Learn about Bulgarian dialects
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Intro |
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| Michael: How many dialects of Bulgarian are there? |
| Yana: And are they universally intelligible? |
| Michael: At BulgarianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben is speaking with his friend, Lidiya, but he doesn't understand one of the words that she used. He asks Lidiya, |
| "What does 'odar' mean?" |
| Ben Lee: Какво означава одър? (Kakvo oznachava odar?) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Какво означава одър? (Kakvo oznachava odar?) |
| Lidiya Angelova: Одър значи легло на един от Северозападните диалекти. (Odar znachi leglo na edin ot Severozapadnite dialekti.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Какво означава oдър? (Kakvo oznachava odar?) |
| Michael: "What does 'odar' mean?" |
| Lidiya Angelova: Одър значи легло на един от Северозападните диалекти. (Odar znachi leglo na edin ot Severozapadnite dialekti.) |
| Michael: "'Odar' means 'bed' in one of the Northwestern dialects." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: The Bulgarian language, or |
| Yana: Българският език (Balgarskiyat ezik), |
| Michael: has a lot of "dialects or speeches," |
| Yana: диалекти или говори (dialekti ili govori). |
| Michael: The study of the dialects of the Bulgarian language started around the 1830s. Nowadays, many of these dialects are mostly preserved in villages or smaller towns. There is not an official number of dialects, but the latest study by the Bulgarian Academy of Science shows the existence of at least eighty. Moreover, this figure does not include the dialects spoken by Bulgarians in other countries or regions, such as Moldova or Banat. The dialects can be divided into groups using different criteria, but for simplicity, we'll mention just the two main regional groups. First, we have the Eastern dialects, or |
| Yana: Източни български говори (Iztochni balgarski govori). |
| Michael: The Eastern dialects are the ones spoken in regions such as Moesia, Strandzha, and Thrace, which in Bulgarian are |
| Yana: Мизия, Странджа, Тракия, (Miziya, Strandzha, Trakiya), |
| Michael: and in Rhodope or the eastern Balkans, |
| Yana: Родопа или пък източна Стара планина (Rodopa ili pak iztochna Stara planina). |
| Michael: The sounds of the Eastern dialects are often said to sound softer, whereas the corresponding western sounds are often thought of as sounding harder. |
| Michael: The second main dialectal group is known as the Western dialects, or |
| Yana: Западни български говори (Zapadni balgarski govori). |
| Michael: This group includes the Northwestern dialects, or |
| Yana: Северозападни говори (Severozapadni govori), |
| Michael: and the Southwestern dialects, or |
| Yana: Югозападни говори (Yugozapadni govori). |
| Michael: Standard Bulgarian, which one can hear on TV or the radio, is largely based on the pronunciation used in the Western dialects. Nevertheless, people in any one given region may still use varying words and sounds from specific dialects which differ greatly from the standard, so visitors may still struggle to understand the meaning of what is being said. In one of the Northwestern dialects, for example, the sound |
| Yana: x (ha) |
| Michael: is almost non-existent, and so people would say |
| Yana: леб (leb) |
| Michael: instead of |
| Yana: хляб (hlyab) |
| Michael: to say "bread," or |
| Yana: амбар (ambar) |
| Michael: instead of |
| Yana: хамбар (hambar) |
| Michael: to say "barn." |
| Michael: Grouping the dialects into these two groups involves extreme simplification. Apart from the way the vowels are pronounced in the different dialects, their structure might also have been influenced by the languages of the neighboring countries or waves of immigrants which arrived during different periods of Bulgarian history. |
| Michael: Let's go back to the word we heard in the dialogue: |
| Yana: Одър (odar). |
| Michael: As we have learned, this is the word for "bed" in one of the Northwestern dialects. On the other hand, the standard Bulgarian word for "bed" is |
| Yana: Легло (leglo) |
| Michael: and people from the Northeast would say |
| Yana: Пат (pat). |
| Michael: Let's now consider another word; the one used for "shout" or "yell" in some of the Eastern dialects: |
| Yana: Рукам (rukam). |
| Michael: In contrast, the standard Bulgarian word for "shout" or "yell" is |
| Yana: Викам (vikam) |
| Michael: and the same word in a western dialect would be |
| Yana: Окам (okam). |
| Michael: As a language learner, the significant differences found among the dialectal varieties may be particularly alarming. At times, it may even appear as if you are dealing with entirely different languages. However, one should not worry, as the differences should not affect a learner's ability to communicate in Bulgarian in any way. Standard Bulgarian is the universal tool used to communicate in Bulgaria: It is used on TV, in school textbooks, in newspapers, and in books, whereas dialects and sub-dialects are most commonly used only among the elderly and in the countryside. And if you ever happen to not understand a word spoken in a certain dialect, don't worry, you are not alone — even two native speakers from different regions of Bulgaria might face this same problem. |
| Practice Section |
| 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, "What does 'odar' mean?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Какво означава oдър? (Kakvo oznachava odar?) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. Remember to focus on your pronunciation. |
| Yana: Какво означава oдър? (Kakvo oznachava odar?) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Какво означава oдър? (Kakvo oznachava odar?) |
| Michael: Let's move on to the second sentence. How do you say, "'Odar' means 'bed' in one of the Northwestern dialects." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Одър значи легло на един от Северозападните диалекти. (Odar znachi leglo na edin ot Severozapadnite dialekti.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right this time? Listen again and repeat. |
| Yana: Одър значи легло на един от Северозападните диалекти. (Odar znachi leglo na edin ot Severozapadnite dialekti.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Yana: Одър значи легло на един от Северозападните диалекти. (Odar znachi leglo na edin ot Severozapadnite dialekti.) |
| Expansion |
| Michael: One may find it interesting that some words may have different meanings in a dialect than in their standard literary forms. For example, the literary word used for "to hear," or |
| Yana: Чувам (chuvam), |
| Michael: means "to raise" or "to grow" in some of the Northwestern dialects. |
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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