[thomasfedb]

Don't be so easily discouraged!

I think there's a distinction between understanding and learning a language. In this case, it helps to understand Erlang in order to learn Elixir. Just like you're eventually going to need to be able to read some C if you dive really deep into Ruby.

Difference is that C is probably considered basic knowledge for a working programmer, Erlang isn't. Professional programming eventually leads to being a polygot anyway.