I think your article (which I read in Russian) addresses the question very well. It’s certainly not number of speakers – more Chinese or Bengali peasants won’t make those languages more important to me, for example. The growing economic influence of China might do so, however. And your observations about proximity and likelihood for practical use ring true.
For myself, I chose Russian back when I was 14 years old about to enter high school, and I chose it for none of the reasons usually used to promote study of one language over another. A friend of my older sister had left at our house a book of Russian stories with Russian and the English translation on facing pages. I was fascinated by the strange alphabet. This was during the height of the cold war, and I considered Russian much more exotic and mysterious than French or Spanish. So that’s what I chose. (Never mind Chinese, which was also offered by the school.)
Nowadays I am working to resurrect and build upon my Russian language background with the goal to reach some level of fluency, mostly to finish what I started a bazillion years ago, and because I find it interesting and rewarding. I work in the tech sector at a level where being able to read some Russian material might occasionally come in handy. However, I do not consider it a great career advantage for one simple reason – there are now so many native Russians living and working in the US. There is a sizable supply of workers, many in the tech sector, who know Russian much better than I ever will and who also speak English quite well.
Thank you for your comment. I studied English in high school, it was the only option. I didn’t learn really much. Today I try to improve my Engish. I study to avoid boredom. I don’t need really English to live. But English is very important in moder life and culture.
Poor use of prospective. Examples of a better sentence:
Which languages are the most advantageous to study?
Which languages will give you the most prospects?
Which languages will give you the most opportunities?
What are the best languages to study to make money/get a job/meet girls/etc?
Yes, Wulfgar, I understood that ‘prospective’ is not a good word here and I wrote about it in this forum before( see above). But I can’t change or edit now the topic of this forum. The Russian word перспективный has more meanings than the English word ‘prospective’.
In any case, I consider that it was an interesting topic. My native English speaker friend offered the name of the English version of my article ‘What language has more prospects to study.’
In my turn, I’ve written a new aruicle about this problem “Трудности перевода” which you can find by this link:
Хорошая статя, Евгений. Я недавно прочитал на русской Уикипедии о многочисленных переводах стихотворения “Ворон” (The Raven). Так трудно должен быть такие стихи переводить! Надо правильно не только значение переводить, но также чувство.
Very good reason.
