How to learn Bulgarian
By: Geri Emiri
As an AUBG freshman I immediately became fascinated with Bulgarian culture and language. Although Bulgarian language seemed very difficult to learn at first, I overcame those barriers by pure motivation and careful consulting with AUBG upper graders. I gathered all my current knowledge and experience into this short guide directed to AUBG non-Bulgarian speaking students who wish to learn Bulgarian. Despite this guide’s brevity it contains all the necessary steps for you to speak like a real Bulgarian. First of all you need to find a bunch of Bulgarian friends to start with. Disturb them and abuse them by asking every possible moment about different Bulgarian words. Repeat this step until you have mastered the usage of some words in Bulgarian, like greeting for example, or until your Bulgarian friends get tired of you and do not want to hang out with you anymore. In the second case you will need to replace your friends with others. Try to be all the time surrounded by Bulgarians.
After getting your friends you can go grab something to eat together. This step is important because if you want to learn Bulgarian you have to eat like a real Bulgarian. You have to go where authentic Bulgarian food is made, and observe how Bulgarians order food and eat. If you do not know what “binicka”, “airan”,” byrek” or “bakllava” are, you will have a hard time grasping the essence of Bulgarian language. Remember, you are what you eat.
Then after you got your friends and your stomach full you will want to go to the next level of learning. Procure for yourself a Bulgarian girlfriend, or what in the linguistic terminology is called a “dictionary with hair”. They are not hard to find as they tend to be pretty much everywhere. Keep your portable dictionary with you and do not feel shy to use it. But be careful not to mistakenly take a girlfriend from Russia or from another country. If they all look the same to you, try asking them about their nationality.
With your friends and girlfriend you can know go and hang out where Bulgarians usually go. By this I mean to go only to chalga clubs. If you are frequenting “The Face”, “Juliani”, “Extreme” and others of this sort you are doing it right. But if you are frequenting Underground I have some bad news for you: you will never learn Bulgarian. Listen to as many chalga songs as you can during your free time. Maybe you will not like it at first, but it will grow inside you until you cannot live without it. I would personally recommend you to listen to Azis’ songs, but be careful not to watch his video clips, especially if you are underage or suffer from heart diseases.
After completing all of the above steps, you will probably speak fluent Bulgarian. Do not worry if this guide does not give an immediate effect on you. Four years will be more than enough not only to learn Bulgarian, but also to understand Bulgarian culture and mentality. During senior year nobody is going to distinguish if you are a native Bulgarian or just a random foreign student.