JVM languages bootstrapped themselves from Java and for integration sooner-or-later you will run into situations where you must understand the underlying concep

JVM languages bootstrapped themselves from Java and for integration sooner-or-later you will run into situations where you must understand the underlying concepts. For example, writing web apps requires you to understand Servlets which is Java based. I come from Java background, have coded in Clojure and I speak from experience - you should learn Java if you are going to be on the JVM.