Russian memory aids in my diary - my alphabet, my soup and my book

An easy phrase to remember is my soup - in phonetics or the way it sounds - moi sup.

I was having trouble remembering the word for book
then I saw that it begins with the last letter of book k
it is like the knowledge you get from a book
kn
the knowledge of a guru ah!
k n i g a

Even if I have trouble  translating from English and remembering the Russian for book, I can recognise the word when I see it (especially if it comes after the word for reading).

I now have enough words to recognize my soup and my book. But only in phonetics. What if the words are written in the Russian alphabet?

To help me remember the Russian letters, I have copied them out and stuck them at the back of my diary.

I cut a piece of lined paper the size of the back cover of my diary. I wrote the Russian letters in pen down two columns, starting at the top right. I wrote the English equivalents alongside in pencil. I am considering going over the Russian letters in black felt tip.

The paper is attached with see through sticky tape. I would have used double sided sticky tape on the back, but could not find it. (Yes, I know - a place for everything and everything in its place.)

I now have something to do on the plane or train when travelling, revise the Russian alphabet.

If I know the Russian alphabet at the end of the year, I shall do the same in next year's diary with either the Greek or Hebrew alphabet. 

Both Greek and Hebrew have similar letters to the Russian. The Hebrew letters which looks like W is S with a dot above the left, and SH with a dot above the right.

The next step is to recognise lower case letters and joined up writing by hand.

My dream is that I shall eventually also learn Arabic, Korean and Tamil.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and language teacher.