Learn how to introduce yourself
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Intro |
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| Jonathan: Hello and welcome to the Absolute Beginner series at BulgarianPod101.com. This is season 1, lesson 2, Introducing Yourself in Bulgarian. I’m Jonathan. |
| Iva: Здрасти. And I’m Iva! |
| Jonathan: In this lesson we are going to show you how to introduce yourself in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: That’s right! One of the basic things when learning new languages and meeting new people is to know how to introduce yourself. |
| Jonathan: So let’s get started! |
| Iva: We’ve chosen a conversation that happens at a party, where two people meet and introduce themselves to each other. |
| Jonathan: The conversation is between Petio and Tanya.The speakers don’t know each other yet, but they want to get to know each other and become friends. |
| Iva: So their greeting is informal, but the overall tone is still formal since they’re meeting for the first time. |
| Jonathan: Let’s listen to the conversation |
| DIALOGUES |
| Jonathan: Здравей, аз се казвам Петьо. |
| Iva: Здрасти, аз съм Таня. |
| Jonathan: Приятно ми е да се запознаем. |
| Iva: И на мен също. |
| Jonathan: Now let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| (slow speed) |
| Jonathan: Здравей, аз се казвам Петьо. |
| Iva: Здрасти, аз съм Таня. |
| Jonathan: Приятно ми е да се запознаем. |
| Iva: И на мен също. |
| Jonathan: And Now with the English translation |
| Iva: Здравей, аз се казвам Петьо. |
| Jonathan: Hello. My name is Petio. |
| Iva: Iva: Здрасти, аз съм Таня. |
| Jonathan: Hi. I'm Tanya. |
| Iva: Jonathan: Приятно ми е да се запознаем. |
| Jonathan: Pleasure to meet you. |
| Iva: Iva: И на мен също. |
| Jonathan: You too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jonathan: So Iva, what are some important things the listeners should know about introductions in Bulgaria? |
| Iva: Well, in formal situations, Bulgarians usually introduce themselves with both given name and family name (in this order). |
| Jonathan: And in business environment people will usually address each other with their family names, right? |
| Iva: That’s right. But when you meet Bulgarian friends, you should use the given name and the second person singular verb form, because that’s how it goes with informal cases. |
| Jonathan: It’s very common for people to introduce themselves using the formal version of self introduction in the plural. After a while, when they feel they know you more, they will switch to the second person singular and use your first name. |
| Iva: Usually, they will ask if it’s OK to speak using informal language. |
| Jonathan: OK, that’s important information for our listeners. Anything else? |
| Iva: One more thing. Bulgarians cherish personal names very much and have celebrations called Name days, which cover most of the popular names, throughout the year. |
| Jonathan: Actually I know that these dates are holidays corresponding to the Orthodox Christian Church Calendar. |
| Iva: Yes, and they match the names of different Christian saints like St. Nicolas, for example. |
| Jonathan: Okay, and with that, on to the vocab! |
| VOCAB |
| Jonathan: Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary in this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
| Iva: Здравей |
| Jonathan: Hello |
| Iva: Здравей (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Здравей |
| Jonathan: And next. |
| Iva: аз |
| Jonathan: I |
| Iva: аз (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: аз |
| Jonathan: And then. |
| Iva: Казвам се |
| Jonathan: My name is |
| Iva: Казвам се (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Казвам се |
| Jonathan: And next. |
| Iva: Здрасти |
| Jonathan: Hi |
| Iva: Здрасти (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Здрасти |
| Jonathan: Next is. |
| Iva: Приятно ми е |
| Jonathan: Pleasure to meet you |
| Iva: Приятно ми е (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Приятно ми е |
| Jonathan: Then is. |
| Iva: Запознавам се |
| Jonathan: Introduce myself |
| Iva: Запознавам се (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: Запознавам се |
| Jonathan: Next is. |
| Iva: И на мен също |
| Jonathan: Me too |
| Iva: И на мен също (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: И на мен също |
| Jonathan: And then. |
| Iva: съм |
| Jonathan: (I) am |
| Iva: съм (slow, broken down by syllable) |
| Iva: съм |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Jonathan: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Iva: This time we have several phrases which are commonly used, so listen carefully and try to remember their usage! |
