You may be relieved to know that while you are visiting Bulgaria, the majority of people speak English as a second language, particularly if they are living and working in the major tourist resorts.

English is first foreign language taught in schools, whilst German and Russian are also widely taught. However, in the countryside, it could occasionally prove to be a major barrier.
Road Signs

If travelling by car, be sure you can read some of the Cyrillic alphabet. Although around the major resorts, some signs are now thankfully showing the Latin alphabet, most signs in Eastern Bulgaria do not, so it could become difficult for you to navigate your way around.

A good idea is to have a map with you showing the town names written in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. This way you can at least compare the forms of the letters.

Body Language

Unlike us, the Bulgarians shake their heads when they mean "yes" and nod when they mean "no". However, sometimes they reverse these gestures if they know they're speaking to foreigners, thereby complicating the issue somewhat!

The use of the words da (yes) and ne (no) should be enough to avoid any misunderstandings.
Useful Bulgarian Words and Phrases
Zdravey/Zdrasti Hello!/Hi!

Dobro utro Good morning!

Dobar den Good afternoon!

Dobar vecher Good evening!

Leka nosht Good night!

Dovizhdane/Sbogom (pronounced [Zbogom]) Goodbye!/Farewell!

Priyatno mi e It is nice to meet you.

Kak si How are you?

Dobre Good/Well

Zle/Losho Bad/Ill

Gore-dolu So-so
I. Basic Conversation

Da Yes.

Ne No.

Kak se kazvash What is your name?
Ako obichate Please

Blagodarya Thank you.

Molya You are welcome.

Izvinete/Izvinyavayte Excuse me. (formal)
II. Do You Speak...

Ne razbiram I do not understand.

Govorish li Do you speak...

Angliyski English

Frenski French

Nemski German

Ispanski Spanish

Kitayski Chinese
III. Family

Mayka Mother

Bashta Father

Sin Son

Dushterya Daughter

Supruga Wife

Suprug (pronounced [supruk]) Husband

Priyatel Friend (male)

Origins of Bulgarian Language

Bulgarian forms part of the South Slavic group of languages, together with Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Slovenian. It is the earliest written Slavonic language.

Its Cyrillic alphabet is the same as Russian, Serbian and Macedonian. Indeed some people also consider Macedonian to be a dialect of Bulgarian, but this is a highly charged and hotly disputed political issue. Macedonian is so close to Bulgarian that people in these two countries can understand each other without the needing to translate.

The Bulgarian language is divided into three periods: old, middle, and modern. The Old Bulgarian period lasted from the 9th to the 11th century and is otherwise known as Old Church Slovonic, representing the texts of this period.

The Middle Bulgarian period lasted from the 12th to the 14th century and was then considered as one of the three major literary languages of Europe.

The Modern Bulgarian period started in the 15th century, but the modern literary language didn't evolve until the 19th century. There are two major dialect groups in Bulgaria: the eastern and the western dialects. Each is subdivided into northern and southern varieties. The modern literary language is based primarily on the northeastern dialect.

Bulgarian is also spoken in Canada, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, and Yugoslavia with an estimated total of 9 million native speakers.