Which Slavic language should I learn?

Anechka   Sat Mar 10, 2007 3:28 pm GMT
I speak natively Serbian and/or Croatian, and Russian. I would like to learn another Slavic language, but the thing is - I have no idea which one I am attracted to the most, nor I have any "concrete" reason on why I would like to learn a specific one of them. I just know that I would like to speak another Slavic language, as they are of general interest to me, and that is all.
I studied them a few on and off, just for fun, but I cannot seem to decide which one I would like to learn "for real".

What would you suggest me to learn? [I am 17 years old and have all the time in the world, and I can get relatively easy resources for any of them.]
Linguist   Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:37 pm GMT
I have 2 suggestions:
1) Polish. it's from western sub-group, so it's kinda something "new" for you. Also there are quite many native speakers (comparing with other slavic languages except Russian) a lot of intresting literature, IMHO Polish language can be useful.

2) Slovenian. yes, there are about 2 million native speakers and about 30 dialects, but the standard Slovenian is the only one among contemprory Indo-European languages who has dual number and tenses like Past Perfect in English (other slavic languages lost it), so from the linguistical point of view personally me, I'd like to learn this language, but lack of resources for learning makes it difficult to learn :( I even couldn't find online english-slovenian dictionary...
Skippy   Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:27 pm GMT
Although the Cyrillic alphabet is relatively easy to get the hang of, I'd recommend learning a language that uses the Latin alphabet... It's purely up to you though.

Also, it depends on where you're planning to visit or what areas of Europe interest you the most. I've studied German for a while, and I visit there as often as possible, so I'm going to start teaching myself Polish. Polish is a great Slavic language if you're planning on staying relatively close to Central Europe, as it's close enough to Czech and Slovak that ya'll can communicate with each other. Although Polish grammar is really complex, there's a certain sense of pride that comes with knowing you just learned a language that has, basically, five genders...

If you're going for practical use, I'd say Russian because so many people speak it from the former Communist Bloc. My friend from Leipzig (she's 22) speaks Russian pretty well, another friend of mine from Lithuania also speaks Russian extremely well.

If you're going for ease, Bulgarian doesn't have the declensions of the other Slavic languages, and I've heard Macedonian is about as easy (for English speakers).

Hope that helps...
Info   Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:57 pm GMT
Polish language 50 million

Ukrainian language 39.4 million

Czech 12 million
Bulgarian 12 million
Franco   Sat Mar 10, 2007 9:05 pm GMT
Learn Russian of course, because many people speak it and it is "the" slavic language. None of the others can boast to great literary and artistic and musical accomplishment, as well as a hoast of great scientific acheivement. If you like war learn Russian.
Vasilis   Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:26 am GMT
I think you are wasting your time with slavic languages. They are destined to die in the not-too-distant future. English, Chinese, Hindu, Spanish, that's what you should look into. I even feel bad for you that you already know two of them (no offense). That part of the brain they have taken is going to be off usage for the better things out there that a normal human can learn and aquire.
Franco   Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:54 am GMT
I agree that RUssian may die out soon, but not before the other Slavic languages and it wont be in the near future so it's still ok to learn Russian. I suggest though that you are prepared to meet mean people.
real_Alba   Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:12 am GMT
Dont learn slavic languages because they are bound to die. Unlike me, because I plan to live forever.
Franco   Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:20 am GMT
Was that you Alba or an impersonator?
Linguist   Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:42 pm GMT
>>>Learn Russian of course

geeezzzz, can you read or not??

Anechka wrote:

>>I speak natively Serbian and/or Croatian, and Russian.
real_Alba   Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:47 pm GMT
No that was me Franco lol
...   Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:09 pm GMT
<<If you're going for ease, Bulgarian doesn't have the declensions of the other Slavic languages, and I've heard Macedonian is about as easy (for English speakers). >>

It has no declensions but it has tons of other stuff that other Slavic languages don't - articles, unwitnessed mood for every tense, etc. Declensions don't automatically mean difficulty.
Skippy   Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:42 pm GMT
Articles aren't difficult for English speakers to get the hang of. As far as Slavic languages go, Bulgarian is probably the easiest for English speakers.
Guestavros   Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:09 am GMT
The question should have been:

Which slavic language should I first forget?
Anechka   Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:34 pm GMT
Geeez, what an open slavophobia. :(
Perhaps they are not the most useful languages in the world, but they are the most congenial ones to me, and beautiful. I have a general background in "useful stuff" (English and Italian at least), but that which truly interests me are Slavics and Hungarian.

Linguist, thank you for the suggestions, I am actually seriously considering Polish to be my choice (probably also due to the fact that I am so much passively in contact with Slovenian - I forgot to mention that it is almost like a "passive native language" to me because of the amount of exposure I have/had to it, it is also my father's native language and spoken quite often in the circles of my paternal family, even though I personally have no knowledge of it, just some general understanding, because I was spoken to in other languages - so, in a way, Slovenian is less "exotic" to me :D).

Polish sounds very interesting, and useful, and possibly as a gate to some other Slavics further (I intend to specialise slavistics at unviersity, so this is sort of "preparing" for it :D), so I really think I will get into it. Thank you.