We’ve decided to share a mini-lesson of the Bulgarian Alphabet with you. This video is part of our Bulgarian language course called QuickStart Bulgarian. Because it is a beginner course, QuickStart Bulgarian’s first lesson teaches the Bulgarian alphabet, how to read it, as well as explanation related to some challenging letters and specifics. The following video is the “fast mode” of the Bulgarian alphabet, or simply the alphabet without shown examples.
Language
Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature
Cyril and Methodius
May 24 is the Bulgarian education and culture, and Slavonic literature day. It is also known as the day of St. Cyril and Methodius, in honor of the brothers who created the Cyrillic alphabet. It is a public holiday in Bulgaria, celebrated with an abundance of cultural events.
Cyril and Methodius were canonized as saints for their extensive work for the christianizing of the Slavs and the creation of the first Slavic alphabet. They are also known as “Apostles of the Slavs”.
In a nutshell, Cyril and Methodius were born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. With the help of their uncle, Cyril received his education in the university of Mganaura (the most prestigious school in the Byzantine empire, where the children of the aristocracy got their education) and Methodius received a job as a manager of an area near Thessaloniki.
Cyril’s education and his ability to speak both Arabic and Hebrew made him appropriate for several missions in the Middle East. Then in 862 the prince of Moravia requested from the Byzantine emperor to send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. Cyril and Methodius were sent for this mission. During their mission they developed the Glagolitic alphabet, with the tasks of translating the Bible in Slavonic. The Glagolitic is the first alphabet used for the Slavonic language.
After the death of his brother, Methodius continued his work among the Slavs with the help of his disciples. However, the new Pope forbade the use of Slavonic for liturgy in the Church and Methodius found himself in an uncomfortable position; he had to flee to the First Bulgarian Empire.
The Glagolitics was based on the Greek letters and was difficult for daily use. St. Clement of Ohrid, a disciple of Cyril and Methodius, simplified the Glagolitic and thus the Cyrillic alphabet was born.
In memory of Cyril and Methodius, the national library of Bulgaria in Sofia bears their names. A statue of the two brothers is situated in front of the library in their honor. Also, the first modern Bulgarian university, the University of Sofia, bears the name of St. Clement of Ohrid.
Hadji Dimitar
Recently Bulgaria celebrated its Independence (September 22) and Unification (September 6) national holidays. It is a time of appreciation of freedom and what that freedom cost Bulgaria. In this sense we would like to share with you one of the most beloved poems in Bulgarian literature. It is about the last hour of a dying hero and praises the bravery and heroic deeds of the ones who fought for their country’s welfare.
Hadji Dimitar is a ballad-like poem written by the famous author, revolutionary and national hero Hristo Botev. It was published in 1873 in a revolutionary newspaper called “Independence”. The author wrote a lot of poems, but the poem about his fellow-revolutionary Dimitar is surely the greatest of all.
The poem was translated to English by Henry Baerlein at 1904. Despite the complexity of the original poem, the translation is remarkably good. It is not completely literal but the translator tried to be as close as possible to the original. Below, you can find both the original text and the translated equivalent. You can use it for study purposes.
Хаджи Димитър | Hadji Dimitar
Жив е той, жив е! Там на Балкана,
потънал в кърви, лежи и пъшка
юнак с дълбока на гърди рана,
юнак във младост и в сила мъжка.
На една страна захвърлил пушка,
на друга сабля на две строшена;
очи темнеят, глава се люшка,
уста проклинат цяла вселена!
Лежи юнакът, а на небето
слънцето спряно сърдито пече;
жътварка пее нейде в полето,
и кръвта още по-силно тече!
Жътва е сега… Пейте, робини,
тез тъжни песни! Грей и ти, слънце,
в таз робска земя! Ще да загине и тоя юнак…
Но млъкни, сърце!
Тоз, който падне в бой за свобода,
той не умира: него жалеят
земя и небо, звяр и природа
и певци песни за него пеят…
Денем му сянка пази орлица
и вълк му кротко раната ближе;
над него сокол, юнашка птица,
и тя се за брат, за юнак грижи!
Настане вечер – месец изгрее,
звезди обсипят сводът небесен;
гора зашуми, вятър повее, -
Балканът пее хайдушка песен!
И самодиви в бяла премена,
чудни, прекрасни, песен поемнат, -
тихо нагазят трева зелена
и при юнакът дойдат та седнат.
Една му с билки раната върже,
друга го пръсне с вода студена,
третя го в уста целуне бърже -
и той я гледа, – мила, зесмена!
“Кажи ми, сестро, де – Караджата?
Де е и мойта вярна дружина?
Кажи ми, пък ми вземи душата, -
аз искам, сестро, тук да загина!”
