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Following on from Netsniper's list of useful words, I thought we could take a look at learning the alphabet along with a bit of reading and writing practice.

Not only is Bulgarian a new language to learn for foreigners but for most it is a new alphabet too! Strange symbols appear before your eyes and to add to the confusion, shops and road signs use a mix of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

If any Bulgaria Forum member intends to learn the Bulgarian language, then my advice would be to first learn the Cyrillic alphabet. This alphabet is also used in Belaruse, Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

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It is widely believed that the alphabet was 'invented' by the brothers Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius (pictured above) in the early part of the 9th century - however, much controversy still exists with regards the exact origins. It is more likely that it was developed in northeastern Bulgaria, where the oldest Cyrillic inscriptions have been found, some dating back to the 940's.

Try and make the time to study the alphabet and sounds ... it will make every trip to Bulgaria so much easier! After some practice with the table below you may be surprised to learn that you can read, write and speak a few Bulgarian words ... try it out in the exercises later on ... good luck!

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Bulgarian is a phonetic language. The sounds of the letters are at the same time the names of the letters. Do not try and 'remember' letters as "
the backwards R"
, or "
the weird P"
as this will really result in great confusion later! Unlike English, the sounds of "
yu"
and "
ya"
are represented by a single letter each. The same applies for "
sh"
and "
sht"
.

The Bulgarian "
E"
is always pronounced as in "
Elephant"
, never be tempted to pronounce it like an English "
e"
as in "
eel"
.

The "
R"
sound is a rolling "
R"
and distinctly pronounced.

Don't be intimidated by this strange looking alphabet! Once you get over this barrier, you'll discover you can read signs, menus and understand some words).

If you have spent some time studying the appearance and sounds of the cyrillic alphabet as pictured above, you should be able to read, write and even understand the following words:

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And now, try and read the following Bulgarian words?:

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How did you do?

You should have read them as:
lev (the national currency of Bulgaria), zima (winter), tuk (here), tam (there), tatko (dad), mama (mum), dzhena (woman), mudzh (man), kola (car), bira (beer), vino (wine), ivan (a Man's name), georgi (a Man's name), ivanka (a Woman's name), milena (a Woman's name).

Please continue to practice these basic exercises until you are confident you can read and understand all the words ... then move on to some useful basic phrases.


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How did you do?

You should have read them as:
Dobur Den (Good Day)
Dobur Vecher (Good Evening)
Leka Nosht (Good Night)
Kak Ste? (How are you?)
Az sum dobre, i vie? (I'm fine, and you?)
Kak se kazvash? (What is your name?)
Kazvam se ... (My name is ...)
Pryatno mi e (Pleased to meet you)
Otkude si? (Where are you from?)
Az sum ot ... (I am from ...)
Angliya (England)
Uels (Wales)
Shotlandia (Scotland)
Irlandia (Ireland)
Velikobritania (Great Britain)
Nie sme ot ... (We are from ...)
Blagodarya (Thank You)
Molya (Please)
Ciao (Ciao!)
Doskoro! (See you soon!)

Congratulations ... you can now read, write, speak and understand some Bulgarian!

Here are the numbers one to ten, try and read them in cyrillic and say them out loud:

едно / две / три / четири / пет / шест / седем / осем / девет / десет

edno / dve / tri / chetiri / pet / shest / sedem / osem / devet / deset 

Now ... this will take some time to practice, however, once you feel confident with the alphabet and you can read the words here, let me know and I'll post some more advanced words and phrases along with an introduction to gender, tenses, etc.

DoSkoro!
Chris

Well Chris where do I start? this is a great idea and I will be giving it ago although it does look difficult :oops:but I am not the sort that gives in easily so I will plod on with it and see how it goes :roll:thank you very much

sarah

Hi Sarah

Honestly, it's not as bad as you think! But, it's well worth the time to learn.

Print off the alphabet, study the words and you'll be reading in no time. Once you can read and speak the words in this first exercise, then give me a shout, I'll stick up a second lesson with a few more useful phrases!

Give me a shout if you need any help.

Best Wishes
Chris

Thats really helpfull Chris...Thanks

My pleasure! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I will certanly give it a go


Cheers Chris

mickhev wrote:

I will certanly give it a go


Cheers Chris

Thanks Chris

Me too

Oddy

very interesting and very useful, wrote it all down as it explains some areas that i had difficulty with, now this puts some light on it. i found this very informative. more please.

Chris this seems the easiest way I have seen to learn

thank you

Hev

Glad to hear you're all having a bash!

Sorry from me Chris I'm just a little to past it now to try and absorb all this I think my sponge is as full as it wants to be but its very good for those of you who are benefitting from it keep it up and I'm sure you will gain from it

but you forgot about the itallic cyrillic alphabet which is as follows:
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many shops use this type of writting.

:Xmas1:

That great thanks I am sure that will be helpful too our members Mechta

Oddy :Xmas2:

oddball wrote:

:Xmas1:

That great thanks I am sure that will be helpful too our members Mechta

Oddy :Xmas2:

your welcoooomme
where do u get the christams icons from? :O :Xmas2:

There is an easy way to learn the alphabet remember how you learned at school