Nicholas Bodley wrote:

> With the current Interesting Situation in [The]* Ukraine, I
> wanted to see the names of the contenders in Cyrillic,
> suspecting that "shch" would collapse by "back-transliteration"
> [...]
> 1) A four-to-one ratio of letters seems impressive; are there
> many such instances, considering better-known languages
> (say, "top 100" or so)?

Well, consider that Yushchenko is "Juschtschenko" on German newspapers,
which makes a seven-to-one ratio:

http://www.taz.de/pt/2004/11/24/a0157.nf/text

> (Does "Mtskheta" become shorter in Georgian? One letter shorter?)

I guess two letters shorter: both "ts" and "kh" are letters in the Georgian
alphabet.

> [...]
> I can recall some very incomplete attempts by my father (a
> native Russian speaker)

How comes your surname is "Bodley"?

> Ah, one more:
> In India, what is a double [ch], as in "(Rann of) Kachch"?
> Does that indicate primarily that the letter [ch] is doubled
> in the original form?

I guess so. It should sound like the "cc" in "cappuccino", if you pronounce
it correcly.
(Or the "t ch" in "pit check", if you speak with an Italian accent like
mine. :)

> Would "Kach" correctly represent the name as spoken?

Perhaps "Katch" would be more expressive.

--
Marco