Firstly, you need to learn the alphabet. It's not so hard as it looks like. After that, learn some simple words like: "чай, хлеб" and so on, to understand how to pronounce the russian letters. After that you are going to express your vocabular by learning more words (try spelling if hard). Then punctuation, tenses (the most difficult in our language) More on reddit.com

Your examples make me think you don't know how to pronounce a lot of these English words... More on reddit.com

Й is not just an 'extra sound'. It's Y in "boy" or "yard". More on reddit.com

Yes, start with the alphabet. I've got some tips here (Sorry, it's a bit too long). Also if anyone has any questions about the Russian language, feel free to ask me. I am a native Russian speaker and would be happy to help. So: There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. 11 vowels, 20 consonants, and 2 pronunciation signs. А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я Pronunciation А а - Pronounced like the "a" in the word "father" or "car". It is not the 'flat' "a" sound you sometimes hear in words like "cat" or "flat". К к - Pronounced like the "k" in "kitten" or "kangaroo". This letter replaces the English "c" sound in words like "cat". М м - Pronounced like the "m" in man. Unlike English, the hand-written "м" should always start from the bottom. O o - When stressed, it is pronounced like the "o" in "bore". When un-stressed it is pronounced more like the letter "a". Т т - Pronounced like the "t" in "tap". (Note: The hand-written (and italic) form is "т". It should always start from the top, as it looks quite similar to the letter "м") Russian letters that look like English letters but sound different. В в - Pronounced like the "v" in "vet". (Equivalent to the English letter "v"). Е е - Pronounced like the "ye" in "yes". Н н - Pronounced like the "n" in "no". (Equivalent to the English letter "n"). Р р - Pronounced like the "r" in "run", but it is rolled. (Equivalent to the English letter "r"). С с - Pronounced like the "s" in "see". (Equivalent to the English letter "s"). (It might help to remember that it's used like the "s" sound in the English words "centre" and "cent".) У у - Pronounced like the "oo" in "boot" or "root". Х х - Pronounced like the "h" in "hello". However, this is often pronounced more like the "ch" in the Scottish "Loch" or German "Bach", or the Spanish "x" in "Mexico". Russian letters that look unusual, but have familiar sounds Б б - Pronounced like the "b" in "bat". (Equivalent to the English letter "b"). Г г - Pronounced like the "g" in "go". (Equivalent to the English letter "g"). Д д - Pronounced like the "d" in "dog". (Equivalent to the English letter "d"). З з - Pronounced like the "z" in "zoo". (Equivalent to the English letter "z"). И и - Pronounced like the "i" in "taxi". (Sometimes equivalent to the English letter "i", the short 'ee' sound.). (Note: The hand-written form for "и" looks a little like the English "u"). Л л - Pronounced like the "l" in "love". (Equivalent to the English letter "l"). П п - Pronounced like the "p" in "pot". (Equivalent to the English letter "p"). Ф ф - Pronounced like the "f" in "fat". (Equivalent to the English letter "f"). Э э - Pronounced like the "e" in "fed". New Russian letters and sounds (The sounds will be familiar, but they don't have their own letter in English). Ю ю - Pronounced like the "u" in "universe". (Pronounced much like the English word "you"). Я я - Pronounced like the "ya" in "yard". Ё ё - Pronounced like "yo" in "yonder". Ж ж - Like "s" in "measure", "pleasure" or "fusion" or like "g" in colour "beige". (As there is no English symbol for this sound, it is usually represented as "zh") Ц ц - Similar to the "ts" sound in "sits" or "its". Ч ч - Pronounced like the "ch" in "chips" or "church" . Ш ш - Pronounced like the "sh" in shut. Щ щ - Pronounced like "sh" but with your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Try putting your tongue in the same position as you would to say "ch" but say "sh" instead. English speakers may find it hard to define the difference between "ш" and "щ". Ы ы - Pronounced like the "i" in "bit" or "ill". (Said with your tongue slightly back in your mouth.) Й й - This letter is used to form diphthongs. So "oй" is like the "oy" sound in "boy" or "aй" is like the "igh" in "sigh". Pronunciation Symbols These letters have no sound on their own, but are still considered letters. Ъ ъ - The 'Hard Sign' is rarely used. It indicates a slight pause between syllables. Ь ь - The 'Soft Sign' makes the previous letter 'soft'. Think of the "p" sound in the word "pew". (Try inflecting a very slight "y" sound onto letter before it.) More on reddit.com