What is sensory language in literature?

What non-Western European language has great literature and is not impossible to pick up?

• Specifically, I'm trying to consider the pros/cons of lerarning to read Russian/Arabic/Chinese/Japanese literature (other options?) in a limited amount of time (I only have 4 semesters of college left).  The Far Eastern writing systems seem harder than the first two (especially Classical), but I'm guessing there are plenty of works I would never be able to read otherwise.  Russian, on the other hand, has plenty of good translations of the greats (except for Pushkin), so not as urgent.  Arabic script seems difficult, but not as difficult as the Chinese/Japanese systtems. The real question is, which language would be worth picking up just in order to read its literature (both classic and modern)?  How long would it take to reach a comfortable level of reading fluency?  Or is this exercise just futile and naive?

• Answer:

  You won't pick up writing and reading Japanese in the time you have. It takes eons. Not just the characters, they have at least three working different alphabets (for lack of a better word). Chinese doesn't have as many character variations, at least not in Mandarin, but it's no better for your aspirations. Arabic is easier but that's relative, it's still darned difficult. Despite your reservation, I'd go for Russian. The Kyrillic isn't too difficult to master.