Bulgarian

Why Learn Bulgarian?

Speakers
About 7.9 million, 6.8 million as a first language (2019–2023)
Official in
Bulgaria, and in the European Union
Written in
Cyrillic, used for Bulgarian since 893

Bulgarian Alphabet

Start Learning

0 of 7 Chapters Complete

1

Letters You Already Know

2

Familiar Shapes, New Sounds

3

Two More Familiar Shapes

4

New Shapes, Familiar Sounds

5

More Shapes To Read

6

Hisses And Buzzes

7

Your Last Four Letters

Bulgarian Course Levels

  1. Level 1I can sound out words but not much else
  2. Level 2I can read simple sentences
  3. Level 3I can read short stories and messages
  4. Level 4I can read longer texts about everyday life
  5. Level 5I can follow complex topics, but miss some details
  6. Level 6I can read almost anything

How Long Does It Take to Learn Bulgarian?

The U.S. Foreign Service Institute plans 1,012 class hours for its English-speaking students to use Bulgarian at work. That is about 44 weeks of classes, plus about 17 hours a week of study on their own.

Here is how long 1,012 hours takes at your own pace:

3½ hours a week
About 5 years 6 months
7 hours a week
About 2 years 9 months
14 hours a week
About 1 year 5 months
28 hours a week
About 8 months

Common Questions About Learning Bulgarian

Does Bubblegum teach Bulgarian?

Yes. Bubblegum teaches Bulgarian.

Is Bubblegum good for beginners?

If you are serious about learning Bulgarian, start with Bubblegum. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes lessons at your level about things you like.

Which levels does Bubblegum teach?

Bubblegum has six levels, from Level 1 ("I can sound out words but not much else") to Level 6 ("I can read almost anything"). You can change your level at any time.

Does Bubblegum teach the Cyrillic alphabet?

Yes. Start with the free Bulgarian Alphabet course on this site.

Do the Bulgarian lessons have audio?

Yes. Clear, expressive AI voices read every lesson aloud, with a different voice for each speaker.

Can I practice speaking Bulgarian?

Yes. In live voice chat, you talk out loud in Bulgarian with Poppy, your AI tutor.

Which languages can Poppy explain Bulgarian in?

Poppy explains Bulgarian in any of the 76 languages the app comes in. The language pairs page shows how much of the Bulgarian grammar and dictionary is ready in each one.

Is Bubblegum free?

Yes. Lessons Poppy wrote for other learners are free for everyone to read. Custom lessons cost us money to make, so you need Bubblegum Pro for unlimited custom lessons.

Learn Bulgarian With Bubblegum

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Bulgarian language (6.8 million first-language and 7.9 million speakers in all, 2019–2023; official in Bulgaria and the European Union; written in Cyrillic since 893)
  2. U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (Category III: about 44 weeks, 1,012 class hours; Albanian, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese)