Bulgarian
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Language
Language
The official language of Bulgaria is Bulgarian
which is spoken by all the population. Bulgarian
uses the Cyrillic alphabet as oppose to the Roman
alphabet commonly used in Western Europe. The
written Bulgarian language therefore loosely resembles
the more commonly known Russian language although
there are significant differences to the two languages.
With EU membership it is a requirement that all
public signage is displayed in the Roman alphabet
as well as the local Cyrillic. Foreigners visiting
Bulgaria will therefore experience limited problems
navigating and interpreting signs.
In addition to Bulgarian, the younger generation
in Bulgaria all learn English in school. Visitors
to Bulgaria will therefore find the English language
is widely spoken by the local population. In tourist
areas almost all the local population will speak
fluent English, additionally many menus, forms
etc. will also be translated due to the number
of visitors to these areas.
Due to its history and similarity, Russian is
widely understood and spoken by Bulgarians, particularly
amongst the older generation. Other languages
that are common include French, Greek, Serbian
and Turkish.
Currency
The official currency of Bulgaria is the Lev.
The Lev exchange is now fixed against the Euro
as part of the EU membership process. After EU
membership in 2007, Bulgaria will adopt the Euro
currency and the Bulgarian Lev will be phased
out completely, this process is expected to take
place in 2009 or 2010.
Since the fixed exchange rate was introduced,
many more expensive items have been priced in
the more widely recognised Euro currency. This
includes but is not limited to property, cars,
white goods and even some salaries. |
