Learning the Bulgarian Language and Culture

I started looking at the Cryptic Alphabet and I am a little scared. Learning Bulgarian is going to be a fulltime JOB. Literally the letters don’t have any resemblance to our English letters. Take a look at this link http://www.pravapis.org/art_cyrillic_translit.asp. I better start studying now before I get to Bulgaria. Yikes!!! The only problem is that I can’t start studying because I need to finish my Master’s paper. Ohh boy I need to stay focused. I keep spending time googling information on PC stuff and not working on my paper. As someone I used to work with would, say “bad girl, bad girl”.

In response to the previous blog, I think I should be prepared for whatever happens. The Bulgarian professor mentioned something about racial tensions in a prior conversation. She said she had no idea she was racist or suppressive to gypsies/romas in Bulgaria until she came to the United States. The gypsies (if this is an offensive term please forgive me of my ignorance) are an ethnic group in Bulgaria which are somewhat the equivalent to African Americans in the United States. However they are not African and have more of a Middle Eastern/ Central Asian look to them. For those of you who don’t know what a gypsy/roma is please google it.

The Prof said that Bulgarians behave in a way that is natural for them. They are not trying to be offensive they just don’t know the social norms that are acceptable in the United States. As the author of the article stated Bulgarians truly don’t consider themselves racists or have a knowledge of what the word means. They don’t have the rich history of slavery in their country. The information they have of African Americans comes from rap videos, celebrities, and movies essentially stereotypes. If someone called me the “n word” I will defiantly be offended and let them know what is appropriate and inappropriate when referring to an African American. Every culture, group of people, experience, will not be the same. So, I will have to adapt but at the same time not compromise my beliefs.