Learning a new language is always a challenge. Many new words, sentence structures and endless grammatical rules - all this must not only be memorized, but learned and learned to successfully apply in practice. However, this process can be quite exciting. Below we will look at some tips aimed at making learning the Bulgarian language easier and more positive.
Undoubtedly, for many, memories of unsuccessful attempts to succeed in school do not bring any satisfaction. But there are also such daredevils who are capable of challenging fate again, since they believe that this time “the wind will favor them.” And their faith will be justified.
Organization of the educational process
Time is the most valuable resource. And in order not to waste it, you need to creatively schedule your daily routine and find “windows” in it for language classes. To learn the Bulgarian language, it is not at all necessary to put aside all your affairs and, forgetting about everything, rush into studying like a whirlwind. You just need to include lessons in your daily schedule, at those moments when you can study the language together with some other process. For example, during a morning cup of tea or in the evening before watching your favorite TV series (and some people manage to learn Bulgarian while watching television advertising).
Pay attention to pronunciation
There are language systems that have rules that determine the placement of stress in a particular word. Bulgarian is not included in the list of such languages. Therefore, it is best to memorize the stress of new words from the very first stages of learning. Many dictionaries and tutorials make life easier for students by highlighting stressed letters in different ways (in bold). In addition, each language has its own pronunciation features, and Bulgarian is no exception. Therefore, at the beginning of training, it is necessary to pay due attention to the practice of unusual sounds, using various methods.
Auxiliary techniques sometimes take a lot of time, but they bring undoubted benefits. As a supplement to the main course, it is recommended to supplement Bulgarian language lessons with work with double-sided cards, where on one side there is a foreign word, and on the other - its translation. Using the same principle, you can work with pronunciation by writing it down outside Bulgarian word, and on the inside - transcription with emphasis.
Trial and error method
In the arsenal modern man There are more than a dozen techniques, following which you can successfully master any language in the world, and sometimes more than one. When choosing one or another method for yourself, you should rely on the brain’s reaction - whether it is difficult for it to perceive and whether it is difficult to remember the words proposed by the method. You just need to remember that every student has his own way of studying, just as every professor has his own method of teaching.
Independent practice
An excellent exercise is a conversation with oneself, which in essence can be an expression of thoughts out loud about a particular subject that is happening in the world. real life. Similarly, you can “catch” the moment on the way to work, school or home, mentally describing the surrounding space, the streets along which the way home runs, the people passing by, and so on. When practicing Bulgarian in this way, you don’t have to think about possible errors, since in learning a new subject this is a completely normal process that must be accepted as inevitable.
Summer language schools
Bulgarian summer language courses can be an excellent chance for many students. This kind of “practice-immersion” is very useful, since the language is everywhere (television, communication in shops, cafes, songs in Bulgarian). In addition to language practice, an exciting cultural program is added, and the classes themselves are usually held not only in university buildings, but also among the unique Bulgarian nature, surrounded by mountain landscapes.
Most of these schools include the Bulgarian language in the program for tourists starting and continuing their education. As the study progresses, the student is immersed in the traditional Bulgarian atmosphere and becomes acquainted with the folklore and traditions of the country. A mandatory point of the program is also a visit to picturesque historical places that highlight the magnificent beauty surrounding nature. A huge advantage of summer courses is the opportunity to practice the language with local residents of Bulgaria.
Who is suitable for summer language school courses?
1. Specialists in this or a similar field of culture who want to get acquainted in practice with cultural traditions of this language.
2. For foreign students who want to learn the Bulgarian language (translators who have recently graduated from a higher education institution).
3. To school teachers and university teachers interested in improving the language.
4. Businessmen and professionals in any other field who need Bulgarian for beginners.
5. Children and relatives of Bulgarians living abroad.
Let's list another list containing tips and tricks that are successfully used by polyglots from all over the world.
Road signs
If you already live in Bulgaria, then take advantage of the moment and read what is written on every opportunity. road signs trying to find out this or that word.
Instant Practice
Start the practical part of your training as soon as possible. Moreover, it doesn’t matter in what form it will happen - with a teacher, a friend or with oneself.
Parrot method
Working with dialogues read by Bulgarian speakers is one of the most productive, especially in the first stages of study. The method is that the student listens to the dialogue for the first time without the text in front of his eyes, trying to understand its content. Listening to the audio for the second time, the student tries to “select” unfamiliar words, find their translation and try to remember them. Memorization occurs by repeating small passages from the text containing new Bulgarian words.
