← Back to context

Comment by tchalla

2 months ago

It’s one of the reasons why most Russian (Eastern European) speakers pick up German easier than English speakers or some other languages.

9 comments

tchalla

Reply
gcanyon  2 months ago

The other reason being that Russian (and other non-English) speakers are usually picking up their third or fourth language, while for English speakers it's almost universally number two, and half-hearted at that... (I say that as a native English speaker whose Spanish is muy mal).

  • throw-the-towel  2 months ago

    Russians don't actually speak foreign much, a Russian person who speaks four languages is considered very smart / having too much free time for their own good / both. Definitely not West Europe levels of language prowess.

    • grishka  2 months ago

      Technically at least one foreign language is required as part of basic school education in Russia. For most people my age and younger it's English. Now the problem is, the quality and methods of this leave a lot to be desired. I myself learned English mostly by spending too much time on the internet and playing games that weren't translated. Other people are much more lazy.

      1 reply →

sublimefire  2 months ago

Eastern europeans speak multiple languages where russian was a second language due to everyone being in the union (occupation). Languages are different and span multiple language groups. IMO there is no strong correlation here not to mention the fact that english is more popular. German language and its presence in the curriculum has other reasons, like the fact that german economy is closer rather than say english or american, there was more incentive to learn german due to economical necessity. But nowadays everyone chooses english as it is a simpler, and considered the real business language.

AFAIK there is no evidence to suggest that the uptake of german is easier for people living in the eastern parts of europe

  • nephihaha  2 months ago

    I think it is generational. A hundred years ago, most Eastern Europeans would have learnt German, fifty years ago they would have learnt Russian and nowadays they all want to pick up American English.