И плеснат с ръце, па се прегърнат,
и с песни хвръкнат те в небесата, -
летят и пеят, дорде осъмнат,
и търсят духът на Караджата…
Но съмна вече! И на Балкана
юнакът лежи, кръвта му тече, -
вълкът му ближе лютата рана,
и слънцето пак пече ли – пече!
He lives yet! he lives yet! there on the Balkan –
The blood has run dark from his bosom to die.
Behold the young hero whose bosom was throbbing,
Whose blood ever shouted as dawn in the sky.
There on the ground has he thrown the long rifle,
too and broken his sabre is hurled,
Over his eyes now the darkness is spreading,
On his lip trembles a curse for the world.
Silent he lies there and in the heavens
Has the sun halted and angrily glows,
Far down in the meadow some worker is singing
And faster and faster thet hero-blood flows.
It is the harvest. Sing, you slave-worker,
Sing the sad songs! You are shining, O sun,
Over a slave-land; ’twill die with our hero –
Have done with your tempests, my bosom, have done.
He that has fallen fighting for freedom
Chooses not death – to that hero belong
The tears of the sky and of earth and her children
And of the voice of the maker of song.
An eagle is spreading her wing for a shadow,
A grey wolf is licking the wound and above,
Above them the falcon, that bird of the heroes,
Floats over his brother, for sorrow and love.
Now falls the twilight and the moon clambers
Into that arch where the happy stars dance,
Now the wood rustles, now the wind hisses,
Now chants the Balkan a robber’s romance.
And all the white arrayed elves of the forest
Trumpet their wondering, silvery strain,
Softly they float thro’ the shadows above him,
Till they alight as the summer-sweet rain.
One of them brings the keen herbs of the woodland,
Another brings water to quicken his brow,
Another one calls him to life with her kisses,
So that he turns like a wind-embraced bough.
„Tell, me, where is my comrade Karadja?
Where are the faithfull who followed my sword?
Tell me and I shall sleep sweetly, my sisters,
Where yhe sweet blood from my body has poured.”
They clap with their hands, they embrace one another
And singing they fly on the back of the wind,
Fly to the dim region where ghosts have assembled
But never the ghost of Karadja they find.
Now dawn has leaped to the mountains;
the hero on the Balkan. Ah! see, the blood flows,
The grey wolf is licking his wound and the poison,
Scarlet the sun is and angrily glows.
Note: “Hadji” in old Bulgaria was a title for someone who went to a religious journey to Jerusalem and back.
Here is a video where you can hear the original in well-spoken Bulgarian. The actual reading starts a bit later.
Bulgarian QuickStart Course
Hello!
We will launch a Bulgarian QuickStart Course at the beginning of August 2011.
This course is for you, if you want to…
- finally get fluent in reading the Bulgarian alphabet
- count in Bulgarian
- be able to introduce yourself in Bulgarian
- learn vocabulary for every day use (travel, relationships, shopping, restaurants etc.)
- build your own basic phrases
- learn to ask questions
- learn more about the Bulgarian culture
and many more things, which we will announce later.
The course will be an online video course with the contents available in audio and text format as well. You can download everything and learn whenever and wherever you want, even on your mobile device.
The course is not for you, if you are already fluent in Bulgarian and have a rich vocabulary.
If you need a quick start into the Bulgarian language, we are looking forward to see you in the course at the beginning of August 2011.
Write us an e-mail in case you have further questions: support@learn-bulgarian.net
Learn Bulgarian on the iPad and iPhone
Since today our videos with the 100 Bulgarian phrases can be watched on almost any mobile device like iPad or iPhone (it even works on Android phones). To access the videos simply open the page with the phrases on your device and it will automatically work.
If you don’t have access to the 100 Bulgarian phrases, you can subscribe on the right side of this page. Its completly free and you will receive even more materials by time until we launch our full course.
And by the way, we also enabled audio downloads on that page. You find a download link below each video.
English sentences you want to learn in Bulgarian
Hey there! We hope you started 2010 well! To improve our upcoming course we want to teach a lot of Bulgarian vocabulary too. But everyone needs different vocabulary, so we want to ask you if you can help us:
Bulgarian Relationship Vocabulary
Today we launched our promised video about Bulgarian relationship vocabulary. Learn more than 30 Bulgarian phrases in the areas of “Love and Romance”, “Parents to children” and “Friends”. Additionally we added to the video an audio version, which you can download and use on your computer or mobile device to learn Bulgarian. And last but not least, you find at the end of this post the transcription of the phrases.
