Why are you learning Russian?

Moderator:voron

What is the main reason that made you learn russian?

I'm of Russian Origin
7
7%
I am in relationship with a Russian speaker
1
1%
For my Russian friends
5
5%
For travelling
13
13%
I want to marry Mother Russia(in other words, I love the culture)
18
19%
As a lingгa-frаnca in slavic/former USSR countries
17
18%
I'm learning languages for fun, and cyrillic is cool
25
26%
Other(please explain)
11
11%
 
Total votes: 97

PEMbl
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Why are you learning Russian?

Postby PEMbl » 2014-12-21, 21:46

Здравствуйте всем!

This text will be in english in order to make sure as many people in the Russian section of Unilang understand it.

I was browsing the Romanian forum a few minutes ago and came across a poll that sparked my interest on the same question, but in Russian. Of all languages, why Russian? There are many reasons to learn it, but at the same time many people I've seen on this forum that learn it don't necessarily live in Eastern Europe. I think it will be interesting to see what is it that sparked your interest in this language. I made it so you can chose three options, because it's easy to have more than one reason, but it's also interesting to know which are the most dominant ones.

Personally I chosed for travelling, for culture(мать Россия...) and as a linga-frinca. Although english and german can also be used in many countries, I think for one who wishes to travel to eastern europe, being fluent in Russian can be a big plus. And I wish to travel, so that covers the second choice. As for the culture part, I'm actually interested by all slavic cultures so it was inevitable for me to learn at least one slavic language.

But the most important reason being that it's the most widely used slavic language. Otherwise I would probably have learned Ukrainian, especially since it looks much easier for a romance-language-speaker.

Looking forward to your answers!
Last edited by PEMbl on 2014-12-22, 0:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Itikar » 2014-12-21, 22:18

Because I like the culture and it is a useful language for work.
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IpseDixit

Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-12-21, 23:51

For me it's number 4, 5 and 7. Also 6 is partly true for me, that is I'm learning it also because it is the lingua franca but not of other Slavic countries, but rather of the former Soviet republics, that I would like to visit in the future.

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby PEMbl » 2014-12-22, 0:12

Oh. I failed terribly bad in spelling that word, did I? At least, it's on a non-latin based language forum, so I guess that it's forgiveable!

Так, вы заинтересованы в бывшем СССР? Добро пожаловать в семью!
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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-12-22, 0:25

PEMbl wrote:Oh. I failed terribly bad in spelling that word, did I? At least, it's on a non-latin based language forum, so I guess that it's forgiveable!


I thought you had used the Russified version of it xD. Anyways, just to be clear, I didn't use the italics to remark that your spelling was wrong, but simply because it is a foreign word. ;)

PEMbl wrote:Так, вы заинтересованы в бывшем СССР?


I would love to be able to reply in Russian, but as I wrote in my TAC, I still can't :(. Anyways yes, ex-Soviet republics fascinate me quite a lot. Ashgabat, Astana, Samarkand... they seem such fascinating cities, and I'm also very curious about the (former) Aral lake...

Добро пожаловать в семью!


спасибо! :)

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby PEMbl » 2014-12-22, 0:40

Glad to know I'm not the only one here! It's really expensive to visit so many countries because of all the travelling involved between them, but I'd like take a tour of most ex-soviet republics one day. There's a few people where I live who are from kazakhstan; it's fascinating to hear them talk about it.

I would love to be able to reply in Russian, but as I wrote in my TAC, I still can't


You could have said : Да. =)
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IpseDixit

Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-12-22, 0:48

PEMbl wrote:You could have said : Да. =)


But I wanted to give a more detailed answer. :)

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby PEMbl » 2014-12-22, 2:55

Yes... well.. that makes sense :mrgreen:

Seriously, it's really nice to get to meet other people who are learning languages like russian on this forum. It's really a really uncommon language to learn for some people so it's really nice to have resources like here. Really.
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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Babelfish » 2014-12-26, 21:00

"For my Russian friends" is probably the closest answer... although when I started learning Russian actively, I didn't really have close Russian friends, just acquaintances in the army. There are many immigrants in Israel from the USSR, so I figured Russian could be useful. ~16 years later I manage to exchange a sentence with them occasionally... :blush:
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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-12-26, 23:04

Babelfish wrote: ~16 years later I manage to exchange a sentence with them occasionally... :blush:


Because of the friends or because of the language?

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby linguoboy » 2014-12-29, 16:18

The only reasons I've picked up any Russian are (a) my brother loves the language and I've tried to encourage him in his language learning and (b) it's useful in my work. (I'm a librarian.) I've never been drawn to the language as such.
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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Babelfish » 2015-01-03, 16:32

@IpseDixit: because of the language (my knowledge of it, that is).

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Lietmotiv » 2015-01-13, 12:27

PEMbl wrote:Personally I chosed for travelling, for culture(мать Россия...) usually we say Россия-матушка or Матушка Россия and as a linga-frinca. Although english and german can also be used in many countries, I think for one who wishes to travel to eastern europe, being fluent in Russian can be a big plus. And I wish to travel, so that covers the second choice. As for the culture part, I'm actually interested by all slavic cultures so it was inevitable for me to learn at least one slavic language.


Regarding the lingua-franca thing, Russian is widely spoken only in ex-USSR states, in Europe you have Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, the Baltic States, and to a much lesser extent some ex-Warsaw pact countries. There are also many Russian speakers in Germany.
Also, Russian is widely spoken in Caucasus and Central Asia.

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby PEMbl » 2015-01-13, 14:22

Thank you!

And that's pretty much what I meant by "eastern europe", although I know the ex-USSR isn't all of eastern europe.

From what I understand it's also spoken to a considerable extent in Poland, correct?
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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Lietmotiv » 2015-01-13, 16:25

PEMbl wrote:
From what I understand it's also spoken to a considerable extent in Poland, correct?


I can't say, I've been to Poland only once, but I used English. I heard Polish people (just like some people in the Baltic states) aren't too happy to hear Russian.
Guess that we have to decide what do we mean by "spoken". In ex-USSR, when you one says "Russian is spoken" this usually means that the language is everywhere, on the streets/in restaurants and so on.
Regarding Poland, I did not hear Russian spoken on the streets, although the older people might speak some Russian to some extent if you ask them. I guess in German cities one can hear Russian more often, than in Poland.

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby believe me » 2015-02-01, 12:03

it just a cool stuff dude..
i want to learn it but wonder when can i learn it.
and where also why..

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Multiturquoise » 2015-02-06, 16:05

I'm learning Russian, since I'm learning Turkic languages and most resources about Turkic languages are written in Russian.

Я изучаю русский язык, раз я изучаю тюркские языки и большинство ресурсов о тюркских языках написаны на русском языке.
native: (tr)
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intermediate: (fr) (ka)
focus: (de) (sl) (hr)

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Nukalurk » 2015-03-10, 11:04

I picked 1, 5, and 6. :yep:

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Lietmotiv » 2015-03-12, 12:34

up
Last edited by Lietmotiv on 2015-03-12, 21:01, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Why are you learning Russian?

Postby Nukalurk » 2015-03-12, 19:25

It’s surely still useful in other countries like Kazakhstan.

Many former SU countries are rushing to join the NATO, and their new master promotes the usage of English, of course.


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