Am I better off adding Italian or Russian onto my list of languages?

Question

I'm going to do a bachelor of languages and I have already decided on German (because of heritage) but in the first year I do two languages and then pick up a third in my second year. I am fairly set on learning Spanish as I'm determined to learn either Spanish or Russian (if not both) on account of them being UN languages and therefore highly useful in that department.

My question is should I pick Italian or Russian as my third language? Thus far I'm unable to roll my Rs and in terms of Spanish and Italian this worries me. I suppose I could pick it up but what if I never do? Russian is a UN language and more widely spoken than Italian and Italian and Spanish are similar so I guess it'd be easier to learn those two at relatively similar times.

If I learn Italian, German and Spanish is it best I start Italian and Spanish at the same time then add German later or could I start German and eg Spanish at the same time and add Italian later.

Or am I better off learning Russian? I know Russians roll their Rs too a little bit so this wouldn't make any difference to the decision (other than degrees of necessity in R rolling). I know Russian is a UN language and there are more speakers worldwide than Italian.

Should I simply scrap German altogether and learn Spanish, Italian and Russian?

I'd like to put my application for university in soon I just need help choosing which ones to add on and in which order to do so?

Answer 1

Personally, I'd choose Spanish, Italian and Russian(:

I'm learning Italian and it took me a year to get the trilled R's.. don't stress, just keep trying and you'll get it eventually, good luck!

Answer 2

I'd say Russian, and keep German as well.

From Russian you could branch off into other Eastern European dialects, and in any sort of travelling/business profession that's very good to know.

Answer 3

Hi there,



I think it depends on what you want to do when you finish your course. Russian is a good language to learn as there are fewer people outside of Russia that speak it. Italian and Spanish are quite similar so you should be able to pick them up quickly.



I'd personally go for Russian because it is different and not something you hear people learning very often.



All the best



Jason