7 Advantages Of Speaking Bulgarian

I am trying to make a point with this post! 😀 A few days ago my friends and I were discussing the advantages of being born English, or French, or Spanish, or Italian, or Chinese and so on. You can already speak one of the most frequently used languages in the world and at the same time just like everybody else, you can also choose to learn a 2nd and a 3rd one; you can travel and work wherever you want; you can actually make a living out of it; you can do anything!

Now comes the big question – what can you do knowing Bulgarian? 😀 What are the advantages of being able to speak it? Why should you learn it? I sure know they aren’t as many as for those whose mother tongue is English, but there are… well, some and I’m gonna prove it now!

So, I shall start with my strongest arguments! Here they come!

Cool movie characters speak Bulgarian


Not many people can understand Tom Hanks in the Terminal, but those who speak Bulgarian, they can! *naaailed it* His character in the movie is a traveler from the fictional nation of Krakozhia and the language he speaks is actually Bulgarian. And let me ask you! Have you seen the message boards on IMDB?? It’s crazy! “What language is that?”, “Anybody speaking Russian or Bulgarian?” – eeeverybody wanna know! I’m sure they all started Bulgarian classes right after…

It gives you the freedom of speech even America can’t give to you

When traveling, Bulgarians can discuss whatever they want without other people understanding them! Yeah, that’s an advantage! If you are French and you are traveling in Peru for example, every time you and your mate want to say something to each other in your mother tongue, there is a chance that someone nearby can understand all you are saying. *spies everywhere* I know you may be thinking “So, what?”, but those who speak a language such as Bulgarian have more privacy and can fully enjoy the freedom of speech! (…and some good gossiping).

And can you imagine being English?? Now everybody speaks English. You can never just switch to another less known language (such as Bulgarian, hehe) and say something privately. I am sure there are many travelers who can really relate to that!

The new trend among hipsters

Again, hipsters, that’s your thing. Why learn German or Spanish. Comeee on! A real hipster would learn Bulgarian, or… Lithuanian?! Can you imagine how cool you would be, being able to speak a language no one else speaks? Hehe, that’s also kind of the tricky part, but you should definitely think about it. Be the real hipster you wanna be! Rise to your full hipster potential! #learnBulgarian

Okay, I didn’t want to mention this, but I may not have convinced you yet. So, dear male hipsters, do you know what’s the first thing on the list why people love Bulgaria? Check out for yourself: 84 reasons to love Bulgaria. You following? Knowing some Bulgarian might help. 😉

It’s a beautiful language with it’s own alphabet

Photo source: dariknews.bg

…and a nation’s possession of its own alphabet is a measure of its degree of cultural and spiritual development!

Bulgarian was the first Slavic language to be written. It uses the Cyrillic alphabet, and the language is famous for introducing this writing system which Russian, the other East Slavic languages and Serbo-Croatian (and other non-Slavic languages as well) would adopt later.

With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic also became the third official script of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek scripts.

You can also understand Serbian, Macedonian, Croatian and a little bit of Russian

I’m not saying that by learning how to speak Bulgarian you automatically learn all of these languages. What will happen is that you would be able to understand “the gist”. For example, me being Bulgarian, I can absolutely freely talk with a Macedonian. On the news, when they have a report, which includes a Macedonian speaker, they often don’t even translate it or put subtitles.

With one of my Bosnian friends, we used to sometimes have our conversations in our own languages – I talk in Bulgarian, she answers in Bosnian, and we could understand each other! And that is awesome if you are not following!

It gives you a niche

If you want to work with languages and linguistics, learning Bulgarian definitely gives you a niche. You’re not just another person who can speak English or Spanish. It gives you a particular skill that undoubtedly has it’s use. Every language has a value and it’s up to you whether you can use it as your advantage. Don’t underestimate what you already have.

What is more, Sofia was recently named in the top 10 Cities Around the World to Launch your Startup by FORBES. So, learning Bulgarian may actually be good for your business. Why not?

