*waits for inevitable*

Right now I'm pretty familiar with Java and am learning C++ to a slow progression, and wanted to know are languages like perl or C# nice languages to learn "on the side". I'm interested in C# because of the whole XNA thing since I know groups that are starting to create games with them, and have seen people pick it up and in a week start making neat stuff. I've also heard a lot of perl being interesting to learn. I've been told that C# is pretty much close to java and it won't be hard to pick up.