How To Start Bulgarian For A Trip To Bulgaria

Problems
1 Bulgarian is not on the Duolingo free online language service. But Russian is - almost the same alphabet.
2 It's the Cyrillic alphabet!
3 I'd rather spend my time on Spanish or even Portuguese which use the alphabet I know. What's the point - I'll never use Bulgarian anywhere else, will I?

Answers
1 Fear not. Several sites teach Bulgarian so you can hear it, including You Tube videos.
2  The Cyrillic alphabet is on Wikipedia and several other places so you can recognize words.
3 You will be able to use it in other countries or reading websites from other countries.
The same alphabet is used in Russian. Bulgarian has 90% of the same vocabulary.

Maps from  Wikipedia and Wikitravel.

As you can see on this handy map from Wikitravel, the capital, Sofia, is on the North West, near Serbia. The Bulgarian beaches are the other side on the East, on the Black Sea Coast, on the Black Sea, north of Turkey. Mountainous Romania is to the North, more arid Greece to the sunny South. Macedonia on the Southwest.

Distressingly, when you use Google Translate, the translation comes up in the Cyrillic alphabet! Never mind. This can be useful. For example, what is the first word you might want to recognize and find easy to learn is the city where you fly in or stay or fly. Let's assume it is the capital Sofia. Up comes the word you will see on noticeboards in the airport and on street signs when on a bus, in a taxi or coach, or driving.

София

The C is an S sound, like the C in police and palace. The f looks like a face, a circle on a neck. Once you have spotted the SOF you can guess the word and place name is Sofia.

The fourth letter is not an N (remember a backwards  N is NOT an N! It is a stretched out I.

The r is more like ya, or the sound of R in ear. Sofia.

The first word to learn, which you need to recognize on arrival at the airport, or hotel, or restaurant, when you are travelling might be toilet.

тоалетна

How do you recognize or remember the word?  The first two letters are the same. So are the et. TO..ET.  The middle letter L looks like a Gothic backwards letter L, or the lower case l with a joined up writing curve in front. The ha on the end - think of just spitting the letter t.

Now you can recognize and practise these half a dozen letters, you can face looking at and learning the rest of the alphabet and some more words.

Google Translate
If you want to copy the word from Google translate, the symbol for copying is the middle of the three symbols under the word. Just click on that symbol, then past elsewhere. You can quickly create a page of translations of words you will need the most often.

The easy to recognize and remember words are

Police -
Taxi -
Telephone -

The other easy to remember similar words are the names of the 12 months of the year.

Months[edit]

January 

янyapи (yah-noo-AH-ree)

February 

фeвpyapи (feh-vroo-AH-ree)

March 

мapт (mahrt)

April 

aпpил (ah-PREEL)

May 

мaй (mai)

June 

юни (YOO-nee)

July 

юли (YOO-lee)

August 

aвгycт (AHV-goost)

September 

ceптeмвpи (sehp-TEHM-vree)

October 

oктoмвpи (ohk-TOHM-vree)

November 

нoeмвpи (noh-EHM-vree)

December 

дeкeмвpи (deh-KEHM-vree)

I'll say goodbye.
The word for a casual goodbye is easy, the same in Bulgaria as in Romania and Italy. It is Ciaou!

Useful Websites:
http://www.bulgariantouristboard.com
https://wikitravel.org/en/Bulgarian_phrasebook
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/russian-alphabet-made-easy-b-v-go.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/learn-bulgarian-in-three-minutes.html
https://www.skyscanner.net/flights-to/bg/airlines-that-fly-to-bulgaria.html

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I have many more posts on learning languages and destinations around the world. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.