Foreigners call it the language of love

People learn English because of business, but people learn Bulgarian because of love. This amazing video by  Alexandra Whitaker explains it all.

The Bulgarian language is incredibly beautiful. You may say that I am subjective, but that won’t change anything. There isn’t a thought you cannot put into words, there isn’t a feeling you cannot describe. The Bulgarian language is first beautiful, second rich and third powerful. Know its value and know your value.


If you are up for more challenges (on the side of learning Bulgarian), you can check out:

Going to Bulgaria? Let’s see if you are ready #ChallengeBulgaria

& Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, so that we don’t get depressed! 😀 Here: 99 lives

81 thoughts on “7 Advantages Of Speaking Bulgarian

  1. Абсолютно ненужен език
    Останали са приблизително един или два милиона души, които го говорят

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Иии естествено, ще се появи някой като теб, който защитава българските ценности… на латиница 😀

        Готин материал, евала!

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Два сме само во денешната Република Македонија. Вкупно сме околу 12-13 милиона. Поздрави од Охрид!

      Liked by 7 people

      1. Какви 12 милиона сте вие,бе,смешници…….Май ги броиш заедно с България.Ама България не е Македония,а точно обратното.Мозък промит.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Това има предвид човека ,че всички хора които говорят Български по света.. и неговите разновидности.. диалекти и т.н. (изменени или не езици) Са много повече от 12-13 милиона, но явно при теб четенето куца и не си разбрал за какво става въпрос! А всички знаем и виждаме умението на повечето българи да омаловажават всичко българско!

        Liked by 3 people

    2. Толкова си далеч от …истината, че просто не можеш да си го представиш! 🙂 . Повече от два милиона са само българите избрали да живеят някъде по широкия свят и да се възползват от основното си право да се предвижват свободно по майката Земя. Малко повече от 7 милиона са българите живеещи в Родината си. Около 3-4 милиона са етническите българи живеещи в Западните покрайнини / Сърбия/, Северна Добруджа / Румъния/, Молдова, Беларус, Русия, Южна Тракия, Македония, Северна Гърция…! Не пропускай и това, че българите са най-стария народ на Европа / доказано с редица археологически и писмени документи/ !

      Liked by 4 people

    3. абе ти защо не се гръмнеш? Като е абсолютно ненужен език тогава защо го използваш?! Срам ме е вече от такива като вас, които се отказвате от малкото което имате….

      Liked by 2 people

    4. Българин, който не плюе собствения си език, бит, култура, страна, земя и народ НЕ Е истински Българин!
      Браво, Вие сте истински Българин!
      С най-голямо удоволствие бих направил жена Ви щастЛива, а ако сте жена, бих бил изключително много радостен да ощастливя сфинктера Ви!

      Liked by 1 person

    5. !? Здрасти – що само 1-2 милиона!?
      И второ – всеки език е едно богатство. Защото ти показва ново виждане към света.
      Казвам го като човек, който е учил 10 езика. Всеки донася нещо ново.

      Liked by 1 person

    6. Абсолютно си неграмотен човече! Само в България са над 6 милиона, а има още толкова разпръснати по целия свят!

      Liked by 1 person

    7. Българското население е 7,3 милиона, но ти явно се водиш по друга статистика съдейки по твърдението ти. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

    8. Не е нужноя някой да споделя Вашето мнение… Не Ви е срам да кажете, че език може да бъде ненужен!


    9. Абсолютно ненужен човек се изразходи абсолютно ненужно на място където е абсолютно неканен.


  2. It would be nice to talk some Bulgarian! Finnish is the same in the sense that we can also go overseas and speak whatever to each other. Usually other Finns are also easy to spot, so we know when to be quiet 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I have 2 more!

