Learning Cyrillic

привет, my friend!

Still in New York, this week they will probably tell me when I leave for Moscow.

Since I have transitioned most of my projects to my replacement, I've had a lot of spare time a work. Therefore, I took the time and embarked on the journey of learning Cyrillic.

In Russia, very few signs are written using the good old Latin alphabet. According some of the books I've been reading (I'll talk about them on a separate post), it's impossible to navigate the Moscovite subway system without knowing Cyrillic.

The origin of Cyrillic is pretty interesting. It is named after St Cyril, who supposedly created the alphabet together with St St Methodius. Most of the letters came from the Greek alphabet, so if you ever think that Cyrillic is Greek to you, you're 100% right!

As I was studying, however, I noticed that some letters were similar to Hebrew. Surprise, surprise... they were Hebrew indeed. Because Cyril (whose maiden name was Konstantin) and Methodius were Greek Orthodox priests, they also know Hebrew and borrowed a couple of letters that language.

After all, Cyrillic is not that hard. After a week or so, I can read pretty much anything, even though I have no clue as to what most of the words actually mean.

If you ever feel the urge to understand Cyrillic, here are some resources to help along the way:
http://www.ukindia.com/zip/zru1.htm
http://waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/Russian/Part1.html
Teach Yourself Beginner's Russian Scrip (Book)

пока!