Related Topics  Alphabet  General Information		Language Although you will see many signs transliterated or translated into a Roman script, sounds can only be rendered reliably by the Cyrillic alphabet in which the Bulgarian language is written. French, German and English languages are widely studied but you will not find speakers everywhere and attempts to make yourself understood in Bulgarian will usually be greatly appreciated and encouraged. While the sounds of characters do change a little dependent on their position within a word and the syllable on which the emphasis falls, they are otherwise very reliable and should always be understandable on the basis of the guide to the alphabet given below. A   a    - A as in act Á   á    - B as in beer    â    - V as in void à  ã    - G as in god Ä   ä    - D as in dog Å   å    - E as in pet Æ   æ    - J as in Je or S as in treasure Ç   ç    - Z as in zodiac È   è    - I in French il or ea as in fear É   é    - see note below Ê   ê    - K as in kind Ë   ë    - L as in lamp Ì   ì    - M as in mast Í   í    - N as in name Π  î    - O as in sorry Ï   ï    - P as in post Р  ð    - R as in rain Ñ   ñ    - S as in sail Ò   ò    - T as in time Ó   ó    - oo as in noodle Ô   ô    - F as in face Õ   õ    - ch as in loch Ö   ö    - ts as in tsunami or lets ×   ÷    - ch as in church Ø   ø    - sh as in fish Ù   ù    - sht as in Ashton Ú   ú    - as last u in furious or e as in potter ü        - see note below Þ   þ    - pronounced as you ß   ÿ    - ya as in yak Bulgarian letters do not have names but two characters deserve special attention. É forms a diphthong following a vowel to end on the y sound as in say or in York at the start of a word. ü although the upper case formally exists, this y sound always follows a consonant. It is impossible here to give more than a few guiding notes on the language. For a working vocabulary, a good dictionary is recommended, preferably one that indicates the syllable upon which stress falls within a word. íå - no äà - yes ('äà' is also used before a verb to form the infinitive) ëè - Following a verb forms a question. Verbs are always conjugated and appear in the dictionary in the l-form.

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