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Your Ultimate Bulgarian Pronunciation Guide

Knowing how to correctly pronounce words when you learn to speak a new language is crucial for speaking it well. It is no different with Bulgarian. At BulgarianPod101, we put a lot of emphasis on teaching and demonstrating correct pronunciation, as it is our aim to help you to speak like a native after a while!

According to Dictionary.com, ‘pronunciation’ is: the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

Paying attention to your Bulgarian pronunciation not your own essentially means you’re learning to ditch most of your foreign accent. This is very important if you want to be a successful communicator in any language. Getting Bulgarian pronunciation right may seem like a daunting task at the onset, but it need not be!

Download Your FREE Guide to the Bulgarian Alphabet!

If you want to master the Bulgarian language and become fluent, you must learn the Bulgarian alphabet letters first. And you need physical worksheets to practice on.

This eBook is a MUST-HAVE for all Bulgarian learning beginners!

FREE Bulgarian eBook

Download your FREE Bulgarian practice sheets PDF today and learn the Bulgarian language in no time!
This is a must-have guide for absolute beginners

1. Introduction to Bulgarian Pronunciation

Introduction

Bulgarian Pronunciation

You will find that Bulgarian is relatively easy to speak. The Bulgarian language , may have some sounds that are difficult to pronounce, but with a little bit of practice, you should be able to master the language. Many of the intonation patterns that you will find are very similar to English, so getting the grasp of the language happens quickly in many cases.

The Vowels

When you write Bulgarian, you will have 35 consonant phonemes, one semi-vowel, and six vowels: А, Ъ, О, У, Е, И, or A, Y, O, U, E, I. understanding Bulgarian pronunciation makes it much easier to learn to speak and understand the language and all of the nuances that it contains.

The vowel A is pronounced the same as the “a” in adorable. The vowel Ъ is pronounced like the “u” in turn. E is pronounced like the “e” in best, while ,И is pronounced like the “i” in igloo. The O vowel is pronounced like the “o” in order. Finally, the У vowel is pronounced like the “u” sound in the world tool. Understanding pronunciation is vital if you want Bulgarian speakers to know what you are saying, and learning how to pronounce vowels correctly is very important. Of course, you also have to know the understand Bulgarian pronunciation of consonants.

Dealing with Other Areas of Pronunciation

When you see щ in Bulgarian, it is similar to the sound of “sht” in the word shtick. Thus, the word is щастие, which means happiness, is pronounced Shtastie. Й sounds very similar to “y” in the word yes. When -Ъ and -O are together, they are pronounced like the word “yo”. Pronouncing И, (or i), involves the speaker raising the back of his or her tongue and lowering the middle part to make the sound. At first, it is difficult, and they pronounce it incorrectly. Even some people who are natives of Bulgaria have issues pronouncing it! Practice makes perfect though, and once you can do that, you will find that you can say most of the other words and sounds in the language without too much trouble.

Learning the rules of grammar can help you learn when to use certain words as well as certain inflections in the Bulgarian pronunciation of various words. Some of the grammar and pronunciation can seem very tricky in the beginning, but it doesn’t take too long to start to make sense of the language.

2. Why is Correct Pronunciation in Bulgarian Important?

Correct Pronunciation

Proper pronunciation is important, very important. Some say it’s even more important than getting the grammar perfectly correct! Why would this be?

1) Good Understanding

If communicating with native speakers matters to you when learning Bulgarian, you need to be understood when you talk, and you need to be able to understand the native speakers. After all, without understanding, the purpose of language is null and void! In order to be understood, you need to be able to speak the language in a way that is familiar to native speakers, or at least recognizable by them.

When learning to speak a new language, you will learn that the more you progress the more intricate it becomes! For instance, almost every language has vocabulary that may look the same in writing, but because the words are pronounced differently, they have very different meanings. This means that you may say a word in Bulgarian, and because of a slight change in pronunciation, the meaning of the word changes completely. Understandably, this can make for pretty embarrassing situations! At worst, your mispronounced Bulgarian will sound garbled to a native speaker.

Knowing the nuances of how a word or letter is pronounced will also help you to understand spoken Bulgarian better.

No worries if this feels hard; you’re learning, and with our help at BulgarianPod101, you will not have a problem with mispronunciation if you follow our advice and examples carefully.

2) Good Communication

Not pronouncing Bulgarian or any other language correctly can lead to a lot of frustration because you’re unable to express what you mean, and you will not be understood correctly. Even if you have total knowledge of Bulgarian grammar, and can write it like a native, not knowing how to speak it properly will only make for very frustrating communication all around.

3) A Good Impression

Even if you’re only a beginner, it is possible to speak any language correctly. This way, you are bound to make a good impression on native speakers, and when you’re more fluent, you will be likely to garner a lot more respect than a fumbling newbie speaker who doesn’t care much for correct pronunciation.

People often have a lot of patience for someone who learns to speak a new language, but native speakers are more likely to address you and engage with you in conversation if you work hard on your accent. This is simply because you’ll be able to understand one another! So, proficiency in pronunciation can mean the difference between having none or plenty of Bulgarian speaking friends. It will also serve you well in the workplace, and make you popular with your Bulgarian speaking managers and employers or employees.

Learning to speak Bulgarian properly is also a sign of respect for not only the language, but also the native speakers and their customs.

