Learning BG with Cool

[coolasfcuk]

He heeee, well I couldnt say 'no' either :) and since it is almost end of the week, pheeeeeeeeew, here is the opening of the Learning BG thread (see sunnich, no punishment now)


Lesson One

ok, well, I will follow the Russian thread... and Start with the Alphabet and reading:

Cyrillc Alphabet - BG (http://community.webshots.com/photo/94175669/94176345NAjqZL) [Line #1 is Typed Capital letters, Line #2 is Typed Small letters, Line #3 is Cursive Capital letters, and line #4 is Cursive Small letters]

so, most of you already know, Bulgarian alphabet is almost identical to the Russian one, with only 3 exceptions... the Russian one has 3 extra letters: э, ы, ё. So a lot of my work has already been done in the Learning Russian thread.

Lets see - what can I say, Bulgarian is easier that Russian :gigi:... one big difference - Bulgarian is almost 100% phonetical, a lot more than Russian. So basically, if you learn the alphabet, you can read :D. Every letter is pronaunced just as you would say it in the alphabet, for example o is always o, it never could be pronaunced as a.

So let me back up here...I know I gave you a link to the alphabet, but let it be mainly because of the cursive writing, here is the alphabet typed:

Аа
Бб
Вв
Гг
Дд
Ее
Жж
Зз
Ии
Йй
Кк
Лл
Мм
Нн
Оо
Пп
Рр
Сс
Тт
Уу
Фф
Хх
Цц
Чч
Шш
Щщ
ъ ъ
Ьь
Юю
Яя

And here is a sound file of How to pronaunce the BG letters (http://www.websamba.com/coolasfcuk/Alphabet.mp3).

Few comments on that: first the letter й - it is called 'и кратко' = 'short i'...that is why it sounds like I say и = i twice, when really one is long и and one is short й. Then ь - this is not a very used letter in Bulgarian. In Russian it is used as soft sign, but since Bulgarian is not as soft as Russian, we do not use it as soft sign. For us it is actually a letter, but - it is never used alone - always in combination with o, so you could see: ьо which is read as yo. A word can never begin with this ьо, another way to write the sound yo is also йо - so if it should be in the begining of a word it would be йо. When is one used and when the other you ask, if it is in the middle or end of word... well, that depends on the letter before it, whether it is a soft or hard consinant - soft get the ьо and hard get йо - :grustno: will have to get back to you which ones are soft and which ones are hard exactly...
Also ъ for us a vowel for us, and not a 'hard sound' as in Russian.

So, actually, let me back up some more and say:

the vowels is Bulgarian are:
а, е, и, о, у, ъ - ufff, I hope I got those right - will confirm in next posting. Listen to the file above to know how they are pronauned exactly :)

consonants- ah, sunny poison explained those pretty well in the Russian one, and ours arent that much different, so I will borrow some of your explanations if you dont mind :rose:

ж - zh (like in english word decision... may be just a bit firmer)
й - j (like in the 'yard')
х - h (like in 'help, but much firmer)
ц - ts (like in its - or as I like to translit it ts)
ч - ch (China)
ш - sh (sh shop)
щ - sht, hmm, cant think of an English word, but it is basically 'sh' and 't' right after it - yes, this one is different than Russian :)
ю - 'i' and 'u' together, so 'iu' as in Юля :gigi:
я - 'i' and 'a', so 'ia' or sounds like 'yard'
well, basically all the other consonants are pretty similar to english corresponding sounds :)

Ok, last thing for the first and very basic lesson is that when little kids learn BG grammar in school, they are thought how to break down the word into срички = syllables.
so for example the word 'прозорец' = 'window' should be read as: 'п-р-о-з-о-р-е-ц' letter by letter, or broken into: 'про-зо-рец'.
how to read 'прозорец' (http://www.websamba.com/coolasfcuk/Prozorec.mp3)

Well, since it doesnt really matter which letter is stressed in Bulgarian, no need to worry about that yet - no letter will change because they aren't stressed :D so basicallly, first step is то learn the alphabet and really you can read Bulgarian for the most part. Of course, next lessons come with a little more complexity - фор ехампле we also do have those 'sound' and 'unsound' consonants - б-п, в-ф, д-т, з-с, ж-ш, г-к, etc.

