The first question we often get asked by users of Ling is ‘is Bulgarian hard to learn? It’s a tricky question to answer because it’s largely subjective. However, there are some metrics we can use, such as the FSI’s language difficulty scale.
The FSI categorizes languages in terms of how long they take to learn from an English base. According to them, Bulgarian takes 1100 hours to get to a B2 level. Bulgarian is classified as ‘a Language with significant linguistic and/or cultural differences from English.’
To give you a feel of how long 1100 hours is, it’s approximately 45 whole days without sleep. We conservatively estimate that the average person would take about two years to achieve 1100 hours. As always, consistency is key.
A little info on Bulgarian: Bulgarian is a Slavic language that uses the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet. Out of all the Slavic languages it is probably one of the most difficult. But let’s enumerate the facts about the amazing Bulgarian language and ultimately let you decide for yourself.
What Is The Foreign Service Institute? Is Bulgarian Hard To Learn?
The foreign service institute is an offshoot of the U.S state department (sometimes you will see it described as the CIA language difficulty scale, which makes sense, but technically isn’t true). Its central purpose is to provide diplomatic training to U.S government personnel. Needless to say, learning foreign languages is a crucial part of U.S government strategy. There are 163 embassies worldwide, and that is a lot of training that needs to be provided!
What Are Some Tips To Learn Bulgarian?
Define Goals
This is the main pillar around which all your other learning aims should be built around. If you aren’t making goals, then you’re most of the way towards failing. These goals will shape the rest of the points that we’re going to discuss. Some key objectives could be how many minutes you spend studying specific skills daily. However, you should also set goals that are achievable. Learning to memorize and understand complex and unique words in Bulgarian is a great feat. But, if you don’t know the context very well or try to even practice it daily, then you might forget these words.
Learn The Bulgarian Cyrillic Alphabet
Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet. It is more closely related to the Latin alphabet than Chinese and Japanese; however, there are significant differences. Some important things to remember is that although ‘B’ ‘P’ and ‘H’ look the same, they have entirely different pronunciations in Bulgarian.
Learn Bulgarian pronunciation
This is closely related to learning the alphabet. Once you know how words start to flow together, you can begin practicing your pronunciation. I would recommend ‘shadowing’ teachers online. If you repeatedly drill accents, you will get a real sense of what the language sounds like. YouTube is an invaluable resource.
Make Some Bulgarian Friends
This is particularly easy if you actually live in Bulgaria. You will find that Bulgarians love to make friends. Open up and say hello in Bulgarian and maybe you can find new connections. Not only will you learn the language but you’ll also learn the culture. If you can’t find Bulgarian friends, then think about getting a Bulgarian teacher on a website like Preply.
If you’re an absolute beginner, it will be very difficult at first, and if you’re paying someone, it will be beneficial for your motivation, both in the sense that you’ve made a financial commitment and also that you have a native speaker to encourage you.
Make Learning Fun
I know at the beginning we said that you should set goals and when people see that, they think of strict targets; however, an important thing about goals is that they should also encourage a sense of playfulness. If 1 hour a day is too much for you, then reduce it to a manageable amount. Many language speakers give up because they’ve punished themselves too harshly with strict goals at the beginning of the process.
Learn What Bulgarian Vocabulary Is Relevant To You
I can’t stress this point enough. I meet many students who spend weeks memorizing space vocabulary in Bulgarian. Then when I ask them when they could possibly use this vocabulary, they have no response(of course.
If you want to learn for fun or because you’re an advanced learner, that’s fine, but as a beginner or even intermediate learner, you should be learning basic things like ordering in a restaurant or asking for directions). Also, learn in accordance with your hobbies. If you love soccer, learn soccer-related vocab. If you are looking for romantic words and phrases in Bulgarian for your loved ones, then focus on that.
Frequent Reviewing
This is where apps like Ling are so handy because they use SRS flashcards that take advantage of how your brain stores information. You should always review the vocabulary and phrases you’ve learned. The hard part is already over; reviewing should be fun.
Make Sure You Learn All The Skills
If you’re really good at speaking, then you might be tempted to just focus on that. However, a good language learner should be well-rounded. Challenge yourself to better your weakest skills.
Typically, writing is the most difficult skill to learn and the skill that students struggle with the most, so this might be an excellent place to start.
Learn The Bulgarian Language With Ling
Is Bulgarian hard to learn? Not with our app! Undeniably, the best and most cost-effective thing you can do to learn Bulgarian is to download the Ling app. Learning Bulgarian is easy with Ling and you can learn 60 other languages!
Ling ticks many of the boxes of the tips above…
First of all, setting goals is built into the Ling system. A big part of goal setting is the concept of being held accountable, and Ling certainly does this. It will send you daily reminders as well as keep track of your progress.
Ling also helps you learn the alphabet. We have writing practice with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Most importantly, we think that Ling makes learning fun. There are cool mini-games and quizzes that couldn’t be further removed from the kind of staid thing you might expect from a traditional classroom setting.
We have blogs on other slavic languages as well as other Bulgarian blogs. Why not check out spoken languages in Bulgarian and no Bulgarian on Babbel.
Learning languages no longer has to be hard as hard as it once was. If you’re a native english speaker(and even if you’re not) there are countless resources out there.
Level up your language learning and speak Bulgarian now.
