Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hello and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Beginner, season 1, lesson 8 - It’s Time for a Bulgarian Spa Vacation! This is Becky.
Iva: Здрасти (zdrasti). And I'm Iva!
Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to make a request or order in a formal context.
Iva: The conversation takes place at a travel agency.
Becky: It’s between Milena and Veronika, and a travel agent. They are arranging a trip in Bulgaria. Milena has decided to join Veronika for a trip to a Bulgarian spa hotel.
Iva: The speakers are using formal language since they are making an inquiry.
CONVERSATION
Let's listen to the conversation.
Милена: Добър ден! (Dobar den!)
Агент: Добър ден. С какво мога да Ви помогна? (Dobar den. S kakvo moga da Vi pomogna?)
Вероника: Какви предложения имате за почивка в спа хотел? (Kakvi predlozheniya imate za pochivka v spa hotel?)
Агент: Зависи от периода на престоя и през кой сезон ще почивате. (Zavisi ot perioda na prestoya i prez koy sezon shte pochivate.)
Милена: Бихме искали да изкараме един уикенд през зимната ваканция. (Bihme iskali da izkarame edin uikend prez zimnata vakantsiya.)
Агент: Разбирам. Един момент. (Razbiram. Edin moment.)
Вероника: И ако може спа хотелът да е пет звезди! (I ako mozhe, spa hotelat da e pet zvezdi!)
Let's hear the conversation one time slowly.
Милена: Добър ден!
Агент: Добър ден. С какво мога да Ви помогна?
Вероника: Какви предложения имате за почивка в спа хотел?
Агент: Зависи от периода на престоя и през кой сезон ще почивате.
Милена: Бихме искали да изкараме един уикенд през зимната ваканция.
Агент: Разбирам. Един момент.
Вероника: И ако може спа хотелът да е пет звезди!
Now let's hear it with the English translation.
Милена: Добър ден!
Milena: Good day!
Агент: Добър ден. С какво мога да Ви помогна?
Agent: Hello. How can I help you?
Вероника: Какви предложения имате за почивка в спа хотел?
Veronika: What can you offer us for a vacation at a spa hotel?
Агент: Зависи от периода на престоя и през кой сезон ще почивате.
Agent: It depends on the (duration of the) stay and in which season you would like to travel.
Милена: Бихме искали да изкараме един уикенд през зимната ваканция.
Milena: We'd like to spend one weekend in the winter break.
Агент: Разбирам. Един момент.
Agent: I see. Just a moment.
Вероника: И ако може спа хотелът да е пет звезди!
Veronika: And the hotel should be a five star hotel if possible!
VOCAB
Becky: Now let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is
Iva: период (period)
Becky: period
Iva: (SLOW) период, период
Next:
Iva: завися (zavisya)
Becky: to depend
Iva: (SLOW) завися, завися
Next:
Iva: почивам (pochivam)
Becky: to rest
Iva: (SLOW) почивам, почивам
Next:
Iva: изкарвам (izkarvam)
Becky: to spend (time)
Iva: (SLOW) изкарвам, изкарвам
Next:
Iva: уикенд (uikend)
Becky: weekend
Iva: (SLOW) уикенд, уикенд
Next:
Iva: разбирам (razbiram)
Becky: to understand
Iva: (SLOW) разбирам, разбирам
Next:
Iva: момент (moment)
Becky: moment
Iva: (SLOW) момент, момент
Next:
Iva: звезда (zvezda)
Becky: star
Iva: (SLOW) звезда, звезда
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: Since Milena and Veronika were trying to arrange a spa weekend in the dialogue...
Iva: ...Let's talk about spa hotels in Bulgaria!
Becky: Spa hotels are very popular in Bulgaria, because there are many natural hot springs in the country.
Iva: They are popular any time of year, and many Bulgarians use their winter or summer break to visit spa hotels.
Becky: Spas are also often used for balneotherapy - which is where ailments are treated with spa therapy – so elderly people as well as young people visit springs, spa resorts, and hotels.
Iva: Some of the most famous spa hotels in Bulgaria are...
Becky: the Augusta Spa Hotel Hissar,
Iva: Olymp Spa Hotel Velingrad,
Becky: Strimon Spa Club Kyustendil,
Iva: Interhotel Sandanski Spa hotel,
Becky: ...and many others. There are five star hotels among them, just like our main character Veronika wanted in this lesson. So make sure you check one out, listeners!
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Iva: We’ll start with “Спа хотел”.
Becky: This means “spa hotel”.
Iva: And... “Спа” by itself means “spa”.
Becky: Are we learning Bulgarian here? (laughs).
