What is so scary about the Russian alphabet, after all?

Don't fret: this is just a bunch of letters!

One of the most ridiculous reasons I've heard for not choosing to study Russian is that "the alphabet is too frightening/difficult/scary/different...". The simple answer to that is that it is, in fact, none of the above.

It is not so difficult to learn 33 letters: people do learn 26 in English and French, 28 in Arabic, and 29 in Spanish, not to mention the about 4,000 characters learned in Chinese. Why Russian is being singled out for the number of letters is unclear.

The Russian Cyrillic alphabet is not SO different from the Latin one: if it were, how would I be able to type the following Russian letters without changing my keyboard layout? A E K M O C T X (that's 8 out of 33 you don't have to really learn anew at all, if you already know the English alphabet). Then we add the ones that are similar and/or not hard to grasp in terms of writing: B, H, Ё, 3, У, P (that's 6 more). Then the ones that would be familiar to anyone that has an interest in mathematics or has seen the names of sororities and fraternities at universities, written in Greek: Г, Д, Л, П, Ф (5 more). What remains "scary" and "unusual" and "never before seen or imagined" is 14 letters, at most. Will you really allow 14 letters to stand between you and one of the world's richest cultures? You must be joking.