Go Ahead. I'm still struggling to find the time to learn Rust. I read the first few chapters of the book, but I'm a bit stuck due to too many side-projects. ๐
With Lemmy, I'd advise you to ask first. Lots of open-source projects gladly accept merge requests... But I think the Lemmy developers/community is a bit different. As far as I know a few people have been burned because they put in days of work and their requests didn't get accepted. That shouldn't stop you, I'd just say ask the devs first so you don't waste your time.
Mirroring works best if you monkey them. Just repeat the exact words just like in an ape voice. A little pantomime helps, too.