In this series of articles we overview languages present in any given country. This time we are looking at the languages spoken in Bulgaria

The biggest languages present in Bulgaria include:

  • Bulgarian – 6.95 million speakers
  • Turkish – 695 thousand speakers
  • Roma – 69 thousand speakers
  • English – 1.74 million speakers
  • Russian – 1.60 million speakers
  • German – 556 thousand speakers

The sole official language of the country is Bulgarian.

Below you will find summaries for the languages supported by our translation services.

Bulgarian

Bulgarian belongs to the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the sole official language of Bulgaria.

Bulgarian language summary
Number of speakers worldwide9 million
Language familyIndo-European
WritingBulgarian alphabet
Major Bulgarian-speaking populations in:8 countries

Demographics and geographic distribution

There are major Bulgarian-speaking populations in more than 5 countries of the world. Examples of countries, where Bulgarian has a major presence, include:

  • North Macedonia
  • Ukraine
  • Turkey
  • Bulgaria

Almost everyone in Bulgaria speaks Bulgarian at least to some extent. It makes the language a safe choice for localization in the Bulgarian market.

Writing

Bulgarian employs the Bulgarian script, which in itself is a sub-type of the Cyrillic script. It is written in the left-to-right fashion.

Translation services

If you intend to expand to the Bulgarian market via the Bulgarian language, you might be interested in the following services:

Turkish

Turkish is a Oghuz language, which is a branch of the Turkic language family. It has no country-wide official status in Bulgaria.

Turkish language summary
Number of speakers worldwide88 million
Language familyTurkic
WritingTurkish alphabet
Major Turkish-speaking populations in:3 countries

Demographics and geographic distribution

There are major Turkish-speaking populations in 3 countries. With regard to the number of speakers, the most notable 3 countries are Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece.

Less than a quarter of the population speaks Turkish in Bulgaria, 695 thousand people in total.

Writing

The Turkish alphabet is used for writing the Turkish language. Being a subset of the Turkish script, it uses some non-standard characters like â, ç, ğ, î, overall 9 symbols.

Translation services

If you intend to expand to the Bulgarian market via the Turkish language, you might be interested in the following services:

English

English is a Germanic language, closely related to Icelandic, German, Norwegian, Swedish, and other languages of the same branch of the language family. It has no country-wide official status in Bulgaria.

English language summary
Number of speakers worldwide1.15 billion
Language familyIndo-European
WritingEnglish alphabet
Major English-speaking populations in:35 countries

Demographics and geographic distribution

Approximately 1.15 billion people in more than 35 countries speak English as either the first or a second language. With regard to the number of speakers, the most notable 3 countries are United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand.

Less than a quarter of the population speaks English in Bulgaria, 1.74 million people in total.

Writing

The English alphabet is used for writing the English language. It employs the standard version of the script with no additional, language-specific symbols.

Translation services

If you intend to expand to the Bulgarian market via the English language, you might be interested in the following services:

Russian

Russian belongs to the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It has no country-wide official status in Bulgaria.

Russian language summary
Number of speakers worldwide260 million
Language familyIndo-European
WritingRussian alphabet
Major Russian-speaking populations in:11 countries

Demographics and geographic distribution

More than a hundred million people use Russian as their language of day-to-day communication. Kazakh, Estonian, and Moldovan markets, for example, might be expected to use Russian in business and daily communications, at least to some extent.

Around 23% of the population of Bulgaria speak Russian.

Writing

The Russian alphabet is used for writing the Russian language. Being a subset of the Russian script, it uses some non-standard characters like ё, overall 1 symbols.

Translation services

If you intend to expand to the Bulgarian market via the Russian language, you might be interested in the following services:

German

German is a Germanic language, closely related to Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, and other languages of the same branch of the language family. It has no country-wide official status in Bulgaria.

German language summary
Number of speakers worldwide230 million
Language familyIndo-European
WritingGerman alphabet
Major German-speaking populations in:12 countries

Demographics and geographic distribution

German is spoken by around 230 million people around the world. Examples of countries, where German has a major presence, include:

  • Switzerland
  • Slovenia
  • Belgium
  • Denmark

In Bulgaria approximately 8% or 556 thousand people use German in their day-to-day communication.

Writing

German uses the Latin alphabet. It employs the extended version of the script, however, with 4 additional symbols. It is written from left to right.

Translation services

If you intend to expand to the Bulgarian market via the German language, you might be interested in the following services:

Related services

We hope you have found the answers to the question about what languages are spoken in Bulgaria“. If you wish to know more about these languages or would like to inquire about our translation services, please contact us at [email protected].

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