Bulgarian/Russian

[Judith Wermuth-Atkinson]

Dear Becky,
I have been teaching Bulgarian and Russian for about 17 years at all possible
levels, but mainly at universities (Germany and the US). Right now I am
teaching Russian at Columbia. In my opinion you should not move the girl to a
more advanced level. Russian and Bulgarian have many common elements.
However, Bulgarian belongs to the South Slavic group. It does not share the
case system with Russian, which makes it more difficult for Bulgarian
students. There is a very big issue with Bulgarian speaking students who do
understand Russian, but never start to really speak the language. If the girl
has not had any Russian before, it is much better to have her go through the
basic course as well. The idea that Bulgarian is close enough to Russian is
actually quite wrong. I myself am a native Bulgarian and it still took me
many years to learn Serbian/Croatian, which is much closer to Bulgarian than
Russian, on a professional level. Good luck with your student!
Judith Wermuth

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