Yet, Russian and English are related Indo-European languages, and because of the Greek and Latin base of many technical terms, English and Russian share more of the same vocabulary that is generally realized. It is not difficult, for example, to recognize the transliterated words telefon, mashina, radio, or doktor . Of course, the Russian alphabet, called Cyrillic in honor of St. Cyril is different, and apprehension about the alphabet is in fact the reason most often given for reluctance to study Russian. This is unfortunate because the Russian alphabet is not at all difficult to learn.
Standard courses spend only the first days, or less, on mastering the alphabet.
There are only seven letters in the alphabet that are totally new and they are a great aid to learning spelling and pronunciation. Anxiety over the Russian alphabet is, in other words, unnecessary.