[Kappa]

coolasfcuk, it's curious that BG and Russian spelling sound almost as latin founded as Spanish. :D

[bgirlnikki]

After reading and listinig to the example of window many times I think I got it.

[coolasfcuk]

darje, :gigi: we could start a big debate here...the chicken or the egg...but really, the Cyrillic alphabet was brought up North to Russia (which wasnt even exacly Russia at the time - Kievskaya Russ/Moskovskye Knizhestvo/etc) from the lands of Bulgaria ( which was aready Bulgaria at the time) where Cyril (from whose name Cyrillic come from) and Methodius [two brothers] and their deciples had settled after they were kicked out of Moravia (today's Czech) where they were on a missioin from the Byzantine Empire to educate the common village people (slavic), give them an alphabet, translate the bible for them - so they can be christians :D ... history in very short

[denial]

oh NO!! ..urr .. nice thread Cools ..I'll catch up with this later .. after my Russian .. then after learning Bulgarian can I date your cousin?

Looks simple without the akan'ye and ikan'ye .. until I read the line

we also do have those 'sound' and 'unsound' consonants
arrgghhhh.... *run and scream*

Okay.. seriously... this is interesting Cools ..I'll check here too :rose:..

[vesica]

Good day and thank you coolasfcuk,
I am wandering around this classroom too, for now at least :D.
so, ya yoo and yo (ьо) have their own symbols (or two) but not ye? I can't hear the sound file, so don't know how the vowel ъ is pronounced?
PS the history lesson is much appreciated. :rose: ;)

[prostrel]

Cool , thanks for the first lesson. I`m going to try this Bulgarian thing, though I have this "great" ability to mix up languages which are very simalar to each other. I just hope that I don`t choose the easier way in Russian, when I have learned here what the easy way is. :D

[russkayatatu]

ahhh thanks cool for taking the time to open this thread...should be fun :)

"sht" in English; there are no words :gigi: Maybe "hushed" has something like the same sound, though.

A main inspiration for the Cyrillic alphabet was the Greek one :znaika: I'm not sure what that has to do with what darje was saying about the spelling...but the history lesson is right ;) :gigi:

[russkayatatu]

eeeh heeeee, just for fun I recorded saying a few sentences in BG that I found in a reference book.

my 'homework' (http://www.geocities.com/russkayatatu/bgsayings.wav)

as for what I am saying... :gigi: ha haaa, all the sentences are that interesting; other examples: 'Her father was a close friend of Christo Botev's and as such put his signature under Ivanka Boteva's birth certificate in Bucharest' and 'the false bank notes are recognized by the poor quality of the paper.' ;) :lol:

does it sound sort of OK? :dknow:

[goku]

Hehe.. I should learn Bulgarian so I'm not always making a fool of myself when I go there.. <can't read menus!>

Maybe I should teach a French class. After Russian it will seem a breeze to you. :)

[coolasfcuk]

heeeee, hi everybody ... so there are few students here :D great - this weekend I will go on to lesson 2 ... and have a little exercise for those who are interested in doing it :)

now few comments:

eeeh heeeee, just for fun I recorded saying a few sentences in BG that I found in a reference book.
:laugh: Рейч, what reference book are you reading..... ha ha ha... it made me laugh.. in a good way I mean....just because of the content- you know what sentanses to pick, dont ya, ha ha. You did very good.... you know it yourself... you have the Russian accent going :gigi:, but that's ok, nothing is incorrect :rose: just sounds a little soft and some stresses are a bit off - but it is perfectly understandable - great job! Will record myself saying it and post it in a bit.

Hehe.. I should learn Bulgarian so I'm not always making a fool of myself when I go there.. <can't read menus!>

he heeeeee :D one more Russian that vacationed in BG! Great... where were you that there wasnt Russian on the menu? Usually at touristy places they always have Russian in the menu.
and french... why not... we are very linguistic forum around here.

[russkayatatu]

what reference book are you reading..... ha ha ha...


