Learn about the top five reasons you should be learning to speak Bulgarian right now
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yuri: All About Series, Lesson 1: History of the Bulgarian Language and Top 5 Reasons to Learn Bulgarian. |
| Yuri: Hello everybody! Welcome to the All About series. Yuri here. |
| Iva: Здравейте! Аз съм Ива. I'm Eva. |
| Yuri: Together, we'll be your guides for everything Bulgarian. |
| Iva: That's right. This first lesson is all about my home and native country. |
| Yuri: And I have tried to dance horo and have recently been studying Bulgarian cooking and cuisine. |
| Iva: Oh. The good stuff, right? |
| Yuri: You bet! Bulgaria’s a diverse place. In every region I've lived, it felt like a different country. |
| Iva: Bulgaria has a great variety and is different within itself and from the other Eastern European countries. Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia are the only ones that use Cyrillic alphabet in Europe. Of course, Russia also uses it, but the ancient region of Bulgaria is where the Cyrillic alphabet was invented. |
| Yuri: I think most of our listeners will be surprised at how unique Bulgaria is. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Iva: So Yuri, give me some statistics about Bulgarian. Some hard numbers our listeners can impress people with. |
| Yuri: Sorry. Can't. |
| Iva: Well, that wasn't the answer I was expecting. Why not? |
| Yuri: Well, it's because until recently, the origin of the Bulgarian language wasn't considered that complicated. Bulgarian language emerged as Slavic language in the late 19th century. What we know is that the old Bulgarian was invented for the Slavic people as a substitute for the Greek letters in transcribing the Bible. |
| Iva: Really? |
| Yuri: Yes. That is why Bulgarian is so similar to other Slavic languages and some neighbor countries, like Macedonia, were considered to speak something like a form of Bulgarian. And the estimated number of Bulgarian speakers varies from nine million to twelve million. |
| Iva: That's quite much for such a small country. |
| Yuri: Exactly. This is because Bulgaria's position in the very heart of the southeast European region, where historical and cultural changes happen very fast. This is why Bulgaria is still very important economically and culturally. There are so many interesting facts about it to be told. |
| Iva: Which means there are lots of things to explore if you want to learn about Bulgaria and visit it. |
| Yuri: Exactly. It's sad that Bulgaria has been so ignored over the years, but for us, it's great if people come to explore the tons of options for tourism and for investment ones. The faster you learn Bulgarian, the more opportunities you'll have. |
| Iva: With so many changes in the world economy right now, knowing Bulgarian is a skill that will help you be up to date with different regions of importance. |
| Yuri: That's very true. Well, since we can't do statistics, we can at least do a bit of linguistic background and then a touch of history. How does that sound? |
| Iva: Sounds great! Did you know that Bulgaria used to be a part of the Ottoman Empire? |
| Yuri: Yes, I did actually. That's why the Bulgarian language has some words with Turkish origin. |
| Iva: Yes. Bulgaria was a part of the Ottoman Empire from 1396 until 1878. |
| Yuri: So how are Bulgaria and Turkey different? |
| Iva: They are very different. Bulgaria is on a different continent with a different culture, climate, political system, and ethnicity. The language has also changed quite a bit. |
| Yuri: So is it kind of like the difference between England and the United States or Canada. |
| Iva: Quite different, except from some traditions in cuisine or handcrafts. The Bulgarian language remains similar to its origins, but Bulgaria, as well as many other countries in the region that was part of the Ottoman Empire, had similar influence. For example, many old style words or dialects contain Turkish words. |
| Yuri: Bulgarians don't consider them as contemporary. |
| Iva: No. It's impossible for Bulgarians to even understand people from Turkey, but we use some common words, especially in cooking. |
| Yuri: Interesting. Now I find this historical aspect linguistics fascinating. So basically, Bulgaria is a Slavic-based language, just like Serbian or Macedonian. Bulgarian, in particular, is a kind of middle ground among all the other Slavic-based languages. |
| Iva: That's true. I've noticed it's pretty easy to pick up other Slavic-based languages, if you start with Bulgarian first. A bit more detail about the history is that the Bulgarian nation was made after the union of three tribes --- Thracians, Slavs, and Bulgars who settled in the area of the Balkans around 7th century. |
| Yuri: They're the ancestors of the Bulgarians? |
| Iva: Exactly. They started using the Slavic language introduced by the two brothers, Cyril and Methodius. They also developed a unique identity, language, and culture, and Bulgarian is developed out of that. |
| Yuri: Interesting. I didn't know that at all. |
| Iva: Yeah. It's basically the same story with Serbian and Macedonian, just with different tribes. |
| Yuri: Today Bulgaria is home to at least seven million Bulgarian speakers and many other Bulgarians are living abroad. Also, languages like Macedonian are considered very similar to Bulgarian, even as a part of the Bulgarian dialects. |
| Iva: That sounds about right, but don't think that all the Macedonian speakers can speak Bulgarian. It is very controversial because some modern linguists still consider Macedonian a Bulgarian dialect, but the modern Macedonian official language is different from Bulgarian. |
| Yuri: So Macedonians don't speak Bulgarian? |
