Quote Originally Posted by eisenherz
with all respect, I think there is no reason nor need for these two items ['learning a foreign language' and 'agreeing with their worldview'] t
With all respect, if you check what I actually wrote, you'll find I didn't say that people have to agree with the Russian worldview, just "tolerate" it, which isn't asking much.

Same as if a person decided to learn a tribal language in Africa. Wouldn't you expect the person to at least be prepared to tolerate the culture and worldview of the tribe members? Of course, the outsider could come in with total contempt for the culture, and simply use their language skill to attempt to teach Western values to the tribe, and to condemn the practices of the tribe. We would call such an approach completely inappropriate in relation to Africans, so why not afford the same respect to Russians?

I agree with you that there is not ONE Russian worldview, and again, I am at pains to point out in the post you quoted that we have wildly different views represented by native Russian speakers here.

However there are certain uniting premises that tend to be held by all or most citizens of any given country. I.e Americans universally hold "the Founding Fathers" in great respect. Western Europeans almost by unanimously praise democracy regardless of any other political views they might hold. The Russians have their issues on which practically all seem to agree as well, such as their take on World War II.