Learn about the Bulgarian alphabet
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Intro |
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| Michael: What alphabet does Bulgarian use? |
| Yana: And where does it come from? |
| Michael: At BulgarianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben, an exchange student, is at a restaurant with his friend, Lidiya. He sees a thin book which he believes to be a menu, but he can only make out the first two letters of the word shown on the cover. He asks Lidiya, |
| "Is that a menu?" |
| Ben Lee: Това меню ли е? (Tova menyu li e?) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Това меню ли е? (Tova menyu li e?) |
| Lidiya Angelova: Да, можеш да го прочетеш ли? (Da, mozhesh da go prochetesh li?) |
| Ben Lee: Да. Първата буква е м (мъ). Втората буква е е (е). (Da. Parvata bukva e m (ma). Vtorata bukva e e (e).) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Това меню ли е? (Tova menyu li e?) |
| Michael: "Is that a menu?" |
| Lidiya Angelova: Да, можеш да го прочетеш ли? (Da, mozhesh da go prochetesh li?) |
| Michael: "Yes. Can you read it?" |
| Ben Lee: Да. Първата буква е м (мъ). Втората буква е е (е). (Da. Parvata bukva e m (ma). Vtorata bukva e e (e).) |
| Michael: "Yes. The first letter is м (ɛm). The second letter is е (e)." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: The first two letters of the Bulgarian word for "menu," |
| Yana: меню (menyu), |
| Michael: may look very similar to the English "m" and "e," but they actually belong to an entirely different alphabet, or |
| Yana: азбука (azbuka). |
| Michael: This alphabet uses the letters of a script known as Cyrillic, |
| Yana: Кирилица (kirilitsa). |
| Michael: Let's go back to the first two letters of the word |
| Yana: меню (menyu). |
| Michael: As mentioned, they look a lot like the letters found in the English alphabet, and their pronunciation happens to be similar as well. However, one should beware, as looks can also be deceiving! The third letter of the word for "menu" is |
| Yana: н ([нъ]/na). |
| Michael: It looks like a small capital "h" (aitch), but it's pronounced like an "n" (en). The last letter of the word for "menu," |
| Yana: ю (yu), |
| Michael: doesn't look like any of the letters in the English alphabet. It looks more like someone wrote the first two strokes of a capital letter h (aitch), and then replaced the last stroke with an "o" (o). This letter is pronounced like the word "you" in English. |
| Michael: As a whole, the letters in the Bulgarian alphabet originate from the early Cyrillic script, which was developed as far back as the 9th century AD during the First Bulgarian Empire. The alphabet consists of thirty letters, and no signs are used to modify these letters. In particular, the alphabet is composed of six vowels, twenty consonants (divided into voiced and voiceless), two compound sounds, |
| Yana: [ю] (yu) and [я] (ya), |
| Michael: and two semi-vowels, |
| Yana: [й] (i kratko) and [ь] (er malak). |
| Michael: It is worth mentioning that Bulgarian is not the only language that uses Cyrillic. The script is also used in other languages in parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyrillic script is phonetic; therefore each country has slightly modified the letters they use to best fit the local phonetic system. |
| Michael: Before we conclude, let's briefly examine the origins of the Cyrillic script. Cyrillic, or |
| Yana: Кирилица (kirilitsa), |
| Michael: is named after the Byzantine missionary Saint Cyril, |
| Yana: Свети Кирил (Sveti Kiril). |
| Michael: He created the older Glagolitic script with his brother Methodius, |
| Yana: Методий (Metodiy). |
| Michael: The Glagolitic script was initially invented in the 9th century to be used by the Slavonic people. However, it was rather complicated to use and was soon simplified by replacing some of the letters with more familiar Latin or Greek ones. The simplified script was created in literary schools in Bulgaria around the beginning of the 10th century and was named after Saint Cyril. The first books to be translated using the script were the Bible and other religious texts; therefore the script has become associated with the Old Church Slavonic language. |
| Not many Bulgarians know that the Bulgarian alphabet, as we know it now, was developed around the 1870s by |
| Yana: Марин Дринов (Marin Drinov), |
| Michael: who made efforts to codify the Modern Bulgarian language. Moreover, the latest language reform occurred even more recently, after the Second World War. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sample conversation: respond to the prompts by speaking aloud, and then listen carefully as the native speaker models the correct answer. Repeat focusing on pronunciation. Are you ready? |
| How do you say, "Is that a menu?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Това меню ли е? (Tova menyu li e?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. Remember to focus on your pronunciation. |
| Yana: Това меню ли е? (Tova menyu li e?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Това меню ли е? (Tova menyu li e?) |
| Michael: Let's move on to the second sentence. How do you say, "Yes. Can you read it?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Да, можеш да го прочетеш ли? (Da, mozhesh da go prochetesh li?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right this time? Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana: Да, можеш да го прочетеш ли? (Da, mozhesh da go prochetesh li?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Да, можеш да го прочетеш ли? (Da, mozhesh da go prochetesh li?) |
| Michael: And now the final sentence: How do you say, "Yes. The first letter is м (ɛm). The second letter is е (e)." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Да. Първата буква е м (мъ). Втората буква е е (е). (Da. Parvata bukva e m (ma). Vtorata bukva e e (e).) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana: Да. Първата буква е м (мъ). Втората буква е е (е). (Da. Parvata bukva e m (ma). Vtorata bukva e e (e).) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Да. Първата буква е м (мъ). Втората буква е е (е). (Da. Parvata bukva e m (ma). Vtorata bukva e e (e).) |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Back in the 9th century, the invention of the Glagolitic script, followed by the Cyrillic one, was crucial for the subsequent Christianization of the Slavic countries. Using that script, the Bible was translated into the then Slavonic language, which was only the fourth official language after Jewish, Latin, and Greek to be used by the Church. |
| When Bulgaria was accepted into the European Union in 2007, the Bulgarian script became the third official script along with the Latin and Greek ones used by the other member states. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Yana: До скоро! (Do skoro!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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