Romanization of Bulgarian

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Romanization of Bulgarian is the transliteration of text in the Bulgarian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet. This table lists several transliteration schemes:

Cyrillic ALA/LC BGN/PCGN ISO 9 United Nations Danchev system Official Bulgarian
а a a a a a a
б b b b b b b
в v v v v v v
г g g g g g g
д d d d d d d
е e e e e e e
ж zh zh ž ž zh zh
з z z z z z z
и i i i i i i
й ĭ y j j y y
к k k k k k k
л l l l l l l
м m m m m m m
н n n n n n n
о o o o o o o
п p p p p p p
р r r r r r r
с s s s s s s
т t t t t t t
у u u u u ou u
ф f f f f f f
х kh kh h h h h
ц t͡s ts c c ts ts
ч ch ch č č ch ch
ш sh sh š š sh sh
щ sht sht ŝ št sht sht
ъ ŭ ŭ ″ ǎ u a
ь – ’ ′ j y y
ю i͡u yu û ju yu yu
я i͡a ya â ja ya ya
ѣ i͡e e, ya ě
ѫ u̐ ŭ ǎ

The last two letters are found only in older texts, before 1945.

Contents

[edit] Romanization issues

The romanization of Bulgarian Cyrillic can be done using either of several systems, with none being by far the most dominant and recognizable, and each having disadvantages. Some complex Bulgarian names could be transliterated in up to ten ways[citation needed], whether using standardized systems or not. For example, the village of Gyueshevo could also be spelt as Gjueševo or even Güeshevo on road signs. The letters "ц" (that could be either "c", "ts" or "tz") and the schwa "ъ" (whether "a" or "u" or the more accurate diacritic "ă", "â" or "ŭ") are particularly troublesome.

In 2006, a governmental campaign by the Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform approved a transliteration system to be made official for toponyms (but not personal names). A 30,000-entry online database of placenames and personal names was created to popularize the system and unify the transliteration of Bulgarian. The 2006 system is the old 2000 system approved by the Government for transliterating both personal names and toponyms in the Bulgarian ID cards and passports, which had been originally introduced by L. L. Ivanov and first approved as the official 1995 system for the transliteration of Bulgarian toponyms in Antarctica.

The system, however, has certain flaws, the most obvious one being the use of "a" for both Cyrillic "a" (/a/) and "ъ" (/ɤ/) that could lead to confusion, and makes the original Cyrillic word difficult for non-native speakers to recognize. Another disadvantage can be seen in the use of "zh" and "sh" for "ж" and "ш". For example, a person with no or little knowledge of Bulgarian may not know that a transliterated "izhod" is actually "изход" (that is, it has /zx/, and not /ʒ/) by only looking at the transliteration. The same applies for words that have "сх" (/sx/), such as "схема" ("shema"; pronounced with /sx/ at the beginning, not /ʃ/).

The new-old system has found supporters among those who find the pronunciation of diacritics to be largely unknown in the English-speaking world and thus confusing. In addition to taking advantage from the role of English as a global language, the 1995 Bulgarian system avoids the inconvenience of using diacritics in the epoch of electronic communication. It is a fact that in the case of languages with Latin-based orthography employing diacritics, the mass practice of modern electronic communication (e-mail, instant messaging, short message service etc.) generally does not use the alphabets in question but uses their highly corrupted versions stripped of all diacritical marks.[citation needed]

On the other hand, there are those who feel that Bulgarian, as a South Slavic language, should employ a system that is close to or the same as the ones used by the other languages in the group. Latin scripts or transliteration systems for Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian (the most closely related language) employ a number of diacritical marks.

[edit] Romanization sample

Differences in the romanization of the letters "ч", "ж", "я" and "ъ" are underlined.

Bulgarian Cyrillic United Nations Official transliteration English
Всички хора се раждат свободни и равни по достойнство и права. Tе са надарени с разум и съвест и следва да се отнасят помежду си в дух на братство. Vsički hora se raždat svobodni i ravni po dostojnstvo i prava. Te sa nadareni s razum i sǎvest i sledva da se otnasjat pomeždu si v duh na bratstvo. Vsichki hora se razhdat svobodni i ravni po dostoynstvo i prava. Te sa nadareni s razum i savest i sledva da se otnasyat pomezhdu si v duh na bratstvo. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • (1989) An English Dictionary of Bulgarian Names: Spelling and Pronunciation. Nauka i Izkustvo Publishers, Sofia, pp. 288. 
  • The Official Bulgarian transliteration scheme published in the website of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior.

[edit] Notes

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