Learn what languages are close to Bulgarian
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Intro |
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| Michael: What languages are similar to Bulgarian? |
| Yana: And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Michael: At BulgarianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Ben and his friend Lidiya are at a bookshop. Ben picks up a book in Russian and thinks it's Bulgarian and asks |
| "Is this in Bulgarian?" |
| Ben Lee: Това на български ли е? (Tova na balgarski li e?) |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Това на български ли е? (Tova na balgarski li e?) |
| Lidiya Angelova: Не, на руски е. (Ne, na ruski e.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Това на български ли е? |
| Michael: "Is this in Bulgarian?" |
| Lidiya Angelova: Не, на руски е. |
| Michael: "No, it's in Russian." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: For people who just begin their journey with Bulgarian, it's possible to confuse it with other Slavic languages, since these languages have a lot in common. Sometimes, it's even hard to distinguish on sight, if it's Bulgarian, or a different Slavic language. |
| In this lesson, we'll tackle the similarities and differences between Bulgarian and other Slavic languages, and try to answer the question if Bulgarian can be used intelligibly with other Slavic languages. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: But, first, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Ben asks "Is this in Bulgarian?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Yana: Това на български ли е? (Tova na balgarski li e?) |
| Michael: And how Lidiya answers "No, it's in Russian." |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Yana: Не, на руски е. (Ne, na ruski e.) |
| Michael: As mentioned before, for people who just started studying Bulgarian, it might be difficult sometimes to distinguish between Bulgarian and other Slavic languages.This is due to the fact that East Slavic languages such as "Russian" or |
| Yana: руски (ruski) |
| Michael: "Belarusan," |
| Yana: беларуски (belaruski) |
| Michael: and "Ukrainian" |
| Yana: украински (ukrainski) |
| Michael: and some South Slavic languages such as "Serbian" or |
| Yana: сръбски (srabski) |
| Michael: and "Macedonian" |
| Yana: македонски (makedonski). |
| Michael: All of these languages use alphabets based on the Cyrillic script. The Cyrillic script comes actually from the First Bulgarian Empire, and has been developed to replace the previous Slavic script. However, each alphabet based on the Cyrillic script has its own features, so you won't find, for example, the letter |
| Yana: Ъ (a) |
| Michael: in most of the languages using Cyrillic scripts while it's a part of the Bulgarian language. However, reading the Bulgarian alphabet will allow for reading and understanding some words in Russian or Ukrainian as well. |
| Moreover, Bulgarian speakers can also easily recognize West Slavic languages, such as "Polish." |
| Yana: полски (polski) |
| Michael: or "Czech" |
| Yana: чешки (cheshki). |
| Michael: These languages use a modified version of the Latin alphabet, but they have a common origin with Bulgarian. |
| Another similarity throughout all Slavic languages is the vocabulary, which is shared to some extent. |
| For instance, Bulgarian and Russian share a high percentage of words, and, in most cases, people from both countries could communicate on a basic level, even if they never learned each other's languages. Of course, if the topic gets complicated, the basic knowledge won't be enough. |
| Also, a lot of Bulgarian idioms are shared throughout the Slavic languages, so telling someone, |
| Yana: Който не работи не трябва да яде (Koyto ne raboti ne tryabva da yaden) |
| Michael: literally means "He who does not work shall not eat." and many people who speak a Slavic language natively will understand what is meant with this phrase. |
| But, there are also a lot of false friends between all Slavic languages. If we take the Bulgarian word for "to remember, " or "to memorize" |
| Yana: запомням (zapomnyam), |
| Michael: and, if we ask someone from Poland without any Bulgarian knowledge what this word means, they would most likely answer that this means "to forget," since the Polish word is spelled and pronounced in an almost identical way. So be careful, and if you're not sure of a meaning, it's better to ask twice. |
| If it comes to Grammar, we might find the greatest differences between the languages. Let's take, for instance, Bulgarian and Ukrainian. Both use a Cyrillic alphabet, although there are some differences between those two alphabets, and many words are very similar, even the pronunciations vary a bit, they're still understandable to each other. But while Bulgarian, for example, uses only the past, present, and future tenses, Ukrainian verb tenses are more complicated, including the past continuous tense. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you've learned that Bulgarian shares the same alphabet with some other Slavic languages, and a lot of its vocabulary as well. So, it's possible to communicate with people speaking other Slavic languages, though in a very limited way. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: It's also important to note that the Macedonian language is very similar to Bulgarian. Together, the two languages along with the Torlakian dialect, spoken mostly in Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, and Serbia, form the East South Slavic languages. Unlike other Slavic languages, some of the characteristics that these languages share include the lack of an infinitive verb form and the creation of a suffixed definite article. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Yana: До скоро! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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