Learn how to start a chat on the phone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hello and welcome back to BulgarianPod101.com. This is Lower Beginner, season 1, lesson 9 - Making a Phone Call in Bulgarian. This is Becky here. |
| Iva: Zdravei. And I’m Iva! |
| Becky: In this lesson you'll learn some phrases for having a phone conversation. |
| Iva: This conversation takes place over the phone. |
| Becky: The conversation is between Maria and Petya. |
| Iva: The speakers are good friends, so they are using informal language. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Since this dialogue took place over the phone, let’s learn some more about the phone system in Bulgaria. |
| Iva: We’ll talk about what kind of telecommunication companies and networks there are in Bulgaria. |
| Becky: So VIVACOM is the largest telecommunications company in Bulgaria, and was formed from the Bulgarian Telecommunications company - BTC - a former state-owned company. |
| Iva: It was founded in 1992, and serves around 2.6 million fixed phone lines. |
| Becky: When VIVACOM received a GSM operator license, it launched Vivatel, one of the three Bulgarian mobile phone companies. |
| Iva: The other mobile operators are Globul and Mtel. |
| Becky: I’ve heard that gradually Vivatel is becoming the biggest and most popular among them. |
| Iva: That’s right. |
| Becky: What else can you tell us? |
| Iva: If you want to use a foreign mobile phone in Bulgaria, you can buy a SIM card that will give you a Bulgarian mobile number and allow you to make and receive calls and text messages. |
| Becky: However, you may need to get your phone ‘unlocked’ from the network in your home country for it to work properly. |
| Iva: Yeah, that’s a good tip. |
| Becky: Okay, now let’s take a look at the vocab. |
| 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: First let’s look at the word “Ден”. |
| Becky: This means “day” or “daytime”. |
| Iva: It’s used in phrases like “Добър ден”, which means “Good day”, and to say “Hello” during the daytime. |
| Becky: Our listeners should know that already, but could you repeat it just in case? |
| Iva: “Добър ден”. |
| Becky: This word is masculine, right? |
| Iva: Yes. The word for “night” is “нощ”; a word that’s feminine. It’s used to say “Good night”, “Лека нощ” in Bulgarian. |
| Becky: Once more… |
| Iva: “Лека нощ” |
| Becky: OK, what’s next? |
| Iva: “Чувствам се” |
| Becky: This is a Bulgarian phrase with the same meaning as the English “I feel” or “I feel like”. |
| Iva: Yes. Its literal translation in Bulgarian is “I feel myself”. |
| Becky: So this is a verb form? |
| Iva: The verb “to feel” on its own is “чувствам”, and “се” is a pronoun meaning “myself”. |
| Becky: OK. The last word from the vocabulary is… |
| Iva: “Фризьор”, which means “hairdresser.” |
| Becky: Like other words in Bulgarian, it comes from French. |
| Iva: Other examples are “шофьор” meaning “chauffeur” or “driver”; “монтьор” meaning “mechanic”; and “миньор” meaning “coal miner”. These are all professions, but some other are just objects, like “асансьор” meaning “elevator”. |
| Becky: That’s interesting! Now let’s move on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn some phrases for having a phone conversation. |
| Iva: In Bulgarian, when people talk on the phone, they use some specific phrases similar to those in other languages. |
| Becky: Usually, a phone call starts with the typical “hello”… |
| Iva: …which in Bulgarian is “Ало”. |
| Becky: Simple! This is generally an informal word, so if you are calling a company’s office or your business partners it is better to say “Good day”... |
| Iva: Which is “Добър ден”, as we mentioned earlier, or the other two options for the specific time of day. |
| Becky: Can you tell us those? |
| Iva: Sure thing. They are “Добро утро” and “Добър вечер”, meaning “Good morning” and “Good evening” respectively. |
| Becky: Ok, and what else do you say on the phone? |
| Iva: Since it’s a formal greeting, you will most probably ask if the person you are trying to reach is on the line. |
| Becky: For example? |
| Iva: In Bulgarian, that’s “Господин~ (name) ли е?” for males, and “Госпожа/Госпожица~ (name) ли е?” for females (Madam/Miss). |
| Becky: And the full sentence? |
| Iva: The full sentence can also be “Господин~ (name) ли е на телефона?” which in English is “Is mister~ (name) on the phone?” |
| Becky: That guarantees enough formality and politeness, right? |
| Iva: Yes. And when you’re introducing yourself, you can just say your name like that: “(Name) е.” or “(Name) е на телефона.” |
| Becky: This means “(Name) is (on the phone).” |
| Iva: Here you should probably use your family name, since it’s a formal situation. |
| Becky: How about an informal situation? |
| Iva: Then you’ll simply say “Ало, (name) ли е? (Your name) е.” |
| Becky: In English it sounds like this: “Hi, is (name) speaking? This is (your name).” |
| Iva: Well, these were the basics of a telephone conversation in Bulgarian. |
| Becky: Remember, there are examples in the lesson notes... |
| Iva: ...So please check them! |
Outro |
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| Becky: And we’ll see you in our next lesson. Thanks for listening everyone! |
| Iva: bye-bye! |
| Becky: Bye! |
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