Learn how to talk about someone's language ability
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello and welcome to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 1 - Making Friends on a Bulgarian Flight. I’m Becky. |
| Iva: Zdrasti. My name is Iva! |
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about someone’s language ability. |
| Iva: This conversation takes place on a plane. |
| Becky: It’s between Mariya and James. |
| Iva: The speakers are meeting for the first time, so they’ll be using formal Bulgarian. |
| Becky: OK, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Iva, let’s talk a little more about the dialogue. |
| Iva: Well, it takes place on an airplane going from the Black Sea resort and big city of Varna, to the capital Sofia. |
| Becky: Are those flights popular? |
| Iva: They are very common during the summer vacation, and they are also relatively low-cost flights. |
| Becky: How about the length of the flight? What’s the distance between the two cities? |
| Iva: The shortest flight between Varna and Sofia lasts about one hour. |
| Becky: I see. Sounds fast and comfortable! |
| Iva: It is! Varna Airport is the third largest airport in Bulgaria. |
| Becky: Is it in the city of Varna? |
| Iva: It’s actually 10 kilometers from the center of the city. |
| Becky: And the busiest season for the airport is from the end of May to the beginning of October. |
| Iva: Because that’s how long the tourist season at the Black Sea resorts is. |
| Becky: So listeners, if you’re going on holiday in Bulgaria, keep that in mind! Ok, now on to the vocab. |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What`s first, Iva? |
| Iva: The first word we have is “Заповядайте”. |
| Becky: This is a Bulgarian expression used when inviting people to enter a place, right? |
| Iva: Yes. But also when offering them a seat. |
| Becky: Like saying “Go ahead!” |
| Iva: Exactly. “Заповядайте”. |
| Becky: So this form is in the formal speech? |
| Iva: Yes. |
| Becky: Ok, can you tell us the informal one? |
| Iva: The informal one is “Заповядай”. |
| Becky: Listeners, repeat both words after Iva. |
| Iva: “Заповядайте” and “Заповядай”.[pause] |
| Becky: OK, what’s next? |
| Iva: “Всъщност”. |
| Becky: This is a Bulgarian adverb meaning “actually”.When do you use it? |
| Iva: When you want to change the subject, or to introduce a new subject, usually in conversation. |
| Becky: Is it a formal word? |
| Iva: Actually, you can use it both in the formal and in informal situations. |
| Becky: Ok, now what is the last word? |
| Iva: “Приятно”. |
| Becky: It is a Bulgarian adverb used in the expression “Nice to meet you”, right? |
| Iva: Yes, “Nice to meet you” is “Приятно ми е да се запознаем!” |
| Becky: Do you use it in other cases? |
| Iva: Yes, it means “pleasant”, so here we have it`s neuter form. |
| Becky: What are the other forms? |
| Iva: The masculine is “приятен” and the feminine is “приятна”. |
| Becky: Alright. Now it’s time for the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask about someone’s language ability in Bulgarian. |
| Iva: In Bulgarian, when people ask about language ability, they usually say “Знаете ли~ (language)”. |
| Becky: This is for the formal speech? |
| Iva: Yes. “Знаеш ли~ (language)” is for the informal. |
| Becky: Could you repeat them again for our listeners please? |
| Iva: “Знаете ли~ (language)” and “Знаеш ли~ (language)”. |
| Becky: The literal meaning is “Do you know~ (language)?” |
| Iva: Note that this type of expression is mostly used in the conversational context, |
| Becky: …as in this lesson’s dialogue. |
| Iva: A less colloqiual and more correct way to ask the same question is “Говорите ли~ (language)?” |
| Becky: For the formal speech. And for the informal? |
| Iva: “Говориш ли~ (language)?” |
| Becky: And again, listeners, repeat after Iva. |
| Iva: “Говорите ли~ (language)?” and “Говориш ли~ (language)?” |
| Becky: The English meaning is “Do you/Can you speak~ (language)?” |
| Iva: Yes. For this second expression, the formal version is used more often than the informal one. |
| Becky: When you ask someone you don’t know, and you need to check if they can speak your language, for example. |
| Iva: I recommend using it as a polite way to ask about someone’s language ability. |
| Becky: What else can you tell us? |
| Iva: When expressing amazement at someone’s language ability, we can simply say “Говорите~ (language)?!” for the formal speech and “Говориш~ (language)?!” for the informal. |
| Becky: And you have to say it with the right intonation to show that it’s unexpected. |
| Iva: That’s right, all these expressions are used when you want to confirm whether someone can speak the target language, or not. |
| Becky: What about the part where you add the language you are asking about? |
| Iva: Well, in Bulgarian, when you want to say “Bulgarian language” for example, you say “български език” or just “български”. |
| Becky: Which one is used more often? |
| Iva: The shorter version is used in everyday speech. |
| Becky: Actually, the context shows we are talking about languages, so usually the word for “language” in Bulgarian is omitted. |
| Iva: And that word is “език”, by the way. |
| Becky: And “English language” will be? |
| Iva: “Английски език”. |
| Becky: And, "Do you speak English?" |
| Iva: ...is “Говориш ли английски?” |
| Becky: Ok, is that all? |
| Iva: Yes. But just one note - language names in Bulgarian are written in lowercase, unlike English. |
| Becky: That’s an important thing to remember. |
| Becky: OK, that’s all for this lesson. Listeners, make sure to check the lesson notes for more information and to reinforce what you’ve learned in this lesson. |
Outro |
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| Iva: Yes. Thanks for listening, everyone. |
| Becky: We’ll see you next time, bye! |
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