You're new to JavaScript, but you're not new to programming.

That makes all the difference in the world.

Would you recommend Haskell, Erlang or arguably Go to a newbie programmer?

JavaScript has the benefit of being one of the most accessible languages these days, thanks to it being available in browsers.

Some people's first glimpse of production code will be from view source.

The myriad of "things a real language needs" is confusing and module systems neatly package up these crucial bits of technology.

Module systems are accessible to experts. Why not put enhancements there, rather than bake them into the language with no way to retract them?