Bulgarian Language Resources

[carryonandon]

I am confronted with the need to learn Bulgarian rather speedily - at least some by the end of November. I've studied the Cyrillic characters the language uses (which is most of them) and feel OK with writing them and with their basic pronunciations. Wikipedia has a list of everyday niceties, but can anyone recommend a resource for day-to-day

Comments

[qparom]

The best textbook I have is Intensive Bulgarian by Ronelle Alexander - it's only $35 on Amazon, and works really well.

Culturally - the only major thing is that in many parts of Bulgaria, people nod for "no" and shake their heads for "yes." It takes a little while to get used to this, 'cause it seems so internalized. Like, if you're in a restaurant, it might take you a few seconds the first few times to realize that when the waitress shakes her head it doesn't mean that they don't have whatever you wanted! However, this practice is in flux somewhat in Bulgaria now, especially in Sofia, as it's more Westernized. But just be on guard about it!

[qparom]

Are you sure? I've only heard of this in Buglaria, and occasionally small pockets of peoples in the Caucasus. But maybe parts of Greece have picked it up too, since we know things on the Balkans can be kind of fluid at times!

[tisoi]

Actually, I got confused - I was thinking about the όχι and ναι thing.