Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Intro

Jonathan: Hello and welcome to the Absolute Beginner series at BulgarianPod101.com. This is season 1, lesson 2, Introducing Yourself in Bulgarian. I’m Jonathan.
Iva: Здрасти. And I’m Iva!
Jonathan: In this lesson we are going to show you how to introduce yourself in Bulgarian.
Iva: That’s right! One of the basic things when learning new languages and meeting new people is to know how to introduce yourself.
Jonathan: So let’s get started!
Iva: We’ve chosen a conversation that happens at a party, where two people meet and introduce themselves to each other.
Jonathan: The conversation is between Petio and Tanya.The speakers don’t know each other yet, but they want to get to know each other and become friends.
Iva: So their greeting is informal, but the overall tone is still formal since they’re meeting for the first time.
Jonathan: Let’s listen to the conversation
DIALOGUES
Jonathan: Здравей, аз се казвам Петьо.
Iva: Здрасти, аз съм Таня.
Jonathan: Приятно ми е да се запознаем.
Iva: И на мен също.
Jonathan: Now let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
(slow speed)
Jonathan: Здравей, аз се казвам Петьо.
Iva: Здрасти, аз съм Таня.
Jonathan: Приятно ми е да се запознаем.
Iva: И на мен също.
Jonathan: And Now with the English translation
Iva: Здравей, аз се казвам Петьо.
Jonathan: Hello. My name is Petio.
Iva: Iva: Здрасти, аз съм Таня.
Jonathan: Hi. I'm Tanya.
Iva: Jonathan: Приятно ми е да се запознаем.
Jonathan: Pleasure to meet you.
Iva: Iva: И на мен също.
Jonathan: You too.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Jonathan: So Iva, what are some important things the listeners should know about introductions in Bulgaria?
Iva: Well, in formal situations, Bulgarians usually introduce themselves with both given name and family name (in this order).
Jonathan: And in business environment people will usually address each other with their family names, right?
Iva: That’s right. But when you meet Bulgarian friends, you should use the given name and the second person singular verb form, because that’s how it goes with informal cases.
Jonathan: It’s very common for people to introduce themselves using the formal version of self introduction in the plural. After a while, when they feel they know you more, they will switch to the second person singular and use your first name.
Iva: Usually, they will ask if it’s OK to speak using informal language.
Jonathan: OK, that’s important information for our listeners. Anything else?
Iva: One more thing. Bulgarians cherish personal names very much and have celebrations called Name days, which cover most of the popular names, throughout the year.
Jonathan: Actually I know that these dates are holidays corresponding to the Orthodox Christian Church Calendar.
Iva: Yes, and they match the names of different Christian saints like St. Nicolas, for example.
Jonathan: Okay, and with that, on to the vocab!
VOCAB
Jonathan: Now let’s take a look at the vocabulary in this lesson. The first word we shall see is...
Iva: Здравей
Jonathan: Hello
Iva: Здравей (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: Здравей
Jonathan: And next.
Iva: аз
Jonathan: I
Iva: аз (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: аз
Jonathan: And then.
Iva: Казвам се
Jonathan: My name is
Iva: Казвам се (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: Казвам се
Jonathan: And next.
Iva: Здрасти
Jonathan: Hi
Iva: Здрасти (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: Здрасти
Jonathan: Next is.
Iva: Приятно ми е
Jonathan: Pleasure to meet you
Iva: Приятно ми е (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: Приятно ми е
Jonathan: Then is.
Iva: Запознавам се
Jonathan: Introduce myself
Iva: Запознавам се (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: Запознавам се
Jonathan: Next is.
Iva: И на мен също
Jonathan: Me too
Iva: И на мен също (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: И на мен също
Jonathan: And then.
Iva: съм
Jonathan: (I) am
Iva: съм (slow, broken down by syllable)
Iva: съм
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Jonathan: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Iva: This time we have several phrases which are commonly used, so listen carefully and try to remember their usage!
Jonathan: The first one is…
Iva: "Приятно ми е да се запознаем."
Jonathan: This is a common expression used when people introduce themselves.
Iva: It means "It is a pleasure to meet you", just like in English.
Jonathan: And just like in English it is followed by “It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”
Iva: Yes, the longer version is “И на мен ми е много приятно”.
Jonathan: And the shorter one?
Iva: Just say “И на мен също” or “И на мен” and you’re done.
Jonathan: Great. But before saying this, you should say “Hi”, right?
Iva: Of course, in Bulgarian the simple “Hi/Hello” is “Здравей”.
Jonathan: And this is the informal one.
Iva: There is one more, even shorter and more informal, used just among friends “Здрасти”.
Jonathan: Ok, so how can we say “Hello” in formal cases?
Iva: “Здравейте” is your best option when you don’t have to think about what time of the day it is, and you are in a formal situation.
Jonathan: So do we have any other phrases to cover?
Iva: Yes, the phrase you use to say “Me too”.
Jonathan: That’s right! The one that you use when you reply to “Nice to meet you”.
Iva: “И на мен също” means literally “me too”.
Jonathan: Just remember that this is the full version of the phrase.
Iva: Actually, you can say only the short one "too" “И на мен”.
Jonathan: But it is better to remember the full one because you will hear this one a lot.
Iva: Sometimes Bulgarians say “И на мене също”.
Jonathan: What’s the difference?
Iva: The pronoun “мене" has the same meaning “for me” or “to me” but the form is considered to be incorrect.
Jonathan: So, to recap..
Iva: Just remember the official one “И на мен също”. And the shortened version is “И на мен”.
Jonathan: OK, I think that’s enough vocab for this lesson, let’s go onto the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Jonathan: The focus of this lesson is how to introduce yourself by saying your name in Bulgarian.
Iva: Yes, that is your first task when you are in a foreign country!
Jonathan: So, “My name is....” in Bulgarian is…
Iva: “Казвам се (…).”
Jonathan: Can you tell us more about how to construct this phrase?
Iva: Certainly. As you can see in the dialogue, you can form the phrase by using the pronoun “I”, then the Bulgarian verb meaning “call myself” and of course your name.
Jonathan: And in Bulgarian…?
Iva: “Аз се казвам... Iva”. You know that!
Jonathan: Okay, Iva. But you can skip the pronoun, right?
Iva: Yes, because the verb form indicates that the whole sentence is in the first person singular.
Jonathan: So, to summarize the different levels of complexity in this phrase, can you tell us again how the full phrase is?
Iva: Yes. It is “Аз се казвам Iva.”
Jonathan: This sounds very serious.
Iva: It is. Actually it sounds as if you are writing your autobiography or something!
Jonathan: But it works fine if you want to be polite when necessary.
Iva: Exactly. The next one is maybe the most common one, “Казвам се Iva”.
Jonathan: Notice that here not only the pronoun is missing, but the verb form seems to have changed too.
Iva: It is a very natural way to switch the verb form in Bulgarian. Just remember it like this.
Jonathan: And the simpler ones?
Iva: “Аз съм Iva” and “Iva съм”. Again we have the switching of the verb at the beginning and at the end.
Jonathan: Yep, “Iva съм” sounds very brief.
Iva: Actually in some formal situation where people are too busy they just say their family names without any verb in the phrase.
Jonathan: Oh, that’s easy!
Iva: Yes, but try to use some of the examples we mentioned here.
Jonathan: So why don’t you give us some more examples so that the listeners can remember the important points, especially this change in the verb forms.
Iva: Okay. Give me an example sentence in English.
Jonathan: I have one! How do you ask “What is your name?”
Iva: Hmm, easy one. “Как се казваш?” if you are asking a friend because it is in the informal speech pattern.
Jonathan: How about “What is your father’s name?”
Iva: “Как се казва баща ти?”

Outro

Jonathan: OK. I think that's all for this lesson.
Iva: Listeners, check the lesson notes, and practice these expressions. See you next time!
Jonathan: Until next time, thanks everyone!
Iva: Chao-chao!

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