Thread: Russian vs. Bulgarian

Does anybody out there speak Bulgarian? I want to learn Bulgarian but there's not really that much out there to help. THat's why I'm learning Russian first. I have the CD's and books.

Somebody told me that if I can speak Russian and somebody else can speak only Bulgarian, then we can communicate ok. Is this true? Thanks.

Аз говоря немнога билгарcски...


Да, это правда. For the most part.
My girlfriend is Bulgarian, and she can understand (but not really speak) Russian very well. She did take Russian for about 5 years in school (when she was pretty young), as did all other Bulgarians, it was required. This is why you can have a conversation with a Bulgarian if you speak Russian. But the two languages are very similar. As you can see, you probably understood my first sentance, which was in Bulgarian.

I feel your pain in trying to learn Bulgarian. I have only found one decent book, and it was a "basic phrases" book, and forget about finding a class anywhere. That's why I am sticking with Russian as well, there are so many more resources. I'd say if you seriously want to learn Bulgarian, find a native speaker, that's your best bet.
-Fantom

ps- If you ever need any help translating something in Bulgarian, or have any questions, let me know, I'm sure she'd be glad to help out.

Originally Posted by fantom605

Аз говоря немнога билгарcски...


Да, это правда. For the most part.
My girlfriend is Bulgarian, and she can understand (but not really speak) Russian very well. She did take Russian for about 5 years in school (when she was pretty young), as did all other Bulgarians, it was required. This is why you can have a conversation with a Bulgarian if you speak Russian. But the two languages are very similar. As you can see, you probably understood my first sentance, which was in Bulgarian.

I feel your pain in trying to learn Bulgarian. I have only found one decent book, and it was a "basic phrases" book, and forget about finding a class anywhere. That's why I am sticking with Russian as well, there are so many more resources. I'd say if you seriously want to learn Bulgarian, find a native speaker, that's your best bet.
-Fantom

ps- If you ever need any help translating something in Bulgarian, or have any questions, let me know, I'm sure she'd be glad to help out.

Большое спасибо. Bы американец? Я американец, но моя жена билгаркa.

I think I can find a good native speaker. However, she has no idea how to teach me a language. And she really has no interest in me learning, anyway. I am motivated to learn, but she's not motivated to teach. That's why I'm doing Russian. I got the Teach Yourself Bulgarian book, but I found it useless. Maybe I'll just learn both together?

Да. Я - американец.
Oh, then you definitely don't need her (my girlfriend) help at all!
That's weird, it's exactly how Zlatka (what is your wife's name, if you don't mind me asking? You can PM me if you want) feels, she always tells me that I shouldn't bother learning Bulgarian, because I will never use it. At least with Russian, I can use it, so she's all for me learning that and not Bulgarian...
Learning eachother side by side might be a good idea, but I guarantee you are going to get them confused... I haven't studied Spanish for about 5 years, but when I think/talk in Spanish, sometimes I use Russian words, and when I'm trying to speak Russian, sometimes I think Spanish words... Since Russian and Bulgarian are so similar, it might be even worse... For instance,

очень приатно = приатно ми е

I guess just try, and see what happens!

-Fantom

Тоже я делаю эту с латинским языком, а русским языком. Если я говорю русский долгому времени, тогда я забываю о моем латинском. Это плохой мне, потему мне надо можеть говорить латиснкий язык без ошибкы для Кертамена. Как примиер, сегодня я спрашивший говорит что-то по-латинский, и я сказал его по-русский. Хех, учительница хотела меня убить.

(Do fix any grammatical mistakes I've made!)

Добар дан,
ребята, а по-болгарски пишем «българcки» а не «билгарсски»!!! =:^0

Для нас, американцев, скорее всего самая прикольная сторона болгарского языка, это что в нем отсутствует палатализация! Мягких согласных совсем нету! Слава Богу, можем без проблем произносить хотя бы один славянский язык!!

(orpheus, слишком много ошибок в вашем посте, чтобы все исправить. Всё-таки уверен, что кто-то найдёт время на это.)

yeah, I forgot about the ъ as opposed to the и in Bulgarian...

-Fantom

Originally Posted by Orpheus

Хех, учительница хотела меня убить.

That I understood

Originally Posted by chaika

Добар дан,
ребята, а по-болгарски пишем «българcки» а не «билгарсски»!!! =:^0

Для нас, американцев, скорее всего самая прикольная сторона болгарского языка, это что в нем отсутствует палатализация! Мягких согласных совсем нету! Слава Богу, можем без проблем произносить хотя бы один славянский язык!!

(orpheus, слишком много ошибок в вашем посте, чтобы все исправить. Всё-таки уверен, что кто-то найдёт время на это.)

По-английснкий, спасибо. Я не знаю все слов, что вы сказали, и мой славарь не органививает эти слава. Виноваю.

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by Orpheus

Хех, учительница хотела меня убить.

That I understood

Was my grammer and wording really THAT bad? Or was it you just didn't know the words?

Orpheus, your writing had some pretty bad errors.

I would guess that you have been studying Russian less than a year. And as to your request about writing in English. I donwanna. Maybe come back in a while and you will see the error of your ways.

Here's a bit of commentary :
Я не знаю все слов, что вы сказали,
If I were translating this in a novel about newly arrived Russian immigrants, I would write:
I do not know all of words, what you said.

So you can see there are some problems.

Here are some things to remember:

* After negated verb use genitive (you did), and make sure adjective agrees with noun in number and case (messed up on that!)

* Make correct selection of что or который, make sure который agrees with its antecedant.

