Personally, I prefer Java over C++. It is easier to write correct, clean code, and it's standard. And the documentation is top-notch, regardless of platform or IDE (personally, I've been using EMACS on a linux box for the last two months for everything except the GUI, and I love it).
In general, though, it doesn't really matter. You have to become familiar in programming a certain way, whether structured, OO, or whatever (thinking along the lines of LISP, here. Yeah I know it's got OO as well, but it's more like recursive list programming or something like that). Once you are comfortable with a certain paradigm the language doesn't really matter. You might not be an expert in another language, but you can be productive in about half a day.