Come on let’s be honest (I thought you were just bantering)… UK is awful for mispronouncing foreign names - we usually just throw an “io” on the end of a word and think that’s ok.
I mean we have essentially renamed an island in Spain
It’s IBIZA not IBEEFA
Shame. Bulgaria is an amazing country (I worked in Razgrad last year) and to hear the locals explain the differences between Bulgarian and Russian is really neat, a bit like the relationship between [European] Spanish and Portuguese. Some broad compatibility but a lot of mismatches on basic terms.
100% visited Sofia a few times when I was younger. Really beautiful place. Would love to see how it has changed as has been over a decade now. @SoundEater where are you based in Bulgaria?
Russian dialect is all about the subtleties so it is super challenging to get that true comprehension of what meaning is really being conveyed. So many layers and shorthand. Why Russian novel translations are so challenging in English.
The issues with that type of similarity is that it makes learning the new language hard as you try to revert instinctively. I have this issue more with Italian & Spanish on a word by word basis as the manner of speaking is somewhat similar. Portuguese requires a different rhythm of thought almost (I don’t get as caught up with word by word similarity but more I will catch myself slipping and just randomly speaking whole sentences in Spanish instead which is worse if I am honest) - it’s cadence for me is the thing that really sticks out and is further from what you see when comparing SA Spanish, Mexican or European Spanish. I think there is also an exaggerated effect on my part as my basis in European Spanish is Andalucian and Portuguese is Carioca - both regional and somewhat lazy versions - though never tell that to someone from there.