Bulgarian to B1 - A Journey

[Zomxilla]

I'd forgotten about my account here! The last I posted I was learning Cantonese, but many things have changed in the last five years or so. In 2022 I moved to Bulgaria and met my partner. I've slowly been learning the language, though not nearly as fast as I'd like. I know that full immersion is the fastest way, but my partner is a fluent English speaker so that's what we speak at home.

This log will be a place to keep track of my goals and my daily learning. I want to prioritise learning Bulgarian, of which there aren't as many resources as other languages I've learned in the past. One would think living in the country for over half a year would make a difference but that is not the case, apparently.

I've been taking group classes at a Bulgarian language school which has given me a solid base for my self-study. So far comprehension is my weakest area - it's like it becomes a completely different language when I hear it aloud!

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2024 Goals

• B1 level
• Read and translate Ерагон
• Watch and be able to vaguely follow reality shows like Ергенът

Current tools

• Group classes
• Anki for vocabulary
• Speaking with my partner and their family
• Watching television
• Attempting to read books I'm already familiar with

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Old Languages

I've had a long journey of learning languages, yet my retention has always been pretty poor. Part of it comes down to running out of steam to practice, and the other part to simply not having any use for it. Still, I think this insight into my background might be interesting!

• Mandarin Chinese: One of my first forays into another language. I think I got through HSK1 and was partway through HSK2. I could understand a lot of conversational Chinese and my writing was fine. Of all the languages I've learned, Mandarin is the one I've progressed the most with
• Japanese: Learned a fair amount and traveled to Japan a couple of times, and I've since lost most of my vocabulary and grammar. I like Japanese but would probably only pick it up again for travel reasons
• Russian: Studied for a year. The only thing I retained was the alphabet which helped me pick up Bulgarian faster
• Turkish: Also studied for a year. Retained nothing but the pronunciation
• Cantonese: Mostly learned to converse, and learned a bit of traditional Chinese writing. No urge to pick this up again as I was learning it to converse better with my (now ex's) family
• Greek: Living near Greece it pays to have a bit of this in my pocket. The alphabet is my biggest hurdle for some reason! My level is very much beginner and I only tend to refresh it when I'm going to Greece
• Swedish: I've flirted with Swedish a few times, and I very much like the language, so I could see myself picking it up again

[Zomxilla]

Watched an episode and a bit of Ергенът, understood very little but I think it was good to have some Bulgarian on in the background just to absorb some of the sounds of casual conversation. Unfortunately the site doesn't have subtitles so I'm floundering a little.

Also read on a bit in Ерагон, managed to get a paragraph and a half in (yup, very slow). Another 15 new words, mostly verbs! I haven't done any flashcard study for a bit so I might do some tomorrow or before bed.

[Zomxilla]

Spent an hour doing homework from Bulgarian class along with some flashcards. It involved aspects of verbs and future tense, and some fill-in-the blanks of sentences where I had to choose and conjugate the correct form of the verb:

1. Всяка година Миро разглежда нов град. Тази година ще разгледа град Русе.
2. Всяка Колед ние посещаваме баба и дядо.
3. Семейство Петрови планират да купят нова кола през зимата.
4. На 13.05 вие ще отидете в Пловдив.
5. Всеки ден аз и Петър се разхождаме в Борисовата градина, а утре ще се разходим в Южния парк.
6. Всяка Коледа ти отваряш предварително, но тази Коледа няма да ги отвориш.
7. Обикновено на Коледа те приготвят баница, но тази година ще приготвят торта.

I think i can actually spot some mistakes which is good! Verb conjugation is getting easier and easier, starting to get a hang of what "sounds wrong".

Didn't translate any more Ерагон today as I ran out of time.

[Zomxilla]

Continuing Eragon today. Still slow going as I come across many new words, but I already feel it getting easier. Here are some I learned:

• Полъх - A breath
• По-силна - Stronger
• Възбудено - Excited
• Разтегля - To stretch
• Устни - Lips
• Усмивка - A smile
• Прошепвам - To whisper
• Напря̀гам - To tense
• Тяло - Body
• Усилие - Effort
• Стисна - To squeeze
• Потракване - A rattling noise
• Дочуя - I heard
• Появя се - To appear
• Някакви - Some
• Неясен - Unclear / vague
• Образ - Image / visual impression
• Ездач - Rider (eg, of a horse)
• Сияя - To shine
• Светлина - A light
• Течен - Liquid
• Сребро - Silver
• Гръб - Back
• Лък - A bow (archery)

That's definitely a lot for a few paragraphs, wow. I think I'll take some time to go through these flashcards and make sure I actually retain the vocabulary. Fortunately a lot of these words will be recurring as they are specific to fantasy settings. Some are words I really should know already but just haven't come up!

I already have 100 words on my Quizlet list for Eragon, and that's when decks start bugging out so I'm going to have to make a new one.

[Zomxilla]

Didn't do any Eragon translation today, but did my regular flashcards and some prep for class tomorrow. Still working through future tense/past simple, and imperfective/perfective form of verbs. I have to read more about it because it keeps going over my head! That's kind of all I have as an update today.