| Iva: No. The way the Macedonian language developed makes it different from Bulgarian, and they both have their unique features. |
| Yuri: For one, Bulgarian has a higher number of speakers. |
| Iva: That's right. It is also spoken by Bulgarian communities in the United States, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, and many neighboring countries. |
| Yuri: So Bulgarian is understood some of the surrounding countries of Bulgaria? |
| Iva: Yes. You should also know that Bulgaria has now decided to change its writing system, the Cyrillic, to Latin script as the neighbor countries of Serbia and Macedonia did. |
| Yuri: That's right. Over the past 50 years, there has been an international movement to unify the spoken and written language. |
| Iva: Many of dates, changes, and alterations have happened throughout the history of the Bulgarian. Still the Cyrillic alphabet seems like a barrier to the learners of Bulgarian, but if you use proper Romanization, it will be much easier to read, speak, and learn. |
| Yuri: Even with the Romanization, though, the way that Bulgarians transcribe some vowels can vary quite a bit. |
| Iva: That's why we have a pronunciation series that will guide you through the basics of Bulgarian. |
| Iva: So how about a bit more information about Bulgaria? |
| Yuri: Ok. Tell us what you know. |
| Iva: The Bulgarians are a people who always lived in beautiful nature surrounded by high mountains, plains, and rivers, and, of course, the Black Sea. The largest mountain range, called the Balkan, is used as popular name for different brands, and you can even hear the Bulgarians use it for naming yellow cheese, “балкански кашкавал”. The name of Bulgaria comes from one of the ancestor tribes, the Bulgars. |
| Yuri: So Bulgaria was made from the unique mixture of tribes and its geographical position is also very significant. What is more amazing is how the Bulgarian yogurt was made and resulted from the action of bacteria, Lactobacterium bulgarigum, characteristic of Bulgaria. |
| Iva: That's right. Bulgarian yogurt is one of the things that make Bulgarians proud to call themselves Bulgarians. It is their exclusive invention and heritage that dates back many centuries. |
| Yuri: That is how Bulgaria is having the best and the healthiest of all dairy products that are available to consumers nowadays. |
| Iva: Of course! |
| Yuri: People who have tasted yogurt from a dozen countries outside the Balkans always find that none of them taste anything like the Bulgarian variety. All Bulgarians agree that their yogurt is the best. Some 400,000 tons are consumed every year in the country. |
Outro |
| Yuri: Who can resist the lure of Bulgaria? The top five reasons to learn Bulgarian are: |
| Iva: Number 5... |
| Yuri: We've already said it. The Bulgarian yogurt and unique cuisine. Bulgarians are well-known for their longevity and one of the reasons for this is the famous Bulgarian yogurt, together, combined with a healthy lifestyle in a beautiful nature. If you want to try the real Bulgarian yogurt, the home-made one, and many other tasty dishes, you will need a little Bulgarian language skill so that you can enjoy your meal to the fullest. If you like cooking yourself, it will be amazing experience to prepare delicious food by an authentic Bulgarian recipe. |
| Iva: Number 4... |
| Yuri: The tourism opportunities in Bulgaria. In 2010, Bulgaria was ranked one of the top 10 travel destinations by Lonely Planet. You have plenty of places to visit. The capital Sofia, all the Black Sea coast resorts, the winter sports resorts, the traditional rural tourist destinations, and many more places of cultural significance. Bulgaria has the third largest total number of uncovered archaeological sites in Europe, just after Italy and Greece, and many of them are Thracian in origin. A historical artifact of major importance is the oldest golden treasure in the world, dating back to 5000 B.C. coming from the site of the Varna necropolis. And, of course, the Bulgarian rose oil produced in the rose valley makes 85% of the world's rose oil. The extracts are used by perfumers all over the world. You wouldn't want to miss the authentic rose smell there. |
| Iva: Number 3... |
| Yuri: If you are into investments, Bulgaria is a new option. Bulgaria's economy has averaged more than 6% annual growth, attracting significant amount of new foreign direct investment. Between 2004 and 2008, foreign direct investment grew by 19.6%, driven primarily by increased investment in Bulgaria's real estate, energy, and manufacturing sectors. Bulgaria's cheap labor and resources, coupled with favorable corporate tax rates render Bulgaria somewhat of an investment haven. In particular, Bulgaria's natural landscapes attract almost six million visitors annually, which contributes significantly to Bulgaria's economic growth. |
| Iva: Number 2... |
| Yuri: Bulgaria has experienced rapid economic growth in the recent years, and its strategic geographic location make it a key European hub. Due to its large-scale computing technology exports, Bulgaria has become the Silicon Valley of the Eastern Bloc. The country ranked eighth in the world in 2002 by total number of ICT specialists. Bulgaria's advanced education is right up with the top countries of the world, ranking 5th amongst all countries in science and 11th in mathematics, according to the World Bank and the Economist. This makes Bulgaria one of the top IT off-shore destinations. |
| Iva: And number 1... |
| Yuri: Learning Bulgarian is fun! |
| Iva: Of course it is! Our lessons show you the easiest way to get the most out of the Bulgarian culture and make new Bulgarian friends. |
| Yuri: Definitely. |
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