| Jonathan: The first one is… |
| Iva: "Приятно ми е да се запознаем." |
| Jonathan: This is a common expression used when people introduce themselves. |
| Iva: It means "It is a pleasure to meet you", just like in English. |
| Jonathan: And just like in English it is followed by “It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” |
| Iva: Yes, the longer version is “И на мен ми е много приятно”. |
| Jonathan: And the shorter one? |
| Iva: Just say “И на мен също” or “И на мен” and you’re done. |
| Jonathan: Great. But before saying this, you should say “Hi”, right? |
| Iva: Of course, in Bulgarian the simple “Hi/Hello” is “Здравей”. |
| Jonathan: And this is the informal one. |
| Iva: There is one more, even shorter and more informal, used just among friends “Здрасти”. |
| Jonathan: Ok, so how can we say “Hello” in formal cases? |
| Iva: “Здравейте” is your best option when you don’t have to think about what time of the day it is, and you are in a formal situation. |
| Jonathan: So do we have any other phrases to cover? |
| Iva: Yes, the phrase you use to say “Me too”. |
| Jonathan: That’s right! The one that you use when you reply to “Nice to meet you”. |
| Iva: “И на мен също” means literally “me too”. |
| Jonathan: Just remember that this is the full version of the phrase. |
| Iva: Actually, you can say only the short one "too" “И на мен”. |
| Jonathan: But it is better to remember the full one because you will hear this one a lot. |
| Iva: Sometimes Bulgarians say “И на мене също”. |
| Jonathan: What’s the difference? |
| Iva: The pronoun “мене" has the same meaning “for me” or “to me” but the form is considered to be incorrect. |
| Jonathan: So, to recap.. |
| Iva: Just remember the official one “И на мен също”. And the shortened version is “И на мен”. |
| Jonathan: OK, I think that’s enough vocab for this lesson, let’s go onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Jonathan: The focus of this lesson is how to introduce yourself by saying your name in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: Yes, that is your first task when you are in a foreign country! |
| Jonathan: So, “My name is....” in Bulgarian is… |
| Iva: “Казвам се (…).” |
| Jonathan: Can you tell us more about how to construct this phrase? |
| Iva: Certainly. As you can see in the dialogue, you can form the phrase by using the pronoun “I”, then the Bulgarian verb meaning “call myself” and of course your name. |
| Jonathan: And in Bulgarian…? |
| Iva: “Аз се казвам... Iva”. You know that! |
| Jonathan: Okay, Iva. But you can skip the pronoun, right? |
| Iva: Yes, because the verb form indicates that the whole sentence is in the first person singular. |
| Jonathan: So, to summarize the different levels of complexity in this phrase, can you tell us again how the full phrase is? |
| Iva: Yes. It is “Аз се казвам Iva.” |
| Jonathan: This sounds very serious. |
| Iva: It is. Actually it sounds as if you are writing your autobiography or something! |
| Jonathan: But it works fine if you want to be polite when necessary. |
| Iva: Exactly. The next one is maybe the most common one, “Казвам се Iva”. |
| Jonathan: Notice that here not only the pronoun is missing, but the verb form seems to have changed too. |
| Iva: It is a very natural way to switch the verb form in Bulgarian. Just remember it like this. |
| Jonathan: And the simpler ones? |
| Iva: “Аз съм Iva” and “Iva съм”. Again we have the switching of the verb at the beginning and at the end. |
| Jonathan: Yep, “Iva съм” sounds very brief. |
| Iva: Actually in some formal situation where people are too busy they just say their family names without any verb in the phrase. |
| Jonathan: Oh, that’s easy! |
| Iva: Yes, but try to use some of the examples we mentioned here. |
| Jonathan: So why don’t you give us some more examples so that the listeners can remember the important points, especially this change in the verb forms. |
| Iva: Okay. Give me an example sentence in English. |
| Jonathan: I have one! How do you ask “What is your name?” |
| Iva: Hmm, easy one. “Как се казваш?” if you are asking a friend because it is in the informal speech pattern. |
| Jonathan: How about “What is your father’s name?” |
| Iva: “Как се казва баща ти?” |
Outro |
| Jonathan: OK. I think that's all for this lesson. |
| Iva: Listeners, check the lesson notes, and practice these expressions. See you next time! |
| Jonathan: Until next time, thanks everyone! |
| Iva: Chao-chao! |
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