Minimal grammar
The mistake many beginners make is that their lessons begin with a collection of grammar rules. It is clear that without grammar it is impossible to learn any language, but without vocabulary it is also impossible to speak Bulgarian. Learning new words and reading new texts naturally presupposes the knowledge of any previously unstudied grammatical structures or other phenomena of grammar.
False friends
In any language, including Bulgarian, you will find words that are similar in pronunciation to words from your native language. Most often they have absolutely different meanings, which sometimes leads to funny (and sometimes stupid) situations for newbies. Therefore, you need to start studying “false friends” as soon as possible, since this will not only eliminate the possibility of such embarrassing situations, but will also add a number of useful words to your vocabulary. It is also useful to learn how to identify “false friends” in advance and not confuse them in the future, since the Bulgarian language itself has many similarities with Russian, and some words are even similar not only in pronunciation, but also in meaning.
Use your free time
Conduct free time binge watching movies on native language, but with Bulgarian subtitles. An alternative to this is radio in the target language. Moreover, it is not necessary to constantly be in tension and listen attentively to the meaning of the broadcast, the main thing is that the Bulgarian speech surrounds and becomes part of reality (thus laying the foundation on a psychological level).
Word/phrase of the day
Having found a word or Bulgarian phrase that you like, you need to write it down on a small piece of paper and stick it in the most frequently visited place in the house. Every time you pass by the leaves, you should say the words and phrases written on them.
Communication with people
When traveling around Bulgaria, you need to seize every moment that presents itself to practice the Bulgarian language. Without being afraid of seeming intrusive, do not hesitate to ask locals about any minor things (in stores you can ask about clothing sizes, prices, various colors, on the bus - about the sights flashing in the window, and on the street it will be relevant to ask whether you are heading the right way to a particular destination). Listening to live speech, you can understand how different the book version of the Bulgarian language is from the one spoken in real life.
Visualize the words you are learning
Do not try to memorize the Russian translation of Bulgarian words, but, using your imagination, imagine their image or action that identifies the word. For example, you need to learn the word “pear”. We imagine the object itself - a pear, and associate it with the Bulgarian word “krusha”.
Learn Bulgarian phrases, not individual words
Indeed, remembering something that contains a story is much easier. You can come up with, for example, some funny sentence in Bulgarian that can lift your spirits, or one that can evoke other emotions. This is precisely what explains the fact that at language universities many teachers offer students to memorize entire dialogues.
Work with Bulgarian idioms
Many well-established expressions, when translated literally into Russian, sound quite funny, which makes them quite easy to remember. For example, the idiom “I spit kamcheto” when literally translated into Russian means “to spit out a pebble (or cobblestone),” when in fact the expression means “to spill the beans, to give away a secret.”
Instead of a conclusion
Studying foreign language involves various difficulties along the way, but with hard work on yourself and the ability to take advantage of the opportunities provided, success will not be long in coming.
There is a magical place in South-Eastern Europe, as the legend says - a piece of paradise! And everything is there: the sea is endless and pure, like a girl’s soul, and the mountains are high and marvelous, like the growth of a tall young man. But this place is not given unprecedented space - only 111,000 square meters. km, but this land has been given boundless generosity - fruits and vegetables, as if grown for the royal table, and the wine from these places is glorified all over the world!Far back in 618 from the Creation of the World or 681 from the Nativity of Christ great ruler a khan named Asparukh founded his state on this blessed land and called it Bulgaria as a sign that the companions who came with him had previously been Volgars. The Bulgarian land has seen everything since then. But now good people, called Bulgarians, live here in peace and harmony with their neighbors and other countries-states, with a stable economy and without political upheavals. And Bulgarians - residents of both small Bulgaria and the Greater European Union - communicate with each other in their ancient language, which is called Bulgarian or Old Church Slavonic, and write in letters we understand in Cyrillic.
The related language of the fraternal Bulgarian people is not difficult to learn and is simply necessary for those who want to enjoy life in sunny and hospitable Bulgaria. Anyone who wants to go on an exciting journey of learning the Bulgarian language, equip your computer free program Skype and call us for help!
The best of you will be able to learn the Bulgarian language at a basic level in just a month of lessons (standard course - 3 times a week for 60-90 minutes). Experienced teachers - “native speakers” will help you achieve your goal, whose primary task will be to determine your ability to perceive new information, as well as prepare and practice personal tasks in individual lessons.
Why do you need individual lessons?