:gigi: the reference book: A Short Grammar of Contemporary Bulgarian :D but I'm glad you liked the sentences; they were cracking me up so I thought I would record them... :cool: anyway they are a little better than the ones about fascism, privatization, politics, etc. - there are also a few jokes about people from Gabrovo ;) - he hee, it's a fun book to read :smoke:

aaaaah, I DO have a Russian accent then :dead: I wasn't sure :ill: :ill: looking forward to hearing how you say it - thanks for all the comments :rose:

[coolasfcuk]

A Short Grammar of Contemporary Bulgarian
:laugh: well, with those sentanses that I have seen so far.... ha ha, I am not sure how 'contemproary' this is LoL

there are also a few jokes about people from Gabrovo
ha ha, yeah Gabrovo is supposedly the 'funny' city of BG ... but you know how I think.... there are people from Sofia...and then there are....:gigi: yeah

well, I recorded it :)

Listen to it (http://www.angelfire.com/un/coolasfcuk/BGsayings_cool.mp3)

And here it is typed...

Жените на времето бяха идеалистки, правеха любов заради самата нея.
Една рокля е хубава само тогава, когато предизвиква у тебе желание да кажеш на жената, която я носи: "Какви хубави очи имате!"

translated:
The women in the past were idealists, they made love just for the sake of making love.
One dress is nice only when it evokes a desire in you to say to the woman wearing it: "What beautiful eyes you have!".

btw. using тебе is completely slangish :gigi: ... it is just how people talk now-a-days... if my bulgarian grammar teacher heard you/saw you write it like that, she would get maaaaad. it should only be теб... hmmm... now I am having doubts if you said тебе or теб LoL... will go to check... that's how I recorded it... cause I am used to talking like that.

[russkayatatu]

мерси много :) it sounds so different when you say it :bum: yeah, there are words like that in Russian - like правильно (correct), usually the в isn't pronounced.

тебе is slangish? My 'contemporary' grammar doesn't even give теб as an option...ever...only те and тебе...I don't know what to make of this book; it's best not to take books like this too seriously, I think ;) The example sentences are amusing though

[coolasfcuk]

мерси много
няма проблеми :)

yeah, there are words like that in Russian - like правильно (correct), usually the в isn't pronounced.
he heeee, we have lots of those words too.... and your example, in Bulgarian: правилно .. which is pronaunced as: праилно ...ha ha, so it is the same :gigi:

btw. I wanted to do the stress thing bold.... but I am horrible :grustno: ... I get doubts where it is, LoL .. just because I am so used to not thinking about it... can you get it from the file? Can you try putting the stress where it is, and I will see if I agree?! :rose: promise to work on that.. and be able to do it soon ..

[russkayatatu]

става, няма проблеми :)

Жените на времето бяха идеалистки, правеха любов заради самата нея.
Една рокля е хубава само тогава, когато предизвиква у тебе желание да кажеш на жената, която я носи: "Какви хубави очи имате!"

What do you think? I can definitely hear where I got some of them wrong... :grustno:

[coolasfcuk]

What do you think

да, изглежда супер! :)

next time I will do it myself :D

[shizzo]

:10x:

:: loves Bulgarian ::

// Loki

[prostrel]

Originally posted by coolasfcuk
няма проблеми :)

btw. I wanted to do the stress thing bold.... but I am horrible :grustno: ... I get doubts where it is, LoL .. just because I am so used to not thinking about it... can you get it from the file? Can you try putting the stress where it is, and I will see if I agree?! :rose: promise to work on that.. and be able to do it soon ..

Aha! There is this stress thing also in Bulgarian! :D
Cool, you said in first lesson that "Well, since it doesnt really matter which letter is stressed in Bulgarian, no need to worry about that yet - no letter will change because they aren't stressed...".

So stress don`t affect to letters, it doesn`t change letters but you still have to pay attention to a stress, right?

[coolasfcuk]

So stress don`t affect to letters, it doesn`t change letters but you still have to pay attention to a stress, right?

:o pfffft, I guess I wasnt good at explaining it....I meant it is not like in Russian, where stress is important because depending on it, the pronaunciatino changes.
If you put the stress in the wrong place it is not a huge deal, usually, there are hew words which change meaning depending on stress (will think of them and let you know). It wont be incorrect if you put the wrong stress... you will just sound like a foreigner :gigi: ... for example, like russkaya sounded like a Russian speaking BG.

