Typical Explanatory First Post

I've tentatively started this blog as a way to jump-start my recent decision to learn the Russian language. I drag my feet a lot when it comes to learning languages, even though I've always wanted to be at least bilingual, so I'm hoping that having this concrete measure of my step-by-step progress will spur me to continue learning even when it gets tough or embarassing - which it always does, when you're learning a foreign tongue! My wish for this blog is also for it to be a way for me to reflect on the language-learning process itself, allowing me to cull those methods that don't work and find those that do.

The title of the blog of course refers to Churchill's famous quote on Russia: "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." The moment I heard this quote, I completely agreed. Russia is a total contradiction and wildly complex. France, England and Russia are my three love-affair countries. I never cease to be enthralled when I'm learning about them. In fact the reasoning behind my desire to learn Russian is, admittedly, history-based; I want to be able to read Russian literature in its original state, and talk to Russians about their country's past in their native language.

To begin with, I'll be learning the Russian alphabet. I'm not really sure how to go about this, honestly. I learned the French alphabet through a singalong. I'll never forget the French alphabet for as long as I live because of that song. I suppose a search on youtube for Russian alphabet songs is in order? I'll report back on how it goes. I think a song really is necessary for me to get all the pronunciation down comfortably and swiftly.

I'm also going to try writing out the letters by hand, when I find a suitable alphabet to copy from. Hopefully that will give me a feel for the handwriting. I'm nervous about this part. It's not like French where the letters are all the same and it's just the pronunciation that's different, this time there are totally new letters!