It is a mistaken belief that since the letters are the same and many words are similar, then everything is clear and there is no need to learn Bulgarian. However, some words pronounced the same in Russian and Bulgarian may have different meanings. For example: “t-shirt”, “bun” and “belly”, in Bulgarian they mean “mother”, “bride” and “life”. Also, many do not know that the presence or absence of speech particles “ce”, “e”, “yes”, “by”, “on”, etc., can radically change the meaning of a sentence. To learn this, you need a “native speaker” of the language who will carefully monitor compliance with each rule. Studying from tutorials and repeating audio books without understanding grammatical and lexical rules can lead to the opposite effect - the assimilation of erroneous knowledge, which is then very difficult to correct.
All important information about the Bulgarian language has been collected together by a friendly team of course authors, for help in mastering the Bulgarian language you can contact us through our website. We will serve as a kind of guide for you! Our goal: to introduce you to the basics of the Bulgarian language in an easy and accessible form, so that communication in it is pleasant and does not cause difficulties.
For the entire period of training we guarantee you an exclusively individual approach.
What is online learning?
Online learning or also virtual learning is modern method conducting lessons, which has many advantages. In simple words- this is training on a computer using the Internet. Training can be done independently or with a tutor. We decided to rely on training with tutors, because not a single electronic book, audio or video recording can convey new knowledge better than an experienced teacher. By learning the Bulgarian language using this method, you study in an environment of your choosing, save your time, take advantage of the convenience of technology that allows you to find necessary information faster than in book textbooks and manuals. By registering for training with us, you receive Personal Area, where you will find all the necessary lessons, exercises and supporting texts in Bulgarian, which will be available 24/7. The lessons themselves are taught by experienced tutors who, giving you individual attention, will take care of the best results!
IN Lately an increasing number of Russians, as well as residents of other countries, former USSR, there is a desire to learn the Bulgarian language on your own. And our website can provide them with invaluable assistance in this matter, where anyone can download a Bulgarian language tutorial.
Bulgaria in the lives of Russians
Every year Bulgaria becomes an increasingly popular holiday destination for our fellow citizens. Guests from snowy Russia are always welcome here: the snow-white beaches of the Black Sea, the hot southern sun, the healing air of the highlands, and mineral springs hidden in shady groves are at their service. It is not for nothing that Bulgaria is one of the most popular tourist destinations among Russians.
On average, up to 700,000 Russians visit this sunny Balkan republic every year. Most of our tourists come here in June - July: up to 150 - 170 thousand people monthly. However, our compatriots go to Bulgaria not only for summer impressions. Over the past five years alone, almost 5.5 thousand Russians have received Bulgarian citizenship.
Russians have no less reasons for emigrating to Bulgaria than reasons for seasonal holidays. Firstly, Bulgaria has been a member of the European Union for ten years now. This means that, having received Bulgarian citizenship, a Russian can move freely throughout the EU and receives the right to live and work in any country of the European Union. In addition, a newly minted citizen of the Balkan republic receives many other preferences that equalize his rights and opportunities with the native inhabitants of Europe.
Particularly noteworthy is the friendliness of the Bulgarians towards the Russians. These two peoples have had centuries of good neighborly relations. But, if a tourist can still somehow get by in Russian when communicating with local residents, then a person who wants to settle in this country seriously and for a long time, knowledge of the Bulgarian language is simply necessary. However, for a tourist who travels to this amazing southern country to get to know it better, get acquainted with its traditions and customs, communicate with its inhabitants, the ability to speak Bulgarian will also not be superfluous.
Bulgarian language: history and modernity
Linguistically, the Bulgarian language belongs to the southern, Balkan, subgroup of Slavic languages. Historically, this language is considered the first Slavic language to receive its own written language. According to legend, Saints Cyril and Methodius created the first Slavic alphabet, translating the Gospel into Old Bulgarian. This is indirectly confirmed by the following interesting fact, that the closest to modern Bulgarian of all Slavic languages is the so-called “Church Slavonic” - the same one in which church books are still published and prayers are read in Orthodox churches.
Today, Bulgarian is spoken by about 10 million people, living mainly in the Republic of Bulgaria. Due to the fact that the majority of native speakers live compactly in one country, it is quite rare in the world. Especially when you compare it with such European languages as English, French, Spanish, which have a worldwide distribution. But despite this, there are communities speaking Bulgarian in many European countries. They are most numerous in neighboring Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine. By the way, Bulgarian linguists officially consider the Macedonian language to be one of the dialects of Bulgarian.