    1. If you speak Bulgarian (or at least you get to know it a little) you understand what the hell is the middle name for people and how can you use it to know a little bit more about the father of the person 😉 Ok, this would happen also if you know Russian culture 🙂
    2. If someone is speaking about Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva or at least Nina Dobreva – knowing Bulgarian a bit would not cause the question: “but why you say Dobreva? Her name is Dobrev!”.

    I am a proud supporter of #LearnBulgarian hashtag 🙂

    Liked by 4 people

  4. A lot of people here, commenting and discussing if it is needed to learn it or not.
    I am Bulgarian, learning 3 languages – English, Spanish and Portuguese. Do you know what is the best thing about our language? It contains every single sound you can imagine and some you can’t. And all those sounds are included in other languages. English can’t say the hard R, Bulgarians can, Spanish can’t say the soft R, Bulgarians can. The OE sounds in German, etc. Everything can be learned if you know how to proper speak Bulgarian. We even have some sounds that Russians can’t.

    I guarantee that a Bulgarian, knowing the country’s language needs no more than two weeks to get used to the dialect at the spot where he lives. Oh, and good luck reading and pronouncing my name if you can’t speak Bulgarian 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Bulgarians (and I think most Slavs) don’t have the ‘th’ sounds. Actually a lot of European languages don’t have those two sounds (the voiced and unvoiced ‘th’, as in ‘with’ and ‘that’). Try saying ‘paths’.
      You approximate the ‘j’ sound with ‘dzh’ but it’s effectively the same thing.
      The hardest words in Bulgarian I’ve found include some unusual (for English-speakers) consonant transitions – like mlyako and xlab. Luckily everybody can say rakia!

      Liked by 2 people

  5. What kind of Bulgarian are you telling that there is Macedonian language? Yes, the supporters of macedonism consider the dialect spoken in Republic of Macedonia as separated language which has nothing to do with Bulgarian and claim it’s existence, but you if you are real Bulgarian who loves Bulgaria, the Bulgarian language, our history, culture you shouldn’t support this views of them. This way you are offending the Bulgarians from Macedonia, and supporting the ideology of macedonism which is antibulgarian in its basis. Another fact I guess you are not familiar with it, is that the Bulgarian language is pluricentric, has three standards Bulgarian, and two variants Macedonian and Banat. This is position of the Institute of Bulgarian language in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. And this just makes our language and culture rich and we should be proud of it. Conclusion: There is no such thing as “Macedonian” language. This so-called language is a Bulgarian. Simply the people in Macedonia don’t speak the standartised Bulgarian language, but local dialect, and the differences which exist are because of this.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I’ve no idea how many people speak Bulgarian, but I’m certain that no more than half a million at best speak AND write Bulgarian properly. The way the language is distorted and abused nowadays, makes me feel a foreigner in my own country; makes me want to escape and adopt English, where there are still some standards. There’s hardly anybody to stand for Bulgarian anymore.

    Какъв процент от населението не говори на “ходиме, правиме” и какъв процент е запознат с правилата за слято и разделно писане?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Не си мислете, че в чужбина е по-различно в това отношение, Не може ли просто да обичаме това, което си е наше, общо?

      I love bulgarian!

      Liked by 3 people

    2. I’m not sure what definition you have of standards for English, the internet is replete with examples of poor English, most of whom are native English speakers.

      Also, all languages evolve over time. My grandparents were Germans from Russia, the family line spent 100 years in Russia before coming to the U.S. and another generation grew up here speaking German. They spoke a dialect that is no longer used today. My grandmother had a German wall hanging in her apartment, I asked her what it said one time, and she said she couldn’t read it because it was in modern German!


    3. Всеки език има особености, правила, варианти на разговорен и писмен език, диалекти, произношения и прочие. Това не го превръща в друг език.


  7. Страааашни аргументи! Най =силният ти аргумент е, че Том Ханкс говори български в един филм ??? Невероятно просто.
    Друг аргумент, е че можеш да псуваш хората на спокойствие без да те усетят чужденците ? Чудеееесен аргумен, браааааааааат!

