[TheTimeOfMan]

Navy ships are floating, politically correct, brothels.

I don’t see Mattis is doing much to clean anything up - just nibbling at the edges.

I cannot decide if I should bone up on my Russian or start studying Mandarin.....

[caligatrux]

Mandarin.

The Chinese are making the smarter play: they are just buying the country out from under us.

[hanamizu]

I cannot decide if I should bone up on my Russian or start studying Mandarin.....

---

I understand your point but as one who has studied (but not mastered) both, go for Mandarin—virtually grammar free! But it does kind of feature some inside out way of thinking/expression.