[russkayatatu]

I think cool meant only that there is no reduction of vowels...like in English: if you say computer instead of computer - stress the first or last syllable instead of the middle, for example, not changing any of the vowel sounds - it's not the end of the world. The vowels are pronounced the same and unless it's a word where the stress changes the meaning, everyone will understand...but still, the right way is computer and otherwise it sounds wrong. :gigi: Or sometimes people might not get it: I was talking to my mom about Menuhin the other day, and she was like, "who?" Apparently it's Menuhin - anyway, it makes a difference, and a big difference, just not the same problem as Russian has with reducing unstressed vowels.

[prostrel]

Originally posted by russkayatatu
I think [B]cool meant only that there is no reduction of vowels...like in English: if you say computer instead of computer - stress the first or last syllable instead of the middle, for example, not changing any of the vowel sounds - it's not the end of the world. The vowels are pronounced the same and unless it's a word where the stress changes the meaning, everyone will understand...but still, the right way is computer and otherwise it sounds wrong. :gigi:

...not the same problem as Russian has with reducing unstressed vowels.

Yes! I meant to say all of that above, but I didn`t know how to explain it! Stress is important cos otherwise it sounds wrong.
:) Thank you both, C and R !

[coolasfcuk]

Yes! I meant to say all of that above, but I didn`t know how to explain it! Stress is important cos otherwise it sounds wrong.
:yes: that is what I wanted to say also ... but obviouslly I am not that great at explanations :grustno: ... I am sorry for not being the greatest teacher (and confusing the students), but I am trying :D

glad we cleared that out ... attention should be paied to stress - from now on I will be marking the words.

[la aurora]

hehe... i missed so much! but I'm back... ufff... it took me quite long, I must say! next time I decide to reset my Windows, somebody stop me !!! :lol:

[russkayatatu]

coolasfcuk, don't worry, you are a great teacher - and you're not confusing me; so far I know exactly what you're talking about :)

btw I'm interested to see what sunny poison and goku think about Bulgarian...no Russian person I know thinks it is easy; they look at me like I'm crazy when I say it's just like Russian and start giving examples ;) but maybe you guys will have a different idea.

[la aurora]

coolie, I'm back and I learned ur first lesson by heart... uff... but that exercise Rach did... I'm gonna try to repeat. But looks awful, I must say. I'm not sure if I'll be able to repeat this... EVER!!! :)
yeah, Rach. BG doesn't sound that easy...

[coolasfcuk]

but that exercise Rach did... I'm gonna try to repeat. But looks awful, I must say. I'm not sure if I'll be able to repeat this... EVER!!
:gigi: you wont? c'mon now..I have bigger trust in you than that.
yeah, Rach. BG doesn't sound that easy...
:spy: those Russians, you're spoiled, he heeeeeeee...and Russian is so much harder than BG...but it is true.. my Russian friend Pavel would have hard time with BG as well, single words no problem.. but sentanses....ha ha....

quoted from the other thread:
and I'm also ready to read that saying from BG thread (although for me it looks like japanese written in Cyrillic and the stresses seem so wrong! uf... but I'm really trying)
:laugh: japanese??? hahhahaha ... I think we have the case of another 'Pavel' here...;) well, I hope you get your mic fixed soon... 'cause now I really wanna hear how you would read it.

little more explanation coming...soon... and more exercises...

[la aurora]

oh coolie, ur sound file is the last thing I listen to before going to bad. I'm trying... but those stresses... they should be def put on other letters. Coz just the whole rythme of the sentence is so broken... dayum...
ok. I'm waiting for ur updates here... and will see what I can do with the mic. I REALLY want it to work. Sure not today, as I'm too drunk to try and repair anything ;)

[russkayatatu]

ahhh, sunnich, you are killing me here :bum: Japanese??? :laugh: Here is what Japanese in Cyrillic would really look like:

Жя, тайхен дес не! Зензен лакаримас ё!

(if л was a "w" sound :gigi: ) Trans: Ahh, it's strange, isn't it! I don't understand anything!

But BG, no no no BG is just like Russian :yes: ...stresses?? At least half of the time they're the same as in Russian...ahh, let me go through these sentences - like this first one:

Жените на времето бяха идеалистки, правеха любов заради самата нея.

