The Hard Parts
A common question I get when I mention that I'm studying Russian is "Do you know how to read the alphabet?" The underlying subtext of the question is almost always that this is difficult. No, the alphabet for Cyrillic is one of the easier parts of Russian. There are only 33 characters, after all. This isn't Chinese where that many new characters are probably invented every day.
As far as the alphabet goes, I was reasonably conversant in it within the first month of study, and could read it pretty reliably within the first 6 months. I can see steady improvements in my reading speed, but that's not the hard part.
The "hard parts of Russian":
* Most of the vocabulary does not overlap with english or latin-based languages. There are borrowed words here or there, but for the most part all the vocabulary is new. I think that makes it difficult to memorize vocabulary.
* Good pronunciation is hard, particularly for long words.
* Proper listening is very difficult, because words get mashed together. For example, prepositions might as well be word prefixes as they get pronounced that way anyway.
* Grammar is far tougher than english, with most words changing form based on the role in the sentence. And sentence order is more flexible than English. That means both listening and speaking are very tough for an english speaker.
* Idiomatic phrases and odd usage of words sometimes causes a words meaning to change. For example, выпить usually means "to drink" and as the perfective form of the verb пить, it means "I finished my drink." However, if you combine it with "I Want" -- Я хочу выпить -- it takes on a different meaning
Я хочу пить - "I want to drink" -> "I am thirsty"
Я хочу выпить - "I want alcohol"
Anyway, there are PLENTY of things in Russian that are harder than learning the alphabet. :)
As far as the alphabet goes, I was reasonably conversant in it within the first month of study, and could read it pretty reliably within the first 6 months. I can see steady improvements in my reading speed, but that's not the hard part.
The "hard parts of Russian":
* Most of the vocabulary does not overlap with english or latin-based languages. There are borrowed words here or there, but for the most part all the vocabulary is new. I think that makes it difficult to memorize vocabulary.
* Good pronunciation is hard, particularly for long words.
* Proper listening is very difficult, because words get mashed together. For example, prepositions might as well be word prefixes as they get pronounced that way anyway.
* Grammar is far tougher than english, with most words changing form based on the role in the sentence. And sentence order is more flexible than English. That means both listening and speaking are very tough for an english speaker.
* Idiomatic phrases and odd usage of words sometimes causes a words meaning to change. For example, выпить usually means "to drink" and as the perfective form of the verb пить, it means "I finished my drink." However, if you combine it with "I Want" -- Я хочу выпить -- it takes on a different meaning
Я хочу пить - "I want to drink" -> "I am thirsty"
Я хочу выпить - "I want alcohol"
Anyway, there are PLENTY of things in Russian that are harder than learning the alphabet. :)