I don't believe there is any specific guidance out there about direct conversions between the two. It's probably best to take a little time to learn straight Python (nothing ESRI specific), then once you have the basic constructs down (variable assignment, try/catch loops, comparison operators, loops, lists, etc.), throw arcpy into the mix and start running using the geoprocessor. I think you'll find you're not far behind the loop in the arcpy world, since some of the most impressive features only arrived in ArcGIS 10. Sorry I can't be more helpful!
