Russian or Chinese?

[aesam]

I'm currently semi-free(in twelve days I shall be as free as a baby), and I was thinking that I should learn a new language. There's a joke on russian livejournal - 'optimists study english, pessimists study chinese, and realists learn the working of a kalashnikov rifle

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[livejournal]

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[annvole]

Another option is Korean. Korean is basically the first constructed language... An attempt to unify several dialects and several alphabets in an easier-to-learn version of those sources. Ancient Chinese languages were included in this initial version of Korean. I hope to learn several alphabets so the three mentioned languages are included (at least learning enough of the alphabet to guess what language some text is in).

[aesam]

Thank you! Japanese and korean are phonetically similar, while chinese is very different, the only similarity are loan words. I think personally learning korean might be easier, but since it's all in the rage(and of no practical use except to excel in learning kpop music), but I'll still keep all 3 options open

[fryusha]

May I ask what is the goal of the learning?

[aesam]

Although I specified 'world domination', the real reason is literary. If I choose Russian, I get to read Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Akhmetova and Tsvetaeva(my favorite writers) in original text, and Chinese for the same (Confucius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, The romance of the three kingdoms.) It is a good bargain, but I really can't learn both.

[fryusha]

Well, I see.
There are a lot of surprises with the original texts.
Some translations have losen a lot of original jokes. Fore example, the hero in the book "Three men in a boat" by J.K. Jerome told that he got all known dieases but he hadn't got housemaid's knee. So, two Russian translators made two different translations. One was "Water in the knee" (official Russian name fore this disease) but the other was puerperal fever (because man cannot have any female features).
From other side... Thirty years ago, I visited Aberdeen and my colleagues made an excursion for me. I discovered a monument for Scottish poet R. Burns and exclaimed: - Oh, gteat Robert Burns!.. - The colleagues were astonished, they said that it is impossible to read him because his lyrics are too archaic. However, in Russia his lyrics and songs are hits because they were translated into modern Russian. An example of the Burnms in Russian: https://youtu.be/kuQ48U0O0qA?feature=shared

[aesam]

Interesting! I loved the style of 'Three Men in a Boat', delightfully funny. I've noticed myself(while reading the translations of my copy of The Brother's Karamazov, Raduga Publications, Moscow), the translator says "this is a pun on.."it seems Dostoevsky was a funny writer but I never caught his jokes because they escaped my English!
What a beautiful song! Burns himself would be proud. And the singer is even more!