📌 Language Learning Resource Topic

Haha, well, I made this topic for everyone to share regarding any language, it's not only for Bulgarian... but that's my post everyone is waiting for :D

Bulgarian:

First, I believe I'm not the best source as I never learned it as a second language, plus I don't really know the grammar rules as we had many changes with our Bulgarian language teachers when we were supposed to learn them at school. But I read a lot (since I was 6 and learned how to read) and I believe I write correctly, and sometimes better than some people living in Bulgaria and submitting texts online. So I can try my best to be helpful.

The first step in any language for me is familiarising yourself with how the language sounds; the easiest way to do that, to learn the alphabet and a few basic phrases is YouTube - I can't recommend any particular channel, but there are many out there that teach you the basics. Pronunciation is of utter importance, so you may want to go back to it at some point - and you will definitely start struggling at some point because of the stresses in the words, even if you speak another (ideally Balkan) Slavic language. (yes, they are at different places, believe me!) I'm saying that as a person who always gets it wrong without listening to how the word is pronounced, haha.

Beginners - There are a few beginners courses/websites, the one in UniLang seems pretty well organized to me, but again, I'm biased, so don't know how it is from a foreigner's point of view.. Just Google "Bulgarian for beginners" or something similar, there are some free resources out there.

Grammar - From the books, what I can recommend is the Colloquial series (never studied the Bulgarian one, but I've seen it's pretty similar to the Albanian one as structure, as it's the same series), it's called Colloquial Bulgarian by Kjetil Ra Hauge and Yovka Tisheva. Now, I can't really say anything about the particular book, but bear in mind that you may need some knowledge before going into it; it should also have an audio CD with the dialogues and speaking exercises part (at least the other one I used does), but I found it's not for a complete beginners, especially the speaking ones tend to be a bit chaotic and not always related to that unit only, so you may want to do them the second time you go through the book. The exercises after the chapters are not enough though, and it doesn't have a textbook. (so if you're like me, enjoying to study in the old fashioned writing and correcting yourself system, you may want to start with something else with a textbook first)

Listening - Now, listening to Bulgarian music is the trickiest way to develop your listening skills for 3 reasons - first, most of the online lyrics are in a terrible condition, so most probably you'll read and learn the things wrong, unless someone takes time to correct it. Second, you should learn how to read the alphabet first and not count on transliterations, as there are as many transliterations as there are people making them. And third, some songs are so meaningless and full of slang words and jargons that I don't know whether it can actually improve your knowledge, since every translator tries to interpret the meaning, not writing it word-by-word. If you really want to listen, I would recommend watching the news rather than watching songs (unless the songs are ballads and the singer sings it rather clearly); just the songs require you to have some knowledge, before you start understanding more than few words.

Vocabulary - the best app for me is Memrise, I've never used the Bulgarian part, but it's a good vocabulary builder. You may want to choose parts that have speaking in them though, as learning a words by hearing it makes you life easier regarding pronunciation. Byki is nice too, as it has someone pronouncing what you're learning, but it's a bit basic and you may not learn much (have no idea how to change the language so I can actually see what's in there, but I believe it would be the same for every language).

Reading - try reading news; try following some artists you like on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/whatever you use and try to understand what they're writing. Try the Bulgarian Wikipedia, that's an amazing source as it gives you direct translation to other languages. Try reading English - Bulgarian translations (or something else you understand to Bulgarian), as the ones made by natives are more likely to follow the grammar rules, rather than listening to strange wrong versions in the songs they do for rhyme only. If you believe you have enough knowledge to start reading books (that is being familiar with the verb tenses mainly), then start with a fairytales or any other children's book, as they are a lot easier than everything else.

Speaking - the best way for me to learn prononciation is to go back to the YouTube videos and repeat after the speaker. Or find an online course with listening/speaking. Or try to speak to a native, if you know one. For me personally, that's always been the hardest part of any language, but you can get used to it by listening and repeating... a lot. Or at least it helped me, now everyone is different.

I think that's pretty much it, thanks for reaching the end of this post, and if you know any other methods I haven't mentioned, please feel free to add them, especially if you're a learner and you know something I don't. I write this post from the point of view of a learner (not particularly of Bulgarian though), so I hope you found at least something helpful :)