Should I learn Russian?

Franco   Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:58 pm GMT
Если тебе нравится русский язык, то учи русский язык. Но я признаюсь в том, что он не очень полезный если ты не живешь в России или в странах бывшего советскеого союза.
Seljuk   Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:07 pm GMT
Franco, although I don't speak Russian, as I've studied it before, I could understand what you said very well.I'm living in Turkey, but Russian is very useful in Turkey especially in southern Turkey as there come many Russian tourists every summer, over 1 million Russian.Some like Antalya, Marmaris, Istanbul (Stambul) so much that they decide to live in Turkey from that time.So now, many Russian schools have been opened since 2000 in Turkey.As you see, although I don't live in former-Soviet countries, Russian is still important in Turkey...
NTSL   Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:54 am GMT
The Spanish speakers are very eager to make the world believe that Spanish is second to English. I dare them to travel to Russia and other former Soviet republics and in Eastern Europe to find out if they can go with Spanish.

Well, they can but the people there would reply in Italian thinking that they speak in another variant of Italian.
Franco   Thu Feb 15, 2007 6:57 am GMT
Ha! And how bout a Russian goes to Paraguay?
NTSL   Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:33 am GMT
90% of Paraguayan speak Guarani as native language. In Peru over 50% and in Bolivia 75% speak either Quechua or Aymara.
Parisienne   Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:48 pm GMT
Oh good response, reply it please, Franco.Btw, I'd also like to add that in Turkey, Greek and Arabic are as important as Russian, even that much that there are as many learners of these languages as English.
Franco   Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:16 pm GMT
<<90% of Paraguayan speak Guarani as native language. In Peru over 50% and in Bolivia 75% speak either Quechua or Aymara.>>

Erm, the last I heard Guarani and Russian are not interintelligible.
NTSL   Sat Feb 17, 2007 1:08 pm GMT
<<Erm, the last I heard Guarani and Russian are not interintelligible.>>

I didn't say that they are mutally intelligible, I just want you to know that Spanish is not as widely spoken as you thought since you mentioned about Paraguay.
Parisienne   Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:28 pm GMT
NTSL, don't struggle with Franco to tell him how the world turns round.He will probably not understand it anyway...
Franco   Sun Feb 18, 2007 7:34 am GMT
<<I didn't say that they are mutally intelligible, I just want you to know that Spanish is not as widely spoken as you thought since you mentioned about Paraguay.>>

Erm what about the Yakuts? Not everyone in Russia speaks Russian you know. Most of them even hate it.
Traskutk   Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:02 am GMT
But each and every person knows how to speak Russian even if they don't use it while speaking in their territories.But while they are watching TV or else, they understand Russian perfectly, got it?
Franco   Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:36 am GMT
Most Paraguayans also understand Spanish, so you can't use that as a valid argument.
Traskutk   Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:56 am GMT
You say "most" but I say "all", here lies the difference...
Franco   Sun Feb 18, 2007 11:08 am GMT
Fine ok whatever, Paraguay is an exeption. Let me change that to Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba etc etc.

By the way, some of those Chukchi eskimo reindeer people surely don't all speak Russian?
Vlad   Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:55 am GMT
<<Erm what about the Yakuts? Not everyone in Russia speaks Russian you know. Most of them even hate it. >>

Who told you that they don't speak Russian and Hate it? You have no right to say that because you have never been to Russia. They do because it won't get them far if they leave their turf if they don't. All Russian Citizens including the ethnic minorities speak Russian.

<<Fine ok whatever, Paraguay is an exeption. Let me change that to Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba etc etc.>>

You forgot to mention Peru and Bolivia. In Chile, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and others, the people there speak a bastardised form of Spanish and so their speech is evolving and they may one day declare linguistic independence from Spanish like Afrikaans did from Dutch. The speech of Uruguay and Argentina are higly influenced by Italian and they are the least hispanised of all Hispanic Americans so they too may one day discard Spanish and adopt either Italian, Lunfardo or in the case of Uruguay Portunhol other than Italian.

That would leave only Colombia and Mexico within the Spanish speaking zone because their Spanish is the closest to Castilian.