    АмЪн от патриоти!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. This text is not completely true. Croatian people would not understand Bulgarian. Bosnian people (some of them) do understand Bulgarian. But Bosnian people are not from Croatia. They have their own country, and in title is mention Croatia but in following text is mention ‘Bosnian girl’. This is confusing.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I guess this is pretty subjective and depends on the person (Croatian or Bosnian or Serbian) listening. As a Bulgarian I have been in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia and I would say I did get the gist when listening to people talking in all these countries. In fact, I must say the Croatians speak much slower than Serbians and I could understand more. I have had very nice conversations in Bulgarian-Croatian. 🙂
      Много хубав позитивен текст. Подкрепям. Всеки език е богатство!

      Liked by 2 people

  9. In a blog which is talking about language it is a disappointment to find “Me and my friend were discussing…”? Think about that. Remove you friend and it would read “me was discussing”.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I noticed that as well, in the second sentence no less! It’s a common mistake, but something that English teachers have drilled into kids since the early grades in an apparently vain effort to correct. You always list yourself last, and use me or I as appropriate.
      There were also a couple issues with missing commas in the text but those were more minor.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. С магистърска степен на английски и повече от 15 години преподаване, още не съм намерила добър превод на “тази жена е много оправна” или “и едните, и другите са маскари”! 😄


  10. After all I’ve read .. I didn’t saw something important to say: why knowing Bulgarian is key to understanding 80% of the surrounding languages..
    Bulgaria dates from 681 year officially and grew to empire so big that every other country was forced to attack it..
    By the time of the Bulgaria’s golden age 893 – 927 y. the borders of the country was on 3 seas ..
    So.. 1335 years later evry surrounding Bulgaria country have something bulgarian inside of it 🙂
    Don’t understand me wrong .. evry language and culture have it’s own specifics (there are places in Bulgaria that the native speak such difficult dialect that capital natives can’t understand them) , but when it comes to Bulgaria 🙂 there are lots of thing other countries won’t admit ..
    Oh.. I’ve almost forgot : Macedonia is self separated piece of Bulgaria .. so, tell me whatever you want, but Macedonians will always be bulgarians forced to admit that they are something else 🙂 – prove me wrong – learn history ..
    Best wishes: Damian |Y|

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Българският език е безсмъртен, защото чрез него се предава Божието слово на Любовта, както сам разбра от госпожата Уитакър. Мразещите хора са на изчезване.


    2. Good thing Allah is not in charge of languages…and the most numerous language speakers DON’T rule the world. Stupid comments is what needs to disappear, God willing. And I’m not even religious.


  11. Видеото на Alexandra Whitaker толкова много ме развълнува, че още ми текат сълзи от очите! Ще направя всичко възможно това видео да стигне колкото се може до повече хора, езикът ни – това е нашата национална гордост! Нека да го пазим, развиваме и популяризираме. Девизът погрешно е “И ний сме дали нещо на света!”, а “Без нас светът би бил доста по-беден!”

