Russian or French

[AnneEtAramis]

I am going to have some time next year and want to pick up a language but am torn.

French

• I did the first year of A Level French about 16 years ago.
  
• I can still read when in France, a simple book, decipher some archive articles with some online help.
  
• I love French, France, culture etc.
  
• I pick it up very easily when I need to.
  
• if I take some classes etc I could become reasonably fluent quickly.
  

Russian

• I am contemplating a PhD in the next few years for which this would add something along with another language I speak, read and write fluently.
  
• I love Russian history and literature and am making my first trip to Russia this year plus have been to the theatre this year to watch productions in Russian.
  
• I am a total beginner. I can dedicate a decent amount of time and have access to great resources as I am in London.
  

I am career changing over the next few years and teaching and academia are the two routes I am exploring and although French would not be my teaching subject I don't think it would hurt to have the ability to teach it perhaps in some capacity. I could however probably work through French to a degree myself. But if I don't get to PhD for whatever reason will Russian have been a waste?

[Ktown]

French
It will be easier to become fluent faster so you can use it for jobs

[AnneEtAramis]

Yes, I just can't shake the feeling that I can do French mostly myself but Russian requires the structure that I have the space for this year and next.

[Mistigri]

It sounds to me as if you really want to learn Russian. Language learning takes a lot of commitment (unless you have immersion opportunities) and you have to really want to do it.

Given your linguistic background, I would do a self-study beginners' course then take intermediate classes - you may find that a beginners' class is too slow for you. I taught myself enough Russian to read Russian texts (for work) and it wasnt that hard once you know the cyrillic alphabet.

[AnneEtAramis]

I do really want to learn Russian and it is encouraging that you have managed to get a good grounding by yourself. Did you use a specific package for your beginner's course?

I think I will just up the visits to France and keep reading to keep it going.

[Mistigri]

I wouldn't say I had a "good grounding" as I never learnt to speak or write Russian, just to read it. It was a long time ago, just after the break-up of the USSR and among other things I monitored Russian/ CIS news as part of my job it was my job. I can still read cyrillic letters but I can't really "read Russian" any more.

I just used a commercial book + cassette (would have been around 1990 so no doubt out of print - the dialogues were all very Soviet!) -these days I imagine you will have more choice.

[AnneEtAramis]

In my head I had convinced myself that Russian would be really hard and whilst I accept that it will be harder than French, Spanish, Italian that I have learnt before (though only retain some French) and my fluent second language it does feel rather more achievable so thank you for sharing.

[Mistigri]

If you some experience of an inflected language like German or Latin you may find it easier (I had good school German).

But tbh, you sound bright and highly motivated, and you're already bilingual - those factors give you an enormous advantage in language learning.

[AnneEtAramis]

I did do GCSE German. My second language is a Ural-Altaic language so shares no characteristics (sorry to be cryptic, just trying not to out myself) with the other languages I have attempted but hopefully stands me in good stead.

[Shopgirl1]

Russian is difficult. I speak fluent German, but I didn't find it helped with Russian other than I knew what dative, accusative etc mean - but often something that's dative in German will be another case in Russian - and Russian has 6 cases, as opposed to Germans 4. It also has genders, but is more confusing that German due to the difference depending on the ending sound of a word.
Then there are the verbs - perfective and imperfective verbs- an absolute nightmare.
The alphabet is the least of the problems with Russian and to speak it well is a challenge, but if you have the time and are prepared to put in the effort it's worth it.
I would recommend lessons as opposed to self study - I did private lessons initially and loved that I could learn at my own pace. I would find it hard to get Russian pronunciation if studying on my own. I did some lessons online through Skype also- i found that really useful too.

[cakesandphotos]

Russian. I studied both at A level and found Russian so much easier! I intended to study both at uni but ended up dropping the French. I love Russia, the people, the culture and the food. I honestly think if you went with Russian, you wouldn't regret it. Plus, Russians are often villains in movies and I get a kick out of understanding and/or pointing out the errors in the subtitles I should get out more

[AnneEtAramis]

Hahah, my other language turns up in action films quite a lot and I do that too. I am off to Russia in Sept and work with a very international cohort so hoping I can get someone to sit with me to have a 10 min conversation a day plus will sign up for lessons. The place I want to do them hasn't published their Autumn timetable yet but it will be perfectly timed for when I get back and am in the Russian headspace. I am so excited to get started.

[BadLad]

It's not that hard to get to a low I intermediate level of Russian. The tenses, for example, are much fewer and therefore easier than some other languages.

However, there are loads of irregular verbs, and verbs of motion will drive you crazy. A simple sentencesentence (in English) like "I went to my friend's house" causes all sorts of headaches in Russian.