Some advice on choosing a Slavic language

[Baron Bill]

Torn on which Slavic language to start

So, I normally hate the "what should I learn" posts, but here I am with one of my own. I apologize in advance!

I have wanted to learn a Slavic language for many years and now is the time. I'm torn between 3 suitors:. Russian, Bulgarian, and Slovak.

My reasoning:

Russian - So many resources out there that this one makes so much sense. It's also the most widely spoken and would be extremely useful.

Bulgarian - Love the sound of it and it has been recommend to me by several people as a good stepping stone into Slavic languages due to its cognates and simplified cases. Not an huge number of resources, but enough to get to intermediate level.

Slovak - Highly recommend as a first Slavic language due to its intelligibility with other Slavic languages.

Help? I'm equally interested in all three and would be curious to hear from other Learners about them.

[Saim]

I would recommend against choosing a language based on its linguistic characteristics (how close it is to other Slavic languages, whether it has cases, etc.). I think your own interest as well as availability of resources are the most important things when it comes to actually putting the hours in over many, many months, if not years. What motivates you to learn languages?

[tarvos]

Choose Sorbian because it's weird and fun!

No seriously. I picked Russian because I wanted to know more about that part of the world and Czech because I was supposed to move to the Czech Republic.

[Chung]

Torn on which Slavic language to start

So, I normally hate the "what should I learn" posts, but here I am with one of my own. I apologize in advance!

I have wanted to learn a Slavic language for many years and now is the time. I'm torn between 3 suitors:. Russian, Bulgarian, and Slovak.

My reasoning:

Russian - So many resources out there that this one makes so much sense. It's also the most widely spoken and would be extremely useful.

Bulgarian - Love the sound of it and it has been recommend to me by several people as a good stepping stone into Slavic languages due to its cognates and simplified cases. Not an huge number of resources, but enough to get to intermediate level.

Slovak - Highly recommend as a first Slavic language due to its intelligibility with other Slavic languages.

Help? I'm equally interested in all three and would be curious to hear from other Learners about them.

It sounds as if you like Bulgarian just a bit more than the others. Go with that one.

I would suggest Slovak, but the bit about intelligibility and how much it helps to figure out other Slavonic languages really becomes apparent and rewarding if you learn other such languages with that Slovak background. It's not that relevant otherwise. I think that a better reason to learn any language is if it presses your buttons in the right way AND you're pretty confident that you can use what you learn quite readily and steadily (e.g. do you have friends who speak the target language? Are you about to travel somewhere where that language is widely spoken?)

I'm increasingly of the view that talking about utility, an outsized speech community or abundance of resources acts as a way to convince yourself to learn a language that isn't all that interesting to you in the first place. I have Spanish at my doorstep but I couldn't lift a finger to take it on (or at least it's rather low on my priorities). I just don't get turned on by it, have few Spanish-speaking friends, and don't frequent a Spanish-speaking environment/plan to travel to the Hispanosphere. It sounds a little bit like trying to learn to be a musician. It's easy to get started with common choices being piano (or keyboard), guitar or singing given the amount of teachers/instructors and how much learning material is geared toward those instruments/techniques. However, what if I actually wanted to start with a trumpet? How about an organ? The ubiquitousness/popularity of other instruments may not matter all that much.

[smallwhite]

I normally hate the "what should I learn" posts

Why do you hate them?

[Baron Bill]

I normally hate the "what should I learn" posts

Why do you hate them?

I'm usually the guy saying "If you have to ask which language to learn, then you probably aren't ready to learn a language right now."

[MamaPata]

I normally hate the "what should I learn" posts

Why do you hate them?

I'm usually the guy saying "If you have to ask which language to learn, then you probably aren't ready to learn a language right now."

I really like them because I like seeing people's logic and motivations, but I stopped replying because my reply is always "But which do you want to learn most? What would make you happiest?". Which if they knew, they would probably have chosen.

[IronMike]

Well if you want (almost) unending resources, pick Russian.

If you want an easy intro to Slavic grammar, pick Bulgarian.

If you want a fun Slavic language that is understood over a wide area that is terribly fun to visit/vacation, pick Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian.

[Serpent]

I wouldn't say Bulgarian acts as an introduction to "Slavic grammar". However it's a great introduction to the vocabulary. (but honestly any Slavic language will allow you to learn tons of common Slavic vocabulary plus some words that are only used in the neighbouring languages)
You say you like the sound of Bulgarian - have you spent time listening to other Slavic languages, including those not on your shortlist?
I see you're learning Eastern Armenian. There are probably Russian-based resources you can use if you go for Russian?

Have a look at Radioclare's logs imo, the main issue with Russian is how the pronunciation and stress are so unpredictable (though there are materials where the stress is marked, including entire books).

[Dylan95]

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=0&TPN=1

I think this discussion should help you with your decision.