Basically, I want to learn a new language and I'm torn between either Greek or Russian... I already learned a bit of Greek, but aside from it being harder to learn, it's harder to find resources for! Russian helps with some of the music I listen to too, which is nice. The kicker is that I'd like to live in either of these countries someday. (Though Russia isn't known for its LGBT friendliness, though I hear it's not quite apocalyptic in big cities.) I'm at the point where I know both alphabets though, which is kinda cool. But erm, yeah, which should I pick? [I'll try to add a poll to this too. ]
Yeah, both are cool! And while I think Russian's cooler, it doesn't seem like it'd be particularly useful. :L
A language doesn't have to be useful when you want to learn it. One day I want to learn hebrew and it's not useful at all
Greek. I know a tiny bit of it and it's awesome. Plus Greek doesn't sound angry the way Russian does.
Greece is getting poorer and poorer, but Russia is not really the easiest country to move to. If you're looking for a job in your country, Russian has much more potential than Greek. If you're willing to relocate, I would go for Greek.
What's funny here is that Greek people learn Russian now, because there are many Russian tourists going. And Greece isn't that LGBT friendly. Golden Dawn is hunting down gay people and older people are much like in the US or other countries. Gay people either don't come out or come out and then live in like gay ghettos in Athens. Most straight people will tell you they know no homosexuals. Anyone who isn't gay or isn't friends with gay people is very homophobic. From the sheer number of Russians(only 10 mil. Greeks) I would say Russian.
My opinion on this is biased from the getgo, because I've been taking extra classes to learn russian for a few months. I have to say after English and German, it's a fresh, and interesting challenge to learn as a 4th language. You have to learn a new alphabet, and familiarize yourself with a lot of concepts, completely alien to English. (German helped me with a lot of things though, grammar-wise they share a lot of recurring elements, such as use of the grammatical gender, nouns in different cases, etc.)
I heard about some trans* issues in Greece, but not a whole lot else. I also read that Thessaloniki has a huge gay scene. Russian doesn't sound angry at all, and have some really fun sounds, like Ю (yu). ---------- Post added 25th Apr 2014 at 10:13 PM ---------- True, but they aren't huge on tenses and I love that they hate filler words! It appears to the logical minimalist in me! Instead of "Could you please pass the salt?" it's "pass salt please"
Just sayin' that if you go to a gay place and the Russians beat you up, I'm taking over the whole bloody country and turning Putin into my man servant. But hey, if you want to launch 1000 ships, that's on you... ---------- Post added 25th Apr 2014 at 03:18 PM ---------- If you want minimalism, try an Inuit language; some are super easy.
Athens has a huge gay scene, too but it's more dangerous. Dont forget, there's a saying going around in Greece that means that "Greece will always be 50 years behind from the rest of the world" and it is true. Especially on LGBT issues. Well, Greek is an interesting language to learn but in my opinion Russian would be more useful. It is more likely to need to speak to a Russian(diplomat, businessman etc) than to a Greek. Certainly don't make any decisions about moving without having visited the country beforehand.
I did visit Greece, which was cool. But it was the Ionian Islands. Barely been to the mainland! But definitely would trial a place before moving there of course! And yeah, I can see Russian being more useful.
Russian is so much fun Especially if you prefer using cases- it's also very interesting in learning the Cyrillic alphabet. :3 Join us Russian speakers comrade!
Russian would be more useful considering there's a higher population of speakers, but Greek is a beautiful language. I know so little but I love it <3 And you might also inadvertently learn some English while you're at it considering that a lot of ours is derived from Greek. *I started learning some when I thought I might be moving to Crete to teach English. That idea didn't pan out, but I'd still do it in a heartbeat. Greece is one of my favorite countries.
I don't know which post to quote first. 1) Not this song... :roflmao: 2) Yes, Greece is full of fascists lately, something's went terribly wrong... Too many dumb people... :bang: Also, it's true that it's 50 years late. And most people are either completely ignorant or homophobes. But it's not that dangerous. However, I live in a small town where the worst you can be afraid of is too-much-gossip. In Athens, it could be dangerous in some areas, but there are gay-friendly neighborhoods. 3) I can't tell if greek sounds good, as it's my mother tongue. I've been wondering about that. I generally like how russian sounds, and it's a language in which many great works of literature were written so, if you learn it, you could read them by the prototype. Greece has some great literature, too... it depends on what you are most interested it. 4) Russian is probably more useful. 5) Are you coming this summer? :lol: (Can't vote, due to lack of objectivity.)
I like Russian. Russia is a superpower. So probably good to know it. However if you want to speak to like 90%+ of the worlds population then know English Spanish and Chinese.