First word - the root is жен - like in Russian: жена (wife), женщина (woman), here it looks more like жена, it even has the same end stress and the same plural ending (the ы or и). На is a preposition like in Russian. Времето (I will give you a hint: the те, то, та at the end of words is an article so you can disregard it when figuring out meaning), but in any case it looks just like время, and it even has the stress in the same place. Идеалистки is almost the same in Russian and it even has the same stress ;) любов = любовь Заради - OK, the stress is different, but otherwise it looks like Russian ради, and the за doesn't mess things up too much because it's a preposition like Russian too. And самата нея: сама, you have the same stress and everything...нея, like ней - the same stress, and even a similar dative-looking word.

And this leaves just бяха and правеха, which have different endings from Russian but otherwise don't look too strange, and even sound kind of Slavic to me :dknow: So if you're just looking at the sentence there seems to be something about women and time and idealists and love for itself, and that's almost the whole thing :kwink:

I could do the same for the other sentence too, because aside from a couple words like хубаво and рокля, which don't sound Russian, it's the same story...една has the same stress as одна, тогато and когато - like тогда and когда, and the sentence is even constructed the same as you'd have in Russian: только то, что - (только тогда, когда - ). Желание, same stress and meaning; у тебе - different stress but it's obvious what it means, and not everything can be the same after all ;). Кажеш = скажешь ... and even the stresses that are different from the exact equivalent in Russian are usually found in different forms of the word: очи ('eyes', old Russian) ... other form: очей (end stress).

Does it really look so strange? Even the genders are the same, and the endings like хубаво and хубави ... the pronunciation is different, and the л changing to "w" in желание is definitely something new, but other than that...surely not quite like Japanese...maybe it's just because you're drunk, eh? :hmmm: Or maybe it's really not that easy for Russians after all ... I'm sure you can do it though :)

[coolasfcuk]

*clapping...clapping...clapping....*
:D Рейч, from now on, I officially announce you .. not only assistant..but second teacher in the BG class! Wow, that last post was...pheeew ... great!

[coolasfcuk]

so... since I was having a need to 'refresh' my BG grammar if I wanted to do this... I came upon this great site :gigi: and what can I say... wow... hope I didnt confuse people too much.... but I am gonna use this woman's explanations in a way.... obviouslly she is doing great job and she knows what she is talking about... reminding me few things as well :o..obviouslly I dont think of it, but apparently maybe it is not as easy for a foreigner as I thought it would be...and you know obviouslly when I studied grammar, I studied it as Bulgarian and it is quite a bit different than studying it as foreigner... anyway... I will quote the site at the end..dont want you guys going through all the lessons at once...step by step...plus I will try to explain more in depth and record myself..so... here we go...pheeeeew:

There are 38 (some linguists claim that there are 39) consonants in Bulgarian. Apart from the nasals м, н, the liquids л, р and the glide й, that do not participate in the opposition voiced consonants : voiceless (mute) consonants, and the "hushes" дж, ж, ч, ш and the glide й, that do not participate in the opposition hard (non-palatalized) consonants: soft (palatalized) consonants, all the other consonants participate in those two main oppositions.

Thirty four consonants come in hard - soft pairs. The soft consonants are pronounced as though you were pronouncing the hard consonant and an 'y' simultaneously. As there are severe restrictions on the distribution of the soft consonants - they can occur only before the non-front vowels а, ъ, о, у but never in front of another consonant, or in word-final position (i.e. at the end of the word), or before the front vowels е, и - there are no separate letters assigned for them in the alphabet. The letters for the hard consonants are used instead followed by the special letters for the 4 vowels that can come after them: for а, ъ - Я, for о - ЬО, for у - Ю. Here are the hard - soft pairs in alphabetical order followed by some examples (the accented vowel is underlined):


б - б' - бал - бял [бал - б'ал] (a ball (social event) - white)
в - в' - вал - вял [вал - в'ал] (a shaft - inert)
г -г' - гол - гьол [гол - г'ол] (naked - a puddle)
д -д' - дал - дял [дал - д'ал] (given - a share/a part)
дз - дз'
з - з' - коза - козя [козъ - коз'ъ]1 (the trump - to trump)
к - к' - куп - кюп [куп - к'уп] (a heap - a pot)
л - л' - лук - люк [лук - л'ук] (an onion - an aperture)
м - м' - дима - димя [димъ - дим'ъ]1 (the smoke - to smoke)
н - н' - звъна - звъня [звънъ - звън'ъ]1 (the ringing - to ring)
п - п' - сипа - сипя [сипа - сип'ъ]1,2 ( he poured - I pour)
р - р' - спора - споря [споръ - спор'ъ]1 (the argument - to argue)
с - с' - Сара - сяра [сара - с'ара] (Sarah - sulfur)
т - т' - та - тя [та - т'а] (and, so - she)
ф - ф' - фон - фьон [фон - ф'он] (a background - a warm wind)
х - х' Хус - Хюс [хус - х'ус]
ц - ц' цар - цяр [цар - ц'ар] (a king, tzar - a cure, a remedy)

Listen to the Examples 1 (http://www.angelfire.com/un/coolasfcuk/BG_Lesson1.0.mp3)


As you can see there is no example for the pair дз - дз'. You can hardly find one in the standard language, that is why some linguists question the existence of the sound дз' [dz'] at all, and assume that there are 38 consonants in Bulgarian. The existence of х' and ф' is also questionable as they only appear in words of foreign origin but we'll leave this matter open.

The consonants дж [dzh], ж, ч, ш are always hard, and they do not have soft counterparts. Consequently, ьо, ю, я never appear after them.

As it was mentioned before the soft consonants are pronounced as if the hard consonant and an 'y' (й) were pronounced simultaneously. So it is natural that the й itself also is not a member of a pair - as a matter of fact it does not participate in this opposition at all.

Now we can go back to the phonetic value of the letters Ь, Ю, Я. As it was explained above, they are used to mark the softness of the consonant preceding the vowels о, у, а/ъ. The letters Ю, Я have yet another phonetic value - if they are used at the beginning of the word or after a vowel they stand for the following combinations of sounds:


ю=йу - юноша [йуноша](a teenager), каюта [кайута] (a cabin)
я=йа - ябълка [йабълка](an apple), Мая [майа] (a female name)
я=йъ - героят [геройът](the hero)

Examples 2 (http://www.angelfire.com/un/coolasfcuk/BG_Lesson1.2.mp3)

There are two other particularities of the Bulgarian orthography:


There are no special letters for the affricates [dzh], [dz](dzh sounds like the g in 'change', and dz sounds like the z in the name of the Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli). A combination of letters is used instead: дж, дз:

джудже (a dwarf), джоб (a pocket), дзън (ting, ring)

Examples 3 (http://www.angelfire.com/un/coolasfcuk/BG_Lesson1.3.mp3)

The letter ъ can not stay at the end of the word. The letter a appears in stead of it , even though when pronauncing the word it sounds like ъ at the end:

чета [четъ](I read 3rd p. sg, pres.t.), града [градъ] (the town)

Examples 4 (http://www.angelfire.com/un/coolasfcuk/BG_Lesson1.4.mp3)

[russkayatatu]

Wow, a lot of work coolasfcuk - thanks :rose:

Interesting stuff ... linguists explain things so strangely sometimes; they are speaking their own language, LoL - especially when they start saying that there are consonants that never have a 'phonetic representation' like this дз' :gigi: But thanks for posting - especially the чета, града example and the sound files; they are great :yes: благодаря ... tack så mycket. :)

What was that you said: 2nd teacher?! I only know what I can read and what I can guess, you know ... but will be happy to help any way I can :D

[coolasfcuk]

linguists explain things so strangely sometimes; they are speaking their own language, LoL - especially when they start saying that there are consonants that never have a 'phonetic representation' like this дз'
yeah I know...lol... but does it make sense otherwise? I thought it was way better job than what I was doing...

sound files added :)

ummm...still thinking of exercise :gigi:

and soon more Basic rules of pronaunciation to come...

[russkayatatu]

yeah I know...lol... but does it make sense otherwise? I thought it was way better job than what I was doing...


:yes: it makes sense. It might be easier to think of these consonant pairs as the same consonant made either hard or soft by what follows it (and then you don't have to say: "'when я is at the beginning of a word it gives a 'ya' sound, as opposed to these other times when it's the consonant that gives you the 'y' before the 'a'" - ehh, when я comes after a consonant, the consonant is a little softer and the я is basically the same as any other я; that's about right, isn't it?), although it works the way she has it too - whatever makes the most sense to people and gives OK pronunciation.

