We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Translation is far more than a simple replacement of words. We must also take into account the cultural and communicative differences between the different target audiences. The act of translation is essentially a delicate balancing act to ensure the message remains culturally appropriate and lands well in the new chosen context.
What is acceptable or common in one cultural group may be entirely foreign or even rude in another. Svetlana, our Bulgarian-born project manager and translator by training, sums up some key differences between Bulgarian and British communication.
Punctuation – when to put a stop (or comma) to things
Where numbers in English use a decimal point, Bulgarian uses a decimal comma – i.e. ten thousand would be 10,000 in English as opposed to 10.000 in Bulgarian. This is true for many other languages, such as French, Dutch and German. This means linguists need to have a keen eye when translating number-heavy documents such as annual reports, as one little mix-up can have serious consequences!
In general, the Bulgarian language uses commas differently too. For example, you must place a comma before words such as ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘but’, ‘where’, and ‘when’. A Bulgarian writing in English would often feel the urge to add commas at points where they are not normally used. When translating into Bulgarian, it is important to remember to add the commas where necessary and not put a comma before ‘and’. Only in rare exceptions does Bulgarian allow a comma to be placed in front of the word ‘and’.
Politeness – minding your Ps and Qs
In everyday communication, English tends to attach greater importance to actively expressing politeness by scattering in lots of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. The use of the conditional tense (e.g. ‘could I’ as opposed to the present tense ‘can I’) is also more common in English as a way of showing good manners.
Politeness is expressed differently, and perhaps to a lesser extent, in Bulgarian. What would literally translate as ‘Can I have the […]’ with the correct tone of voice is considered polite enough. In formal settings, this would be the polite way to ask for something – whilst in English, this can sound a tad too direct. What’s more, in formal settings it is expected that you address superiors or people you don’t know well in the plural ‘you’ form (‘Вие’ (Vie)). This distinction in formality simply does not exist in the English language.
In Bulgarian, it would also be considered rude for a child to address an adult by their name, although this is slowly changing as a result of global media influence. Children in Bulgaria would be expected to place ‘aunt’ / ‘grandmother / ‘kaka’ (for older girl/young adult) for women or ‘uncle’ / ‘grandfather’ / ‘batko’ (for older boy/young adult) for men before the name. As you can imagine, this can create a whole minefield when you need to judge a person’s age to choose the right option and there’s a fair bit of potential to cause offense.
Length of sentences and repetition
When it comes to written – especially more formal – texts, Bulgarian loves its long and twisted sentences. This South Slavic language also has more grammatical suffixes, which allow for a looser word order than English. A translator therefore needs to pay close attention to the word order and remember to break up sentences when working into English.
For example, Bulgarian verbs have dozens of forms – with different suffixes for each person, number, grammatical tense and various moods.
English: eat, eats, eating, eaten, ate (5 unique forms)
Bulgarian: ям, ядеш, ядE, ядем, ядете, ядат, ядох, Яде, ядохме, ядохте, ядоха, ядях, ядеше, ядяхме, ядяхте, ядяха, ял, яла, яло, яли, ядял, ядяла, ядяло, ядяли, яж, яжте, яден, ядена, ядено, ядени, ядения, яденият, ядената, яденото, ядените, ялия, ялият, ялата, ялото, ялите, ядялия, ядялият, ядялата, ядялото, ядялите, ядещ, ядещия, ядещият, ядеща, ядещата, ядещо, ядещото, ядещи, ядещите, ядейки (55 unique forms)
This means verbs in Bulgarian can be pretty self-sufficient, as they contain a lot of information within them and can end up in different places in the sentence.
In English, sentence structure follows a fixed sequence of subject – verb – object: She eats cake. Whilst this is the default word order in Bulgarian – Тя яде торта (She eats cake) – we can also completely flip it around: Торта яде [тя] (Cake eats [she]). We can even skip the subject ‘тя’ (she) altogether because the verb already contains this information. This reversal of word order in Bulgarian is often used for emphasis: You want your listener to concentrate on what they are eating, not who is eating in this case. If you tried this in English, however, you would most likely sound like you’re trying to do a Yoda impression.
In the opposite direction, Bulgarian is much less tolerant of repetitions than English, which is another thing for translators to keep an eye on. For example, we will often skip the pronouns to avoid repetition, dropping ‘he’, ‘she’, or ‘they’ after the first use and just relying on the verb containing that information. In English, however, you cannot simply say “She eats cake. Is baker” – you would need to keep that second ‘she’ to make a full and correct sentence.
Bulgarian grammar
Another grammatical quirk is what’s called the ‘renarrative mood’, also referred to as the inferential mood. It is used to report non-witnessed events without confirming them, or even to express doubt regarding the verity of the information. Whilst this exists in other languages such as German, there is no direct equivalent in English.
So in Bulgarian, you could use the renarrative mood to say: ‘Той паднал’ (‘He is said to have fallen’ or ‘I heard he’d fallen’). To Bulgarian readers, the renarrative mood makes it very clear that the author has not witnessed him falling but heard it from someone else, and is sometimes also inferring ‘and I don’t know if this is true’. In English, however, you cannot express this within the verb itself. The distinction would need to be made by e.g. inserting the word ‘apparently’ or ‘reportedly’.
By way of illustration, I once had a curious conversation with a non-native Bulgarian speaker. She was telling a story about someone who had reportedly jumped from a window in our building. She said ‘Той скочи от прозореца’ (He jumped out of the window). The rest of the group, all native Bulgarians, immediately gasped and were shook by the fact she had witnessed this event first-hand. She then had to explain that it happened a very long time ago and other people had told her about this. What she should have done was use the renarrative mood form ‘скочил’ (skochil) instead of ‘скочи’ (skochi). This would have made it immediately clear that she had not been there at the time and that she was simply recounting a rumour she had heard (that may or may not be true). This mood is understandably tricky for non-native speakers to grasp!
Break the Bulgarian code with First Edit
In sum, as with any language combination, there are plenty of linguistic and cultural differences to bear in mind when translating to or from Bulgarian. Whether you’re looking to translate into Bulgarian or Bengali, First Edition Translations has got you covered. We are a long-standing certified translation agency headquartered in Cambridge and offer services to private individuals, businesses big and small, museums, cultural organisations, and public sector stakeholders. Whether you require a certified translation for court or want to publish a novel abroad, you can reach out to our multilingual project management team for a no-obligation quote under enquiries@firstedit.co.uk