Iva: (laughs) Well, since “hotel” in Bulgarian is in masculine, the whole word “спа хотел” is also in masculine.
Becky: OK. So this is important to remember.
Iva: Also, there are other types of hotels in Bulgaria like “park-hotels” or “business hotels”, which in Bulgarian is “парк-хотел” and “бизнес хотел” respectively.
Becky: Great. What's next?
Iva: “Почивка”.
Becky: Ooh yeah, I’d like one of those!
Iva: Me too! “Почивка” is a noun, originally meaning “rest” but is quite often used as “break”, in the sense of “vacation”.
Becky: That's why “go on vacation” as a phrase is quite often said in Bulgarian like...
Iva: “отивам на почивка” and usually means going to a resort or a foreign country.... and so on.
Becky: Ok, and what’s next?
Iva: “Сезон”
Becky: I can guess that one too.
Iva: Yes, it’s another easy one! “Сезон” is a noun meaning “season”.
Becky: And I suppose it's used in the same way as in English.
Iva: Yep, but note that the noun is in masculine.
Becky: Can we have an example, Iva?
Iva: Sure thing! “The four seasons” in Bulgarian is “четирите сезона”.
Becky: And we know that there are indeed four seasons in Bulgaria! Okay, now onto the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make a formal request or order. Namely, how to order or request certain things in a formal situation, like when you make a reservation or inquiry about something. Now Iva, I know that in this case, usually we use formal language in Bulgarian.
Iva: That’s right. We use one specific word form “бих,” which is actually the Bulgarian auxiliary verb “съм” in its conditional form.
Becky: And since it's a verb, we need to conjugate it for the different persons.
Iva: Right. Here are the forms - “бих” or “I would”, “би” or “you would”, “би” or “he/she/it would”, “бихме” or “we would”, “бихте” or “you would (plural)”, and “биха” or “they would”.
Becky: After this conjugation, it's quite simple to make the connection with English.
Iva: Maybe we can give an example, Becky...
Becky: For example, when we want to order something we'll say, “I'd like a cup of coffee”.
Iva: In Bulgarian we will say “Бих искал чаша кафе”.
Becky: Can you repeat that one for our listeners, please?
Iva: “Бих искал чаша кафе” but I am supposed to say “Бих искала чаша кафе” if I am talking about myself. The gender changes to feminine.
Becky: OK. Can we break it down?
Iva: Yes, “бих” is “I would” as we already mentioned, “искал” is a past participle of the verb “to want” or “искам” in Bulgarian, then “чаша кафе” means “a cup of coffee”.
Becky: OK. We need to know one thing - the past participle in Bulgarian is generally formed by adding
Iva: “-л (L)”
Becky: instead of the consonant
Iva: “-х (-kh)”
Becky: , with which verbs typically end in their simple past tense form.
Iva: So the past tense of “искам” is “исках,” and the past participle is “искал”.
Becky: Note that participles in Bulgarian change depending on the gender...
Iva: So “искал” is for the masculine,“искала” is for the feminine, “искало” is for the neuter, and “искали” is for the plural.
Becky: Altogether, the form for requests or orders is...
Iva: “бих искал” for the masculine, “бих искала” for the feminine, “бих искало” for the neuter, and “бихме искали” for the plural.
Becky: Then we just need to add the word or phrase denoting our request. It's simple isn't it?
Iva: Well it can become simpler...
Becky: If you check and learn more from the lesson notes!
Iva: Yes. Because they have a lot of examples and additional info.
MARKETING PIECE
Iva: Do you know the number 1 reason people don't study a second language?
Becky: Not enough time.
Iva: You’re very busy.
Becky: We know. And that’s why we have one click lesson downloads on iTunes!
Iva: Subscribe on iTunes.
Becky: All Free materials will be automatically downloaded for each new lesson as they become available.
Iva: Basic and premium members, get all access to bonus lesson materials too!
Becky: Save time. Spend more time studying.
Iva: Never worry about missing another lesson again!
Becky: Go to iTunes, search with the phrase BulgarianPod101.com and click Subscribe.

Outro

Becky: Ok listeners, that's all for this lesson! Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye!
Iva: See you, “Чао-чао!”

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