* сказать is an intransitive verb. If you want to say "to say the word" you would have to use a different verb, like произнести/выговорить слово.

For your whole phrase I would say
Я не знаю всех слов, которые вы писали
(I got around that bit with писать, which, unlike сказать, can be transitive or intrans.)

I would guess that a Russian would be inclined to use я не понимаю instead of я не знаю.

HTH.

Originally Posted by Orpheus

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by Orpheus

Хех, учительница хотела меня убить.

That I understood

Was my grammer and wording really THAT bad? Or was it you just didn't know the words?

I can decipher it with some concentration. It's not yet easy to read, cuz in russian sense is dictated by proper declensions and conjugations, which you do not always have. Try shorter sentences but build them properly.

Originally Posted by Orpheus

Тоже я делаю эту с латинским языком, а русским языком. Если я говорю русский долгому времени, тогда я забываю о моем латинском. Это плохой мне, потему мне надо можеть говорить латиснкий язык без ошибкы для Кертамена. Как примиер, сегодня я спрашивший говорит что-то по-латинский, и я сказал его по-русский. Хех, учительница хотела меня убить.

(Do fix any grammatical mistakes I've made!)

Тоже я делаю эту с латинским языком, а русским языком.
There's such a mess in this sentence..It's easier to write a new one than to fix all errors. For example "Со мной происходит то же самое - я путаю русские и латинские слова".

Если я говорю русский долгому времени, тогда я забываю о моем латинском.
Если я долго говорю по-русски, я забываю латинский.

Это плохой мне, потему мне надо можеть говорить латиснкий язык без ошибкы для Кертамена.
Для меня это плохо (or just "Это плохо"), потому что мне надо уметь говорить по-латински без ошибок для... (I don't know what Кертамена means).

Как примиер, сегодня я спрашивший говорит что-то по-латинский, и я сказал его по-русский.
Например, сегодня у меня спросили что-то по-латински, а я ответил по-русски. (May be I'm wrong here cause it's unclear what are you trying to say in this sentense).

Хех, учительница хотела меня убить.
That's right. But you can use instead "Учительница чуть меня не убила".

Originally Posted by chaika

Orpheus, your writing had some pretty bad errors.

I would guess that you have been studying Russian less than a year. And as to your request about writing in English. I donwanna. Maybe come back in a while and you will see the error of your ways.

Here's a bit of commentary :
Я не знаю все слов, что вы сказали,
If I were translating this in a novel about newly arrived Russian immigrants, I would write:
I do not know all of words, what you said.

So you can see there are some problems.

Here are some things to remember:

* After negated verb use genitive (you did), and make sure adjective agrees with noun in number and case (messed up on that!)

* Make correct selection of что or который, make sure который agrees with its antecedant.

* сказать is an intransitive verb. If you want to say "to say the word" you would have to use a different verb, like произнести/выговорить слово.

For your whole phrase I would say
Я не знаю всех слов, которые вы писали
(I got around that bit with писать, which, unlike сказать, can be transitive or intrans.)

I would guess that a Russian would be inclined to use я не понимаю instead of я не знаю.

HTH.

Yep, like four months. For the first thing, "Я не знаю все слов, что вы сказали", I meant shto to mean "that". I've no real concept on transitive, and transitive verbs, except what I learned my first year of latin. I think a transitive verb is ,"She killed a poor puppy", and an intransitive verb is ,"She killed". Right? Four the whole case and number, where did I mess up? I need to check that out to see how I did that wrong. For shto and korotoniy, I'm assuming you can't use shto for that, but korotoniy. The whole antecedant thing makes me think immediately of participles though. And another question about коротоный in that sentence you fixed for me (Thank you by the way!), why isn't it коротных? I mean, the word "слов" is in the plural genitive, and it's "That thing that you wrote", so doesn't коротный have to agree in case and number? How exaclty do I know if a verb's transitive or not?

And another question about коротоный in that sentence you fixed for me (Thank you by the way!), why isn't it коротных? I mean, the word "слов" is in the plural genitive, and it's "That thing that you wrote", so doesn't коротный have to agree in case and number?

Well, который doesn't have to agree in case, just number and gender. Participles agree in all three. For example:

я увидел мальчика (gen. sing. masc.), который (nom. sing. masc.) живёт на нашей улице.


я увидел мальчика (gen. sing. masc.), живущего (gen. sing. masc.) живёт на нашей улице.

Originally Posted by saibot

Well, который doesn't have to agree in case, just number and gender. Participles agree in all three. For example:

That's not quite right, который does have to agree in case, but its case is governed by its function in the second clause, rather than the first (as your examples showed, in fact).

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by saibot

Well, который doesn't have to agree in case, just number and gender. Participles agree in all three. For example:

That's not quite right, который does have to agree in case, but its case is governed by its function in the second clause, rather than the first (as your examples showed, in fact).

Thanks for adding that. I meant it doesn't have to agree with the first clause, but what you added makes much more sense.

Orpheus, your main problem is that you are trying to run before you can walk.

You are taking an English sentence in your head and translating it word for word. Remember, other languages say things in different ways.

Originally Posted by saibot

я увидел мальчика (acc. sing. masc.), который (nom. sing. masc.) живёт на нашей улице.


я увидел мальчика (acc. sing. masc.), живущего (acc. sing. masc.) живёт на нашей улице.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Originally Posted by saibot

я увидел мальчика (acc. sing. masc.), который (nom. sing. masc.) живёт на нашей улице.


я увидел мальчика (acc. sing. masc.), живущего (acc. sing. masc.) живёт на нашей улице.

Thank you, Klinka ol' boy. I don't need to be any more confused!