And thanks again for posting the sound files - it helps me to hear it. :)

[coolasfcuk]

And thanks again for posting the sound files - it helps me to hear it.
no probs.. but :o..ahhhh.. I listened to them again... and found 2 mistakes I made...I am sorry.. it is just so weird to read single words like that... and i think of them too much... it's not like 'flowing' in the sentanse... so here are the corrections:

л - л' - лук - люк [лук - л'ук] (an onion - an aperture)

н - н' - звъна - звъня [звънъ - звън'я]1 (the ringing - to ring)

Corrections (http://www.angelfire.com/un/coolasfcuk/BG_Lesson1.6.mp3)

so, the first one is that л - sometimes it sounds like 'w' and sometimes like 'l' ...and now that I have lived in USA for a while, sometimes I say it as 'l' in BG, when it really should be 'w'..so I did this... but I corrected it.. in 'лук' - 'onion' it should be 'w'.

with 'звъна' we have that 'a' at the end of the word, that I pronaunced as 'a' first', when it really should be 'ъ'. I also corrected her transcription - 'звън'я' - that's how it should be...

well, it is not obvious why I am not a linguist... lol.. and I am glad you are here Rach... to explain things in more understandable language after me :done:

I will think about your question....about the я

[russkayatatu]

and I am glad you are here Rach... to explain things in more understandable language after me

I will think about your question....about the я

да, аз съм тук ;) Няма проблеми ... I'll try, although you don't need it :done:

okie, thanks for the corrections - sentences are even better to listen to than words cause they are more 'real', like you said, plus you hear not just pronunciation but intonation...like you said about Pavel, people don't talk in words but in sentences, so that is important :gigi:

Maybe the thing about the consonants makes sense to everyone else, or maybe it is a little different in Russian - but about the я, that's the way I thought of it and it helped me, at least in the beginning, esp. since soft consonants are almost always associated with diff. vowels than hard consonants ... or it's that way in Russian, at least, and usually they explain it sort of like this website you found ...but I'll stop talking now since I don't know anything about Bulgarian pronunciation, just a little bit about linguists, and Slavic linguists in particular ;) but I don't want to mislead anybody :bum:

[la aurora]

uufff... ok. I fixed all the problems with my comp and finally was able to do some recording... And I kinda regret it... in recording it sounds even worse than when I just read aloud :bum:
But as a student, I have to post it to let my teacher laugh her ass off :gigi: here U are. (http://www.geocities.com/nrg2002ru/idealistki.mp3)

Rach, I don't know any japanese. I just wanted to say that I don't feel any difference between japanese and bulgarian at the moment. They both sound strange for my ears :rolleyes: I hoped it'll be a bit... just a lil bit closer to russian :lalala:

As for the stress-thing... I got used already. But at the first moment it looked just wrong. Not any word in particular but the whole sentence :( Anyway, I'm trying... I'm really trying :rose:

Thanks for Lesson 3... coolie and russkaya... huh... I'll need some time to sort things out as bulgarian grammar taught to russian in english... well, not that easy... i still suck in english. Uh...
~Starts making notes~

[coolasfcuk]

wooooo hoooooooooo sunnich!!

awsome!!! :D another person to record in BG. listened to the file...:grustno: I have to leave work right now..gotta be somewhere... but I will coment in more detail soon.

just wanted to say... he heeeeeeee, sounds so russian! :gigi: in a very cute way :D for first time it was great..I have a feeling soon you will have the BG language mastared! first sentanse was great and better than the second ;)...second...that is where the real russian in you shows ..those o's should not be a's ...but still really good!

superb ...more comments to come...

[goku]

Originally posted by russkayatatu
btw I'm interested to see what sunny poison and goku think about Bulgarian...no Russian person I know thinks it is easy; they look at me like I'm crazy when I say it's just like Russian and start giving examples ;)
You are right, haha. Bulgarian is kind of a mix (to a Russian) between learning a new language and one you already know. You've already got the basics down, but if you just storm into Bulgaria without studying any you will find yourself in a whirl of confusion. Trust me, I know from experience.:p

[prostrel]

OMG! I haven`t been here for a long time, there`s so much work to do! Coolasfcuk , you have been very productive. I`m stressed now. How can I catch the others....
I want to print these lessons, lay down on my sofa and read all this stuff there, but my printer doesn`t want to do his work. Maybe he`s stressed too. :dknow: But thanks for these lessons and files, Cool ! :)

[denial]

- ditto -

I've been working and playing alot .. :hmmm: .. good thing its beginning of weekend!

