<p><<wallstreetjosh, i=“” would=“” like=“” to=“” add=“” that=“” many=“” eastern=“” europeans=“” encounter=“” everyday=“” speak=“” german=“” either=“” as=“” a=“” second=“” language=“” or=“” know=“” some=“” of=“” it=“” because=“” they=“” have=“” kind=“” family=“” ties.=“” russian=“” is=“” also=“” lingua=“” franca=“” in=“” the=“” ex-udssr=“” countries.=“” and=“” europe=“” seems=“” an=“” interesting=“” future…=“”>></wallstreetjosh,></p>
<p>True, High German (as opposed to “Low German”) has been a lingua franca in Central Europe for centuries, and most Eastern Europeans who learned foreign langauges traditionally learned either German or French, as these were the two dominant langauges on the continent. Since then, English has replaced them, although German is still very important, and many Poles learn German. </p>
<p>Russian is certainly the most important of the Slavic languages, and so long as Russia remains somewhat democratic, with a less than authoritarian regulation of its economy, it will continue to have much investment potential, so that learning Russian might be beneficial. </p>
<p>Note though that Russian does not use the Latin alphabet, so learning to read and write Russian can be very difficult. It’s also a Slavic language, meaning that it is about as different from English as Persian is, which is actually not related to Arabic btw, but is an Indo-European language. </p>
<p>Iran - (Aryan) - Indo-European. That’s where the etymology of “Iran” comes from.</p>