This is a genuine question. I’ve always had an interest in learning languages and I have a list I want to learn. I am already somewhat decent in Spanish, so I’m picking up that, practicing my Portuguese, going to learn French and Italian, maybe German, learning Polish, and possibly Russian.
I already canceled the idea of living in Russia due to obvious reasons, but will I have any need to learn the language? Will it be useful? Will that be offensive? Many people HATE Russia and the language.
I think the main thing holding me back in my attempts to learn languages is not having anyone to talk to. I’ve tried to learn Spanish, Mandarin, German, French, and Japanese. Never got that far in any of them, but I did best with Spanish and French. The former when I worked with Mexicans who don’t speak much English, and the latter when I vacationed in France and didn’t want to seem like one of those Americans, and studied like crazy ahead of time.
I can’t think of many Russians I’d want to talk to. Maybe if I was in contact with dissidents I’d be able to put in the effort.