*on my knees* ..
"Dear God, please give me all the focus in the world."

[coolasfcuk]

Coolasfcuk , you have been very productive.
noooo....:grustno: .. I still havent given sunnich nice comments..I am sorryyyyyy.... also now there is sash to give comments to..at least the students are so good :D I just want to be completely concentrated and so thank god for the weekend ...comments and more lesson coming...

[la aurora]

hehe... coolie, ur comments don't have to be nice :gigi:
Feel free to say how much I suck... I know I do and it will be just helpful. No offense :rose: And have ur time of course

I recordered this file just for fun. It's the way I'd read these sentences without hearing ur file. THIS (http://www.geocities.com/nrg2002ru/Sound.mp3) is the russian way to read it :gigi:

[coolasfcuk]

Originally posted by sunny poison
hehe... coolie, ur comments don't have to be nice
Heeeee, ny sunnich, I meant to say 'nice' as in ...long and of course little critical and explaning.. so they can be helpful :D

I recordered this file just for fun. It's the way I'd read these sentences without hearing ur file. THIS (http://www.geocities.com/nrg2002ru/Sound.mp3) is the russian way to read it
daaaaaaaaaaa, hehe, bravo bravo sunnich - tova beshe super ! No ne se pritesniavai, vsichko se razbira perfectno, vapreki che go chetesh s Ruski akcent :D = this was super ! but dont worry, everything was understood perfectly, even though you read it with Russian accent :D if you speak/read bulgarian even like that, you will have absolutelly no problem - people would still understand everything you are saying.... even though it sounds very very meko = soft, like you are from the coutry side he he :gigi:

[la aurora]

huh... coolie, guess I have enough time for learning to speak not so "meko" [m'ahko in russian] before going to BG. I have a great teacher, I have enough will... so may be one day I'll speak like I'm just someone who lives not far from Sofia :gigi:

[shizzo]

I'm practicing the two sentences "Жените на..." and "Една
рокля..." and promise to create an audio file.

Gimme time. :rose:

// Loki

[russkayatatu]

well ... since my previous file didn't sound very good ... and I think I have improved a little since then :rolleyes: :gigi: I rerecorded it:

listen (http://www.geocities.com/russkayatatu/BGsounds2_russkaya.wav)

[coolasfcuk]

:o well the teacher is being a 'slacker' ... I am sorry...too much going on this weekend. will catch up ...But now I am really excited...there is a 'new' student, whoooo hooooo

I'm practicing the two sentences "Жените на..." and "Една
рокля..." and promise to create an audio file.

Gimme time.

Loki, take all the time you need...I am excited about hearing your file too.

russkaya, great improvement :done:

[shizzo]

omfg. (http://www.geocities.com/cniaju/zhenite.wav) :|

:: idle dissatisfaction with self-progress in pronunciation ::

Tired be thy mind - congested be thy nasal cavity.

[coolasfcuk]

wooo hooo... guess you just posted it at the same time Loki...

listened.... :D sounds really good!! wasnt sure what to expect, but I am really pleasantly surprised.
got all the stresses right, and I will have to say - out of all the people who have recorded so far - you are the one that sounds like you are from Sofia :D - meaning you dont speak 'soft' ..he heee... but maybe that is because all the other ones are Russian influenced.

I hope this isnt too private, but are you from Norther European countries?

and finally - wow, not only do you have very nice fingers, you have even better voice :cool:

ok, now I have no excuses anymore, will be back tomorrow with 'detailed' comments for all the files...but now I gotta sleeeep ZZZZzzzzzzz

:10x: ahhhh, everybody did so good!!

[shizzo]

It was okay?

:bum:

Wowza. I thought it was awful.

:D

are you from Northern European countries?

Nah. I'm from a mid-continental drift of the U.S. known
as Tennessee. :P

// Loki