This document provides a summary of common pronunciation mistakes made by non-native speakers when speaking Bulgarian. It outlines the five most common errors: 1) Failing to trill the letter "р"; 2) Pronouncing the letter "л" like a "w"; 3) Not distinguishing between voiced and voiceless consonants; 4) Placing stress on the wrong syllable of words; 5) Mixing up words that sound similar but have different meanings. The document emphasizes the importance of proper pronunciation of these sounds to avoid being identified as a non-native speaker.

1. Lesson 2
Pronunciation - 2
Basic Vowels in
Bulgarian

2. THE FOCUS OF THIS LESSON IS BULGARIAN
BASIC VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS
Vowels :
"-А”
"-Е“
"-И“
"-О“
"-У“
"-Ъ“


3. 1. "-А"
Pronounced as [ah] as in "father," never as the [a]
in "cat."
For Example:
аромат ("aroma")
2. аз ("I")

4. 2. "-Е"
Pronounced like [e] as in "best."
For Example:
1. елен ("deer")
2. едно ("one")

5. 3. "-И"
Pronounced like [i] as in "igloo."
For Example:
1.илюзия ("illusion")
2. игла ("pin")

6. 4. "-О"
Pronounced like [o] as in "order."
For Example:
1. обяд ("lunch")
2. огън ("flame")

7. 5. "-У"
Pronounced like [oo] as in "tool."
For Example:
1. ухо ("ear")
2. улица ("street")

8. 6. "-Ъ"
Pronounced like [u] as in "turn."
For Example:
1. пръст ("finger")
2. жълто ("yellow")

9. Pronunciation - 3
Five Special Bulgarian
Letters

10. The Focus of This Lesson is Five Special Letters
that Look Like English Ones but are
Pronounced Differently in Bulgarian

11. In Bulgarian, there are five letters that look like the
English letters but are pronounced differently.
Unlike them, letters like "-к," "-м," and "-т" are
direct equivalents of the English "-k," "-m," and "-t."
The specific five letters that look like English ones
but are pronounced differently can be difficult for
a beginner in Bulgarian, so it is better to take a
detailed look at them.
The five special letters are "-в," "-н," "-р," "-с," and "-х."
They are pronounced as [v], [n], [r], [s], and [h].

12. I. "-В"
1. виждам ("to see")
2. съжалявам ("sorry")
Pronounced as [v], for example, [vijdam] "to see"
and [syjalyavam] "sorry."

13. II. "-Н"
Новият Завет (the New Testament)
2. Нова (a Bulgarian television network)
Pronounced as [n], for example, [Noviyat Zavet]
("the New Testament"), and [Nova] ("Bulgarian
television network").

14. III. "-Р"
1. роза ("rose")
2. време ("time" or "weather")
Pronounced as [r], for example, [roza] "rose," and
[vreme] "time" or "weather."

15. IV. "-С"
1. специалност ("specialty")
2. последен ("last" or "final")
Pronounced as [s], for example, [specialnost]
"specialty," and [posleden] "last" or "final."

16. V. "-Х"
1. хора ("people")
2. смях ("laughter")
Pronounced as [h], for example, [hora] "people,"
and [smyah] "laughter."

17. Pronunciation - 4
Five Common Bulgarian
Pronunciation Mistakes

18. The Focus of This Lesson is the Five Most
Common Mistakes People Make When They
Pronounce Bulgarian

19. 
1. Remember to Trill Your "-R's"!
Remember that in Bulgarian, we don't pronounce the
letter "-R" in the same way as it is pronounced in
English. We trill it, much like the "-r" in Spanish.
One of the ways that people can automatically
detect a foreign accent over the phone is by the
way you pronounce this particular sound. For
example, if you want some traditional Bulgarian
alcoholic drink, you ask for rakiya with a trilled "-r."
If you asked for rakiya with an English-like "-r," the
shopkeepers might have some trouble figuring out
what exactly you want!

20. 2.THE BULGARIAN "L"

There is no great chance that you might learn this
incorrectly, but the way the Bulgarians pronounce "L"
varies. Many young people often pronounce it as an
approximate [w]. This phenomenon, commonly known
as мързеливо "л" (lazy "l") in Bulgaria, was first
registered in the 1970s and isn’t connected to original
dialects. Similar developments, termed L-vocalization,
have occurred in many languages, including Polish,
Serbo-Croatian, Brazilian Portuguese, and certain
dialects of English, such as Cockney. When you
pronounce "L," make sure you say it as in "call" and not
as in "caw."

21. 3. VOICED AND VOICELESS CONSONANTS
In Bulgarian, a letter that represents a voiced
consonant can represent its voiceless
counterpart and vice versa. This occurs when it
is placed adjacent to a voiceless or voiced
consonant, respectively. This also happens
when a voiced consonant is in a final syllable,
for example, вторник /ftornik/ "Tuesday;" нож
/nɔʃ/ "knife;" сграда /zgradɐ/ "building;" and
сватба /svadbɐ/ "wedding."

22. 4. THE STRESS IN BULGARIAN

The word stress in Bulgarian is also very
important. You can be recognized as non-native
speaker by putting the stress on a wrong
syllable. You must notice that Bulgarian stress
is also distinctive; for example, в'ълна /ˈvɤɫnɐ/
("wool") and вълн'а /vɤɫˈna/ ("wave") are only
differentiated by stress. The same goes for the
words п'ара ("steam") and пар'а ("coin").

23. 5. WATCHOUT FOR SIMILAR SOUNDINGWORDS!
In Bulgarian there are many words that sound
exactly the same or almost the same but have
different meanings. As a beginner in Bulgarian,
it can be easy to mix up similar sounding
words.
Some infamous examples include,
1. Jena ("woman") vs. jenya ("marry")
2. Kosa ("hair") vs. koza ("goat")