A recent curriculum of languages taught at a German TU I skimmed over includes C, C++, and Haskell. Can't help but agree with that choice: C gives you understanding of low level operations and appreciation of higher level concepts such as GC and/or verification etc. while Haskell lets you experiment with functional and logic idioms, type theory, DSLs, etc. Starting with Java or C# might be ok for training and getting a job, but would be unsuitable for foundational education IMO.