Of French and Russian, which language do you think is...

[truizm]

the most advantageous to learn? Why?

I think Russian. Mainly because of Russian literature. But Russian is a very hard language (or at least looks it) and it would probably take much longer to become proficient in Russian than in French.

[SmileyBoy]

1. French.

It's more internationally spoken than Russian.

It's one of the official languages of the United Nations.

[Menshevik]

4. russian is also an official UN language

UN languages: English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic

[Political_Junkie]

2. French

is a second language for many people worldwide, can't say that of Russian. Though the Russian literature is very intriguing.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Probably French...

which isn't that hard to learn if you studied Latin in school. Also, due to the relationships between the Romance languages, learning French would make learning Spanish or Portuguese a little easier.

[camero]

5. French

It has a wider reach for both people and literature.

[eyesroll]

6. I think I'd personally prefer Russian, if only because I have a mental

block WRT French. I can't pronounce it to save my life. Mandarin Chinese (in pinyin)? No problem. Other Romance languages are fine, as are Germanic. But I mangle French, even when I try to order anything more complex than pommes frites.

I'm also mostly Russian ethnically, so there's that whole culture thing.

[EstimatedProphet]

7. Russian

Reopresents more people than French
Russia has a wealth of literature and art to explore
And you have the neat advantage of learning a different alphabet

[truizm]

8. Why do you think having to learn a new alphabet is an advantage? nt

[EstimatedProphet]

10. Not an advantage, just kinda neat really n/t

[Dogmudgeon]

9. No contest -- French.

Russian is also a "good" language to learn, but Russian culture has historically been so boxed-in that it never travelled half as well as French.

I understand each of these languages passably, so I have just a little perspective. You won't waste your time studying either one.

When I was a teenager, I learned Esperanto. It was easy, I was reading at close to a high-school level (British language exam level 3, IIRC) in six months, but I had only two other Esperantistoj to speak to. With the advent of the Internet, Esperanto has undergone a tremendous renaissance, and could probably be considered one of the net's "major" languages.

Other "small" languages are also well-represented on the internet -- Finnish (mainly on account of UHelsinki), Basque (from three or four major technical universities in Northern Spain and Southern France), Catalan and Occitan (for the same reasons as Basque). It's an interesting big little subculture.

--bkl

[shimmergal]

11. Russian isn't all that much harder than French to learn.

At least to become passably proficient in reading, and in understanding speakers of the language.

I studied both during my college years. Previous exposure to Latin helped with both languages. The Russian alphabet isn't especially hard to learn--takes about a week, tops, if you study every day.
About half the letters are the same as ours, and the others are mostly equivalent to consonant clusters which we get occasionally in English. 'Course I nevere could master that "glottal stop" in spoken Russian, but I think some Western European languages have a similar thing.

Don't know how good you'd have to become to appreciate nuances in the high literature which you can't get in translation. Is reading the lit. your main reason for wanting to study the/a language, or does your "better" include more practical uses, like in traveling or job openings, as well?

[truizm]

12. Lit is a factor, but not the main reason.

Practical uses are more important -- right now at least.

[Commendatori]

13. "Advantageous" in what way?

If you can speak French and English, you can travel to 90% of the countries in the world and make yourself understood.

However, if you're looking for career opportunities and haven't talked yourself out of linguistics, then go with Russian, because French speakers are everywhere.