Learn about Bulgarian pronunciation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yuri: In this lesson, we'll show you how easy it is to start speaking Bulgarian. |
| Iva: That's because we will be focusing on pronunciation. |
| Yuri: Believe it or not, pronunciation is one of the easiest aspects of Bulgarian. |
| Iva: That's right. Today we'll give you tips on how to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Yuri: Comparatively speaking, Bulgarian is an easy language to speak. |
| Iva: There are few sounds that might be difficult, but almost every sound in Bulgarian is used every day in English. |
| Yuri: That means you already know how to say it. |
| Iva: Bulgarian also follows many of the same intonation patterns as English. |
| Yuri: So let's recap the written system quickly, as an introduction to the pronunciation. |
| Iva: The Bulgarian alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet that has 20 consonants phonemes, 2 compound sounds, 2 semi-vowels, and 6 vowels — “a”, “ъ”, “о”, “у”, “е”, and “и”. |
| Yuri: Let's take a closer look at the vowels. |
Lesson focus |
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| Yuri: So here's what we want you to do. No matter if you're at home, on the subway, in your car, wherever, we want you to talk to yourself. |
| Iva: You might get some weird looks, but don't worry. It's for a good cause. |
| Yuri: You got to repeat after the vowels that Iva will say. Sounds good? |
| Iva: Ok. The Bulgarian letter “а” is pronounced like the "a" in... |
| Yuri: Adorable. |
| Iva: The word for "car" is “кола”. The word for "small" is “малък”. |
| Yuri: And the next vowel is? |
| Iva: The letter is “ъ”. It is pronounced like the "u" in... |
| Yuri: Turn. |
| Iva: The word for "full" is “пълен”. The word for "angle" is “ъгъл”. |
| Yuri: And the next vowel is? |
| Iva: “е”. It is pronounced like the "e" in... |
| Yuri: Best. |
| Iva: The word for "child" is “дете”, and the word for "woman" is “жена”. |
| Yuri: Ok. Three down, three more to go. The next vowel is? |
| Iva: “и”. It is pronounced like the "i" in... |
| Yuri: Igloo. |
| Iva: The word for "list" is “списък”, and the word for "life" is “живот”. |
| Yuri: Ok. So the next one is? |
| Iva: “о”. It is pronounced like the "o" in... |
| Yuri: Order. |
| Iva: The word for "cat" is “котка”, and the word for "reply" is “отговор”. |
| Yuri: Finally, the last vowel is... |
| Iva: “у”. It is pronounced like the "oo" in... |
| Yuri: Tool. |
| Iva: The word for "raw" is “суров”, and the word for "student" is “ученик”. |
| Yuri: How about the consonants next? |
| Iva: All the consonants? |
| Yuri: No. Just some of the more unique ones. We'll go through all the consonants in our pronunciation series. |
| Iva: It is designed to help you master Bulgarian pronunciation in just five lessons. |
| Yuri: But for now, let's just look at the three most difficult consonants for learners. |
| Iva: “щ”, “й”, and “ь”. The “щ” sound in Bulgarian is unique. |
| Yuri: It is pronounced like "sht" in the word "shtick". How's that for ultra-specific? |
| Iva: Very nice. The “щ” is composed by S, H, and T, and there are not many equivalent words in English, but the pronunciation should not be hard. |
| Yuri: Can you give us some examples? |
| Iva: Sure. The word for "happiness" is “щастие”, the word for "future" is “бъдеще”, and the word for "shield" is “щит”. |
| Yuri: How about the consonant “й”? |
| Iva: “й” is similar to the English Y in "yes." |
| Yuri: The main thing to remember is that it is usually comes together with O as "yo." |
| Iva: Exactly. It happens for a pronunciation for words like "yo" in "yo-yo." |
| Yuri: How about some examples for that? |
| Iva: Sure. “Йога” means, of course, "yoga," and New York, in Bulgarian is “Ню Йорк”. |
| Yuri: To finish things off, how about the consonant “ь”? |
| Iva: This one is quite similar to the case of “й”. |
| Yuri: That's true. This letter also combines with “о”, but with different cases. |
| Iva: Most of the time, “ьо” appears after a consonant, but “йо” is usually used in the beginning of words. |
| Yuri: Most people know those rules, right? |
| Iva: Yes, but you need to practice with the different words. |
| Yuri: Can you give us some examples? |
| Iva: Sure. The word for "driver" is “шофьор”, and the word for "magician" is “магьосник”. |
Outro |
| Yuri: And there's one more thing. |
| Iva: In Bulgarian, the pronunciation of "la" or L involves a raising of the back of the tongue and lowering of its middle part. |
| Yuri: That's right. But some Bulgarian people pronounce it like ""wa". Is that correct pronunciation? |
| Iva: It is known as the lazy L phenomenon. Let's remember to try saying L like in “like.” Ok? |
| Yuri: Ok. |
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