I will say that as someone who was not a real expert at anything when Rust came out, but familiar with a lot, I find that learning c++ these days has the same

I will say that as someone who was not a real expert at anything when Rust came out, but familiar with a lot, I find that learning c++ these days has the same problems, and so does learning a functional language. They're all unique in what they do. I'd still say a simple procedural language like C is easiest to read, but 'modern c++' has more idioms and quirks than Rust, in my experience. And Rust has the advantage that the ecosystem is very well tied together and it has a great community and documentation.