In many of the previous posts we have seen how Bulgaria is considered, for very good reasons, the begodi of Italian professionals, entrepreneurs and, why not, also pensioners, who have chosen to move to this eastern country to take advantage of a very advantageous tax system (10% tax for natural and legal persons) and thus stop living, as happens in Italy, from January to June just to pay taxes.
Now assuming that you who are reading this post also find yourself (or are about to) in this position, there is a problem that will surely arise in your mind: how do you deal with the Bulgarian language? Is it complex? How long will it take me to understand and understand the basics sufficient for daily living? How should you go about learning the rudiments of this language? In this post we will try to answer all these questions.
1) It's not easy
We know it won't be comforting but, it's the truth, Bulgarian is certainly not one of the easiest languages to learn. The primary difficulty is undoubtedly linked to the fact that it does not use our own alphabet (the Latin one) but the Cyrillic one which, to be clear, is the one also used in Russia. If you studied Greek in high school it will be a little easier for you to familiarize yourself with its 30 letters at the beginning (learning time of the alphabet alone: 2 hours). Consider that signs and road signs are written in Cyrillic: practically everything. In the main cities, fortunately, some writings are also replicated in English, but it is not something to rely on. For this reason, it is advisable for those who are completely fasting to learn at least the alphabet and those 20/30 most common words which will at least allow you to move easily on the street.
2) Learning times
However, if Bulgaria is a long-term project then we certainly recommend taking an official and structured Bulgarian course. In this regard, our agency is able to suggest some trusted facilities in which to take these courses. Consider that the minimum course time to start learning a bit of Bulgarian and hold a conversation with a native speaker is estimated at around 1000 hours of course, or almost 50 weeks.
3) Some advice
Before starting your journey of learning the Bulgarian language, allow us to give you some advice which, according to our experience, will be particularly useful to you.
a) The first is to avoid doing it yourself for the translation of administrative and business documents and assets. Don't think about relying on Google Translator for such delicate things. At least for these matters, rely on agencies, like ours, which can offer you what is called a "sworn translation”. Furthermore, if you start the transfer procedures to Bulgaria through our agency you will absolutely not have to worry about translation problems for communicating with the local offices. We will take care of everything thanks to our native speaking consultants on site
b) Avoid associating only with Italians. We know that, especially at the beginning, dating Italians makes those who have just moved feel in a sort of "comfort zone". However, we must tell you that if you continue to use Italian whenever possible, you will never learn Bulgarian: force yourself to get out of this "comfortable" dimension, throw yourself in, and you will see that you too will be able to learn the language, by falling and learning, like so many others have done before you
c) Once you have a good dictionary, read the local newspapers and watch TV (perhaps with subtitles in Bulgarian). In this way, day after day, you will increase your internal dictionary (in Bulgarian) and you will notice how little by little you will also learn to recognize the terms you hear, which is the most difficult part.