    Liked by 2 people

  12. This is a nice effort by the author of this article. Take it from a proud Bulgarian who speaks Bulgarian, English, Russian, Spanish, Greek and French. The article is well written with a good intention. Please be mindful, however, of certain grammatically incorrect prepositions and phrases that you have used here. When you write in English, do not start a sentence with the subjective clause. Start with the objective clause. For example, NOT “With my friend, I did this and that and the other thing.” Rather, ” I did this and that, and the other thing, with my friend.” Also, there is no such word as “reportage” in English. “REPORT, or TV REPORT,” will be just fine. “Reportage” is used in French, and in Bulgarian, of course. Be careful with the possessive pronoun in third person neuter “its” – belonging to it. For example, “Every dog has its day.” In contrast, “It’s is an abbreviation of “it is”, the conjugation of the verb “to be” in third person neuter. For example, “It’s a hot day out there.” The non-abbreviated sentence will be: “It is a hot day out there.”
    I am only giving you a short English grammar lesson, because I like your ideas, and I would like to see you develop into a good writer in the English language. As Bulgarians, we command and demand perfection in every area we delve into, from ourselves and others.
    Knowing Bulgarian grammar quite well helped me become a polyglot. Knowing Bulgarian grammar helped me learn English, Spanish and Greek grammar. Not everyone speaks Bulgarian, so naturally we are interested in acquiring the gift of the gab in other tongues, and learning other nations’ history and culture. (NOTICE WHERE I PUT THE APOSTROPHE. IT IS AFTER THE S, MEANING THAT IT BELONGS TO SEVERAL NATIONS IN PLURAL FORM.) Learning correct English grammar is a dying art even in the United States. How about we native born Bulgarians learn correct English and stand out?
    Yes, being a native Bulgarian helped me become a polyglot. Polyglot comes from the Greek words “poli”- many, and “glotis” – throat. One of many throats. I work in the field of linguistics successfully.
    This should only serve as an encouragement for you. Disregard the haters. When villagers and provincialists ask you in bad Bulgarian: “Why don’t you write in Bulgarian?”, just say: “Because I want to tell the rest of the world’s population in correct, beautiful English what it means to be a Bulgarian!”

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Българският език е един от най-старите в Европа, говорен от повече от 15 милиона, заедно с Македонската норма, Банатската норма, както и много други диаспори по света. Българите по целият свят сме около 20 милиона, пръснати както в българското землище, така и по-далече в Русия, Германия, САЩ, Англия, Испания, Италия, Холандия и др.
    Българският език е обявен за свещен и на него може да се води черковната службата, редом с латински и гръцки, като затова е познат като черковно-славянски език, като “славянвки” е вмъкнат за да се омаловажи значението на българския език.
    По времето на Цар Иван Асен II България придобива голямо политическо влияние в Европа и езика ни се разпространява в цяла Източна Европа, познат в академичните среди под “Среднобългарски език”, на който са говорили както българите, така и власи, печенеги, кумани, сърби, някой гърци, молдовци и много други народи. Затова днес виждаме близостта на българския и сръбския, руския, македонския, дори бих споменал и полския и някои други.
    Още повече, че българският език е първият засвидетелстван т.н. “славянски” език с азбука и граматика, разпространил влиянието си в Източна Европа и дори е редно да се водят Българска група езици, а не Славянски езици, защото да припомня примера на западноевропейските езици имаме Германска група езици, в които влизат немски, английски, датски, шведски и др.
    За тези които се подиграва с езика ни бих казал да си гледа работата.


  14. Nice article! I saw a lot of things in the comments but not the one that bugged me. I suggest you change the google logo with REAL Bulgarian Cyrillic! Sadly, what you’ve used is russian Cyrillic. The difference is Bulgarian small and capital letter forms are different, just like in latin. While Russian small letters are like small caps – there is no difference in the symbol, just size. Actually even a lot of the Bulgarians don’t realize the difference, mainly because there aren’t a lot of Bulgarian typefaces and most of the books, magazines, even textbooks and of course all of the web content is in Russian Cyrillic.


  15. Няма “примитивни” и “напреднали”, “прости” и “сложни” езици. Така говорят филолозите… А за любителите да “сравняват” езиците ще предложа малък текст. Нека преведат на добър английски “изпонапиха се” или “изпотрепаха народа”, или стандартното “бил съм се бил напил”!


  16. What a load of crock.

    You don’t need an obscure language to keep your conversation private, you just need to keep your voice down. I understand that to an American this may be a revolutionary idea, but you can try it out. It really works.

    The other “reasons” are very good illustrations of the meaning of the phrase “contrived example”.

    Good job, but done like a true Bulgarian. Or, in Bulgarian, хубава работа, ама българска.


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