3. Secrets to Learning the Correct Bulgarian Pronunciation

Secrets to Learning

1) Use voice recording tools to perfect your pronunciation

BulgarianPod101 has plenty of resources to help you with your Bulgarian pronunciation, so be sure to make thorough use of our recordings with native Bulgarian speakers. These are available not only to demonstrate to you how you should pronounce Bulgarian vocabulary, but also sentences and dialogues. Watch and listen to these over and over again to train your ear, and watch the teacher’s mouth as she speaks in the video lessons. Then, copy the speech as best you can. Later, you can record yourself to hear if you sound like a native speaker and compare yourself with native speakers. Great for self-motivation.

2) Practice in front of the mirror.

And see that you’re copying the correct lip and mouth movements.

3) Use our BulgarianPod101 dictionary!

Use the Bulgarian dictionary provided by BulgarianPod101 to look up words and listen to the audio pronunciation. This will go a long way towards giving you an idea of how to pronounce a word or letter correctly.

4) Train your ear to the language!

Make an effort to often listen to Bulgarian music and recorded books, and watch plenty of Bulgarian movies and/or TV shows in Bulgarian. This will train your ear to the language, and you’ll be surprised how quickly you pick up the accent. Remember, this is the way we learned to speak when we were young - mostly by listening to the adults talking, and repeating what they say!

5) Practice, practice, practice…

Repetition of the same thing may be boring, but in learning a new language, you’re creating new pathways in your brain. For these to remain and become habitual, you will need to repeat the correct pronunciation often.

6) Make friends with a native Bulgarian speaker.

Don’t be shy to address them in Bulgarian! Ask them to correct you when you make a pronunciation mistake - this is a wonderful way to practice and learn the language first-hand, and also to make new friends.

7) Practice your pronunciation with your Bulgarian teacher!

If you’re a serious student and don’t know where to meet native Bulgarian speakers, consider investing in BulgarianPod101’s Premium PLUS plan. This means you will have your own native Bulgarian teacher available to practice your pronunciation with, and much more! Send recordings of yourself speaking Bulgarian and get feedback from your Bulgarian teacher.

4. How to Download Your Free Guide to the Bulgarian Alphabet

Download Your FREE Guide to the Bulgarian Alphabet!

If you want to master the Bulgarian language and become fluent, you must learn the Bulgarian alphabet letters first. And you need physical worksheets to practice on.

This eBook is a MUST-HAVE for all Bulgarian learning beginners!

FREE Bulgarian eBook

Download your FREE Bulgarian practice sheets PDF today and learn the Bulgarian language in no time!
This is a must-have guide for absolute beginners

Log in with Your Free Lifetime Account and we’ll give you an instructional Bulgarian PDF that covers the letters of the alphabet, practice worksheets, and a quiz to test yourself with… — absolutely FREE!

3 Reasons to Learn Bulgarian Through PDF Lessons

Let’s now take a closer look at how studying Bulgarian lessons in PDF format can help you reach your dream in up to half the time of normal video or audio lessons!

① Saves Minutes on Your Data Plan

Learning Bulgarian through PDF lessons can dramatically reduce your data use. Once a lesson or tool is downloaded, you can then access it offline via your computer or smartphone any time or place regardless of Internet access. And once you’ve downloaded the Bulgarian lessons in PDF format, you can actually access them faster than logging in and trying to do so via a live site. So not only will learning Bulgarian using PDF lessons save minutes on your data plan—it will save you some significant time as well as the lessons add up!

② Print and Take All Bulgarian Lessons and PDF Tools With You Anywhere

Sometimes, a tiny smartphone screen just isn’t adequate, especially when you are trying to learn something new. The great thing about PDF lessons, tools or files is that they can be quickly printed and taken anywhere after you download them. In fact, printing out Bulgarian lessons in PDF format can actually save you time when compared to going through the material on a smartphone with a small screen—even with the extra printing time!

③ Great Study Tool to Boost Retention and Mastery

Studying video or audio lessons online is a great way to learn a language because students can play and rewind sections as many times as needed until the lesson is mastered. But when you review the same Bulgarian lessons again in PDF format, an incredible thing happens: your retention dramatically improves! Thanks to Time Spaced Repetition, seeing the information again in written format helps reinforce the information in your mind and improves both retention and recall. The benefits of learning Bulgarian using PDF lessons quickly add up to significant time savings for you, your data plan, and your dream of learning a new language!

Why are we giving it away?

Learning to read and write is a must for all beginners. Although you get video lessons on how to write in Bulgarian at BulgarianPod101, you’ll still need physical worksheets to practice on. That’s why you’re getting this printable tutorial PDFs as a gift.

5. Related Lessons

How to Say Hello in Bulgarian
Do you know how to say hello in Bulgarian? It’s the most basic phrase that you’ll need to say and hear in everyday life. If you don’t know yet, learn 15 ways to say hello and greet others in Bulgarian. Why 15? The more variations you know, the more you can speak and the more fluent you become!
How to Introduce Yourself in Bulgarian
Can you introduce yourself in Bulgarian? Don’t worry! Check out the 10 Bulgarian Lines You Need To Introduce Yourself with this free Review Sheet. From “My name is…“ and “I live in…” down to “My hobbies are…” Just review the 10 lines. It will only take you 2 minutes. Then, introduce yourself in the comment section below!
Bulgarian Alphabet
Learn everything you need to know about the Bulgarian alphabet. At BulgarianPod101, we introduce you to Bulgarian writing in simple, easy-to-follow steps, and you can ask for advice or help anywhere along the way. It is important to master the Bulgarian alphabet completely from the start.
How to Say Thank You in Bulgarian
Has anyone thanked you today? We will. Thank you for reading this article and learning with us! In fact, today, you’ll learn the many different ways to say “Thank You” in Bulgarian. It’s one of the most important Bulgarian phrases. Check it out and watch the video too to practice your pronunciation.

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