Taking the plunge on learning a completely unfamiliar language

To be honest the script used is gorgeous. But the spoken language is full of pronunciations that are completely unknown to me so far. After taking on Japanese, German and Latin this is easily the biggest challenge I've had so far.

Any and all suggestions for resources for pronunciation, handwriting, and the etymological basis for specific letters from the abugida would be most welcome.

I have found the learning curve for IPA to be very steep, so anything that could help there would also be welcome.