, as I dont want to learn Ukrainian if it is more important and better to Learn Russian first... thus making it easier to learn ukrainian. I'm new to this so confused. :D

survivor2

I reckon it's quite strange to start from Ukrainian,because this language is local.Russian is still international language for many nations:from Latvia to Uzbekistan.If any foreigner will speak Russian in Ukraine,everyone will understand.Both Russian and Ukrainian are kindred languages.More close to each other than Gaelige and Gaidhlig.

Onesimus

Cheers survivor 2, I'll get knuckled down to learning the Russian Language, someone has already offered to teach me it as they have studied it for many years so that will be great.

survivor2

Good luck! It's better to learn it with native speakers.