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How to Learn Bulgarian
By Darina
Learning a new language is always a challenge. A lot of new words have to be remembered and new sentence structure and grammatical rules have to be mastered. It can, however, be a fun process.
Listed below are a few tips that will show you how to learn Bulgarian easily by emerging yourself in the language.
Do a little every day. It doesn’t have to be for long, but if you don’t refresh your knowledge daily, you will forget what you know easily. In order to create a routine easily, add the Bulgarian learning activity to an already existing routine. Learn a few new words with your morning coffee or watch a short video lesson before your TV time at evening. Make it happen.
Most languages have general rules for the correct words stress. Bulgarian is not one of them. It is easier, therefore, to memorize each word with the correct word stress from the beginning. On this website, all Bulgarian words have the correct stress indicated with a bold letter. For example: Ябълка – the letter я is the sound which should be prolonged when you pronounce the word.
Every language has their typical sounds. In Bulgarian, the sounds that are different from any sound in English are the ones corresponding to the letters ж, р, ц, ч, ъ. You can hear them in our alphabet video.
It is a well known technique. You can make them yourself, using small cards with the Bulgarian word on one side and the English one on the other. Flip them during the day and examine yourself. There are also a lot of free flash card apps for smartphones, which provide you with hassle free learning. You can learn while waiting on the bus stop and utilize otherwise wasted time. You can also employ your visual memory by adding post it notes on common objects at home which you are currently trying to remember. Stick a note at your hair brush saying “четка”, and after a few days you will learn the word without much effort on your part.
As an addition to flash cards, a good exercise would be to speak in your head the words corresponding to the objects you see. Go trough your day and when you see a lamp, a car or a store, say the words in Bulgarian in your mind. To expand this even further, try to think whole sentences. Write your shopping list in Bulgarian or if you are a diary person, try to add a short entry in Bulgarian every day. This might not be a controlled environment but you will still be practicing and that’s more important.
Learning a new language always involves some awkward situations. You will say stupid things, you will misunderstand people. This is part of the process. Embrace it. Enjoy it. After a few years when you become fluent in Bulgarian you will have a good arsenal of funny lost-in-translation stories to share with your friends. It is not a big deal to make mistakes but it is important to get over the fear of it, because it hinders you to exercise and practising is the best way to learn a language.