1. Video
2. Audio Version
Download MP3 Version to learn the Relationship Vocabulary lesson on your mobile device (ipod, iphone or any mp3 player)
3. Transcription Bulgarian / English
Download as PDF (easier to print)
Bulgarian Vocabulary: Love and Romance
Харесвам те
Haresvam te
I like you
И аз те харесвам
I az te haresvam
I like you too
Обичам те
Obeecham te
I love you
И аз те обичам
Ee az te obeecham
I love you too
Липсваш ми
Lipsvash mee
I miss you
И ти ми липсваш
Ee tee mee lipswash
I miss you too
Винаги си в мислите ми
Veenagee see v meesleete mee
You are always in my thoughts
Много си сладък/сладка
Mnogo see sladhuk/sladka
You are cute
Разчитам на теб
Razcheetam na teb
I rely on you
Мога ли да те целуна?
Moga lee da te tseluna?
Can I kiss you?
Не, твърде е рано
Ne, twuhrde e rano
No, it‘s too early
Стигаш твърде далече!
Steegash twuhrde daleche
You carry things too far!
Съжалявам
Suhzhaleeavam
I am sorry
Няма нищо Neeama nishto It‘s okay
Можеш ли да ми простиш?
Mozhesh lee da mee prosteesh?
Can you forgive me?
Да, прощавам ти
Da, proshtavam tee
Yes, I forgive you
Правиш ме толкова щастлив(а)
Praveesh me tolkova shtastleev(a)
You make me so happy
Bulgarian Vocabulary: Parents to Children
Искаш ли да играем?
Eeskash lee da eegraem?
Would you like to play?
Да, искам
Da, eeskam
Yes, I want
Не, не ми се играе сега
Ne, ne mee se eegrae sega
No, I don‘t want to play now
Време е за лягане
Vreme e za leeagane
It‘s time to go to bed
Гладен/гладна ли си?
Gladen/gladna lee see?
Are you hungry?
Жаден/жадна ли си?
Zhaden/zhadna lee see?
Are you thirsty?
Вода или кола?
Voda eelee kola?
Water or Coke?
Трябва ли ти нещо?
Treeabva lee tee neshto?
Do you need something?
Хайде да излезнем на разходка
Haide da izleznem na razhodka
Let‘s go out for a walk
Bulgarian Vocabulary: Friends / People you know
Искаш ли да отидем в града?
Eeskash lee da otidem v grada?
Would you like to go to the city?
Искаш ли да отидем на кино?
Eeskash lee da otidem na kino?
Would you like to go to cinema?
Да, с удоволствие
Da, s oodovolstvie
Yes, I would love to
Кой е любимият ти филм?
Koi e liubeemeeat tee film?
What is your favourite movie?
Не, немога
Ne, nemoga
No, I cannot
Пожелавам ти успех
Pozhelavam tee oospeh
I wish you success
Можеш ли да говориш по-бавно?
Mozhesh lee da govoreesh po-bavno?
Can you speak a bit slower?
Неможах да те разбера
Nemozhah da te razbera
I couldn‘t understand you
Did you like it? What can we improve to teach you the Bulgarian language better and easier? Feel free to write a comment right below the the post.
Cyrillic (Bulgarian) alphabet in Windows
Let’s share a bit technical data.
A lot of you want to learn the Bulgarian alphabet. The first step for that is to set it up on your computers. That is how it works on Windows:
- Open Control Panel
- Double click on Regional and Language Options
- Go to the Language tab
- Click on the Details button. A new window will open.
- Use the Add button
- Find Bulgaria in the Input Language field
- Click on the OK button and save all changes
Please, let us know if you have any difficulties with the instructions above. Thanks!
P.S. Did you see our English-Bulgarian dictionary?
Bulgarian Dictionary
Hey there!
We just launched a Bulgarian dictionary to translate words from English to Bulgarian. The translator works quite well for single words, but of course it has sometimes its problems to translate the meaning of a sentence (like every “automated translator” has). We recommend to check it out and to bookmark it in your browser, so you can access the Bulgarian dictionary at any time with a single click.
Visit the English Bulgarian Dictionary now.
We plan to launch also a Bulgarian-English dictionary in future if it is desired by the users. Please write a comment if you are interested in this feature or if you have any other feedback for the Bulgarian dictionary.
By the way, if you are not yet able to read the Cyrillic alphabet, then sign up on the right side to receive our study materials and the notification of our course, where you will learn the Bulgarian alphabet easily.
Hello in Bulgarian
How to say hello in Bulgarian? It’s not always done with a simple word. But you can learn here within 2 minutes how to greet in Bulgarian.
If you talk to a single person, whom you know very well, you say “zdrasti” or “zdravey” and if you talk to a group of friends you say just “zdraveyte”.
There is a difference if you say hello to someone, whom you don’t really know yet. Then you greet according to the daytime. In the morning you would say “dobro utro”, during the day “dobar den” and at evening you greet this person with “dobar vecher”.
Watch the following video, which will show you how to pronounce the words correctly.
Hello in Bulgarian:
If you want to go further into this topic: Check how to introduce yourself in Bulgarian.
If you have any questions or remarks, don’t hesitate and write a comment right below this post.
