COMMUNICATING WITH BULGARIANS
Bulgarian is a South Slavonic language, related to Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. Within Bulgaria, there are about 30 different dialects.

Before the 9th century, Bulgarians used the Greek alphabet for written communication. Today they use the Cyrillic alphabet, which is named after St. Cyril. He and his brother, St. Methodius, adapted the Greek alphabet in the 9th century to provide a written language for Slavic people.

The Cyrillic alphabet has 31 letters. Some Cyrillic letters look like letters in the Roman alphabet, but they are pronounced differently. For example, the sound R is written P, S is written C, and V is written B.

Before 1989, Bulgarians were required to learn Russian. Today, however, many Bulgarian students study English as a second language.

 Did you know?
     
In Bulgaria, shaking the head from side to side means yes and nodding up and down means no.

  
There are many Bulgarian proverbs and folk sayings that express Bulgarians' attitudes to life. For example, "Elijah changed his clothes, but when he looked at himself he was the same" (you can change the outside, the inside remains the same). "A hungry bear doesn't dance" (you need to eat to be productive).

 Did you know?
     
Many Bulgarian names and place names are derived from Thracian words. The Thracians were an indigenous people who lived in the area before the arrival of the Bulgars.

  

   English    Bulgarian
Yes Da
No Ne
Please Molya
Thank you Blagodarya
You're welcome Nyama zashto
Excuse me Izvinete
How are you? Kak ste?
Good morning Dobro utro
Good day/evening Dobar den/vecher
Good night Leka nosht