Bulgarian Pronunciation Guide

By Dick Oakes

A a, Â â, B b, C c, Č č, D d, Dž dž, E e, F f, G g,
H h, I i, J j, K k, L l, Lj lj, M m, N n, Nj nj, O o, P p,
R r, S s, Š š, T t, U u, Ŭ ŭ, V v,
Z z, Ž ž,

Bulgarian uses the "Ćirilica" (Cyrillic) alphabet. It is similar enough to Serbo-Croatian that, for our purposes, Ćirilica has been transliterated into "Latinica" (Latin alphabet), the official Slavic phonetical Latin alphabet proclaimed at the La Haye Slavistic Conference in 1955. For the transliteration of Bulgarian, one additional sound is symbolized with diacritical marks.*

Letters not listed below are pronounced approximately as in English.

A, a	- a as in father; a as in bath
Â â	- u as in sun (used mostly in map making and dance notation; see Ŭ)*
E, e	- e as in let; also e as in grey
I, i	- i as in pin; also i as in machine
O, o	- o as in note; also o as in gone
U, u	- u as in duke
Ŭ, ŭ	- u as in sun*

C, c	- c as in dance
Č, č	- c as in cello
Dž, dž	- dg as in edge
G, g	- g as in go
H, h	- ch (gutteral kh) as in loch
J, j	- y as in yes
Lj, lj	- ly as in halyard
Nj, nj	- ny as in canyon
R, r	- slightly rolled; when used as a vowel as er in pert
Š š	- s as in sugar
Ž ž	- z as in azure

DIPTHONGS:

Aj, aj	- ay as in kayak
Ej, ej	- ey as in grey
Oj, oj	- oy as in toy