This checks out. After my third semester studying Russian, I'd talk to friends learning other languages: "Oh, we're reading Don Quixote or The Three Musketeers, how about you?" "Yeah, I'm reading a nursery rhyme about a speckled chicken."

Fuck, it's been 30 years and I think I still have a bit of it memorized: "жили были дед да баба. была у них курочка ряба..."