[Zomxilla]

I got corrections from my teacher and I thought it might be interesting to post here! There are very few people learning Bulgarian from what I can see (which isn't very surprising) but I'm hoping to find the few that are.

- Аз и Мая искаме да отидем на Пловдив този Юни -> Аз и Мая искаме да отидем ДО Пловдив този Юни.

Just an incorrect preposition - the rules can be inconsistent with English so I have to rote learn them.

- Можеш ли купиш една бутилка вино на Мария? -> Можеш ли ДА купиш една бутилка вино на Мария?

Verbs need to be connected with да.

- Кога ще автобусът до Бургас пристигнат?

This one required a little more explaining to fix. I was translating directly from what I would say in English (When will the bus to Burgas arrive?) which doesn't quite work apparently:

Word order for questions: Question word + verb + subject + adjunct: Кога ще пристигне автобусът от Бургас?

• автобус - Той
• conj. -> пристигне
• preposition: пристигам/ще пристигна ОТ + place: arrive from

I don't quite get it but I don't think I have to worry too much about that right now.

- Искаш ли да дойдеш с мен на магазина? -> Искаш ли да дойдеш с мен ДО магазина?

Again with the до preposition. My teacher gave me something to help remember: дойда ДО + place = come to

- Аз ще спя на събота сутрин, е почисти къщата на неделя. -> Аз ще спя В събота сутрин и ще почистЯ къщата В неделя.

This one is on me, I have to remember the preposition being в + day of the week.

Overall, prepositions are kicking me in the behind. Learning them as a direct english translation is not going to work because different prepositions are used in different places, so I'm just going to have to learn the context around each one!

[Zomxilla]

Re-read the pages I'd already translated of Ерагон and went over my flashcards to really stick the words in my head. I'm finding it easier and easier to pick up on the 'in-between' words - prepositions, pronouns, that sort of thing. Grammar is really clicking into place and that's super exciting to me. At least in terms of comprehension, things are getting easier - translating from English to Bulgarian is another beast entirely.

So far my practice with speaking Bulgarian is limited to class time and then whenever I go out and interact with the world at large. I need to speak more Bulgarian at home but it is so easy to just stick with English. I really should be using Bulgarian for all those easy little phrases (what do you want to eat, would you like some coffee, etc etc). I still have that hesitation upon speaking that first bit of Bulgarian (will I be understood? Am I saying it right?) that I need to get over.

There are about five lessons left of my course, and I don't know whether I will continue to the next level or not. I want to, but there's a chance that I'll be moving out of the city soon - additionally, class twice a week is disruptive to my current work schedule, so it's tempting to take a term off and maybe go back later.

[Zomxilla]

I remembered to take Ергагон with me to the town I'm visiting but I forgot to take my homework. I'm hoping my teacher can send me a copy so I can work on it over the weekend! Otherwise I'm quite happy slowly translating my way through Eragon. Despite having to look up every other word, it's really solidifying my understanding of grammar and helping me memorise those small inbetween words. I need to try reading out loud because my pronunciation and speed is...lacking.

Other than that, I've been doing my flashcards and going to class. I still struggle with comprehension when someone is speaking their regular native speed, which I think I'm just going to have to get used to over time. I want to find some movies I'm very familiar with that have a Bulgarian dub - perhaps Ponyo, if it exists. The language in Ponyo is in general quiet simple so it should be straightforward!

Back to the grind!

[Zomxilla]

I've been neglecting some of my older decks in Quizlet so I spent some time today refreshing my memory on older words. There are several groups of verbs I struggle with just because they sound close. I've also been slowly building up a deck that has the 100 most used verbs but it is taking me a hot minute to fill it out.

In terms of listening, I've been watching a lot of Bulgarian TV including Hell's Kitchen BG. Sometimes I can understand a full sentence, but my comprehension is still lacking. I tried also to find an audiobook version of Eragon but it just does not exist! So I must struggle on.

I'm trying to organise with some classmates a Bulgarian language club where we just meet up and practice our Bulgarian. For now I'm just a little frustrated with my lack of comprehension with no idea how to improve that beyond listening more and learning more vocabulary.

[Zomxilla]

I made it through the prologue of Eragon! It's getting noticeably easier to read, and my process is a lot quicker. I'm trying to think of more ways to get the most out of this practice, and I think I need to be reading aloud as well. That's usually where I fumble - my mouth is simply not used to the shapes it needs to make, nor is it used to some of the vowel-consonant combinations that English simply doesn't have.

Apart from reading, I've been doing my flashcards and homework for class. I won't be able to attend this week, but my teacher sends out very useful handouts via email so that shouldn't be too much of a problem. On the cards for this week is to read a little more about tenses and try and memorise some of the conjugation I need for past tense. Regular daily conversation is almost impossible without at least recognising when past tense is *happening*. I spoke very briefly with my partner's mother and had to get her to speak slowly lmao. This part of the country speaks with a dialect (like most different areas of Bulgaria), so sometimes I have to do a double take.

Still, progress is happening! I'm getting braver and braver about just speaking Bulgarian even if I'm worried about people not understanding me.