The good news: Bulgarian is an almost phonetic language. What you see is what you read. The bad news: the stress is free and mobile. It can fall on any syllable, and sometimes it moves around within the very same word.
Free stress
- въ́лна (válna, wool, of a sheep) and вълна́ (valná, a wave, of the sea). Get it wrong and you will be knitting a sweater out of the surf.
- па́ра (pára, steam from a kettle) and пара́ (paráa, an old coin, today used for money in general – “нямам пара”, “I haven't got a penny”).
- вина́ (viná, guilt, as in “your fault”) and ви́на (víni, the plural of “вино”, wine). The two often go together, if you overdo the second.
Vowel reduction
In an unstressed position “а” sounds almost like “ъ”, and “о” moves towards “у”. That is why some people say „мълкó“ instead of „мляко“ (mlyáko, milk) or „гувúда“ instead of “говеда” (govéda, cattle). This is not a pronunciation mistake but an East Bulgarian inheritance. Just don't write it like that in a letter to the tax office.
Sounds that puzzle foreigners
- Ъ – the “most Bulgarian” letter. It sits in България (Bulgaria), ъгъл (corner) and път (road). Try saying it without thinking and you are halfway to citizenship.
- Дж and Дз – two sounds that we write with two letters each: джоб (dzhob, pocket), дзън (dzan, a “ding” sound).
- Х – softer than the German ch in Bach. Nobody is asking you to choke.
A Bulgarian shakes the head from side to side when saying “yes” and nods when saying “no”. This has nothing to do with pronunciation, but it saves at least one dinner a month, when the waiter asks whether you would like it “с лютичко” (with a little chilli kick).