Bulgarian language: online tutorial
That is why today it is quite difficult to find specialized literature for studying the Bulgarian language on your own. It is no less difficult to take a language course or find a tutor. This is especially problematic for residents Russian province, remote from major scientific and cultural centers countries.
For this purpose, a Bulgarian language tutorial was created, which we are pleased to present to your attention. With the help of the proposed tutorial, anyone can learn the Bulgarian language on their own, without resorting to the expensive services of tutors or teachers of specialized courses.
Developed with the participation of experienced specialists, this online product is maximally adapted to the peculiarities of perception of Bulgarian by native Russian speakers. The Bulgarian language is quite similar to Russian; the origin of many words in both languages is common. This, on the one hand, facilitates the perception of words, sometimes purely on an intuitive level, and does not cause subconscious rejection, which happens when studying languages of non-Slavic groups.
But at the same time, such similarity creates a number of problems. Textbook examples are the Bulgarian word “table”, translated into Russian as... “chair”. “Zaska” in Bulgarian means “breakfast”, and “utre” is not morning at all, but “tomorrow”, “tomorrow”.
There are quite a lot of similar pitfalls caused by the common origin of the two languages. However, by carefully studying with the help of our tutorial, it is possible to overcome all difficulties and quickly learn to communicate fluently in spoken Bulgarian.
Specially compiled lessons, a phonetic selection consisting of video clips with translation and Bulgarian songs, clearly stated rules of spelling and phonetics, make this Bulgarian language tutorial the most effective way learn this language close to us on our own.
Among the main tasks that this online product allows you to solve are:
- Establishing correct pronunciation.
- Knowledge adapted to the requirements of the time.
- Study of living things spoken language, without excessive static academicism.
- Focus on maximum efficiency each lesson.
By using online tutorials You can learn the Bulgarian language at any time convenient for you - while jogging in the morning or standing in traffic jams on the way to work, lying in bed before bed or during your lunch break. And the most important conditions without which it is impossible to achieve success are the desire to learn the language and strict self-discipline. Only regular daily exercises can bring the expected effect as quickly as possible.
First of all, you will need to get a good tutorial and a Bulgarian dictionary. Try to find such a tutorial and textbooks, in the creation of which Bulgarian specialists took part. If the textbook comes with audio courses, make sure that the speakers are native Bulgarian speakers.
Since the number of Russian-language textbooks of the Bulgarian language is quite limited, try to collect any available materials. These can be Bulgarian films or TV shows, as well as fiction. In the future, this will help you strengthen your knowledge in practice - learn to perceive Bulgarian speech by ear, as well as train reading and translation skills.
Try to study every day: learn the rules, do exercises according to the tutorial, read and learn to translate. With daily practice, the effectiveness of learning a foreign language increases several times.
Features of self-study of the Bulgarian language
Basic lexicon The Bulgarian language is close and intuitive to Russian speakers. In addition, Russian and Bulgarian languages have a similar structure. Therefore, from the very first lessons, it will be enough for you to simply start reading independently, learning new words and doing grammar exercises. But this simplicity is very deceptive, since for all its similarities with Russian, the Bulgarian language still has serious differences. The grammar of the Bulgarian language is fundamentally different from the grammatical foundations of the Russian language. Accordingly, in order to learn to understand Bulgarian speech and acquire the necessary skills for speaking practice, you will have to not only learn words, but also seriously work on grammatical rules.
Always use a dictionary when reading and learning new words in Bulgarian. The meaning of the word may seem clear to you, but it may not be the same. For example, the word “to the right” in Bulgarian means “straight”.
In addition, you will have to pay close attention to working on your pronunciation. The Bulgarian language is distinguished by active articulation (sounds in it are pronounced more clearly than in Russian), while the stresses in words practically do not coincide with the stresses in the Russian language. So in addition to text educational materials you will definitely need audio lessons: when doing the exercises, listen carefully to the speaker and repeat after him, trying to understand the intricacies of pronunciation. By the way, in different cities of Bulgaria they speak dialects that are slightly different from each other. Thus, in the southwestern part of the country the Macedonian dialect is widespread, and even other Bulgarians have difficulty understanding it.
Of course, learning to speak Bulgarian on your own with the help of textbooks and audio courses alone is almost impossible. To practice your speaking skills, you will need to find native speakers with whom you can communicate via the Internet. You can meet them on specialized websites and forums dedicated to language learning.