actually, I only know three or four words in Russian ... doswedania (which means goodbye, right?), nesteroviä (or some kind of that, I think it means something like Cheers! or skoal), sojus (which means union, especially the soviet union) and nerushimy (which is the second word of the old soviet anthem, but I have forgotten the meaning)... I have also big difficulties to read the Russian letters...
actually, I prefer the Arabic language and script, mostly because I have started another attempt to learn it lately... but you have to be really addicted to all Arabic stuff like me to be that crazy to learn that language, if you're not a strong-believing muslim after all. but if you are accustomed to read from the right to the left and also such strange letters it surely means a lot of fun. and I would say that Arabic calligraphy is also a high form of art, it can only be compared to Chinese calligraphy in it's grade of completion and beauty.