us and uk have verry similar layouts
the lerning curve will bee steep. but after a few weeks just a few things wil be troublesome. mostly having to mount/unmount cd's, floppies... but i have found that there is no limit to where lerning stops i gnu-linux.
you can learn just enough to do daily tasks or everything to the tiniest detail. all the documentation is there.
I have done 3 lfs (linux from scratch) using knoppix as "mother" distribution, ok first was a 3day project but i got knowlege i could not get in any other way.
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
enjoy your linux OE