No comments about Assimil Language Couses - Le Bulgare sans Peine (Bulgarian for French Speakers) Book only.

No comments about Bulgarian-English/English-Bulgarian Dictionary.

No comments about Bulgarian Phrase Book (Phrase Books).

No comments about A Course in Modern Bulgarian: Parts One And Two.

1 comments about Course in Modern Bulgarian, Part 1 (Course in Modern Bulgarian).

1. There's not many Bulgarian language books on the market and so one cannot be too choosy. If you are looking for a well-ordered, fluid textbook, this is NOT your book. On the other hand, if you have a good linguistics background and a Bulgarian to help you study, this textbook is much better than any other available Bulgarian language textbook.

   Hubenova uses very complex terms throughout her textbook, which can confuse and intimidate the casual language learner. Her exercises (directions and all) are strictly in Bulgarian, and there's no answer key provided in the back of the book. You'll definitely need a Bulgarian speaker to help you with the exercises.

   The book is pretty thorough, however, and is rich in resources, unlike most of the other books out there.

2 comments about Reading Bulgarian Through Russian.

1. Specifically designed for Russian speakers, the book gives an overview of the grammatical and lexical structure of the Bulgarian language. A very helpful approach, given the simularities between these two Slavic languages. Yet the book does not aim to point out the similiraties which are quite obvious, but instead concentrates on the differences, which may be very tricky and misleading at times. Just read the first couple chapters, figure out a few reading rules and you'll be amazed at how you suddenly start to recognite cognates and understand entire phrases, not only in reading but also in conversation.



2. READING BULGARIAN THROUGH RUSSIAN by Charles Gribble tries to teach the reader just that. Gribble assumes that you are already quite proficient with Russian and want to minimize the effort of learning enough Bulgarian to read various texts. He doesn't attempt to teach the reader to speak, but does say that it shouldn't be hard at all to move on to the spoken language.
   
   Gribble's method is to focus only on how Russian and Bulgarian are different. With regards to Bulgarian's collection of past tenses, which continues the complicated system of Common Slavonic which Russian and other Slavonic languages have drastically simplified, he does this by simply straightforwardly laying out verb tables. A knack for rote memorization will help greatly in making use of this book. Each chapter explains some features unique to Bulgarian, followed by reading exercises, which begin as mere "My house is big. The post office is there" sort of trifles but grow to substantial essays on Bulgarian culture, language, and literature by the end of the book.
   
   The work seems generally helpful, although I must admit I'm not the target audience; I've done a great deal of prior study of Bulgarian, I just discovered the book while exploring Slavica's catalogue. My biggest complaint is that the author does not try to show how the languages are both derived from Common Slavonic and have each made this or that innovation or kept this or that original feature. This makes the book a bit more accesible to a general audience, but for those inclined to historical linguists like myself reduces its efficiency. The author mentions nothing of comparative Slavonic linguistics until the essay "Bulgarski ezik" at the end of the book, where he repeats several common falsehoods, such as that Old Church Slavonic is "Old Bulgarian" (Cyril and Methodius' language was that of Thessaloniki, a city far south of the Kingdom of Bulgaria).
   
   And this is a Slavica book from the 80s, so don't expect superbly readable typesetting, but just ugly-but-functional word-processor output. In any event, if you possess decent Russian and have always been intrigued by that sexy and enigmatic South Slavonic language that is Bulgarian, this is a book worth picking up.

No comments about Bulgarian (Teach Yourself Languages).

1 comments about Young Poets of a New Bulgaria: An Anthology.

1. It is not so easy to find Bulgarians willing to write poetry in the midst of such social-economical earthquakes Bulgaria is going through. However, in this book you'll find many brave mouths, crying out for fresh waters of love and "winds of change", which from now on will blow away the ignorance and lack of compassion -- those two sides of the old coin of that old Bulgarian poetry. These people seem ready to change the whole universe, not just the formerly called Eastern Block. Just listen to their soulical screams, explaining the brth of the new wings--

   Borislav Belovarski

No comments about The genesis of the modern Bulgarian literary language (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis).

1 comments about Bulgarian - English Dictionary.

1. The dictionary I received was nothing like what I expected! First the pages and typeface look like they were set in a hand powered printing press. There were many places where print was missing, blotched or off center. Second, the dates listed for both of these books as publishing dates (one says 1977, the other 1990) look to be way off. The book I received claims a publish date of 1966. The age of a dictionary isn't really that important to me if the quality is good. However, the pages lack headings so actually looking up a bulgarian word is rather difficult. Beyond that, quite frequently, instead of listing complete words and definitions line by line, the editor decided to save space by placing a root(prefix) in the margin and fill 3 and 4 pages with suffixes... suffixes which all have totally different definitions! Imagine having one dictionary entry for all words that start with RE- or PRE-. The entry would be pages long. Personal opinion... unless they just happened to ship me the wrong book... save your $40 bucks!