Language

Bulgarian language was the first Slavic language attested in writing. It is the third official alphabet of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek alphabets and it has about 12 million speakers.

The Cyrilik alphabet was created in 885 by two brothers – the Saints Kiril and Metodii. They were born in Salonica (Thessalonica), Greece. Some of the letters are the same as in the Greek alphabet. In 866 their students came to Bulgaria and the Slavic language was made an official language for Bulgaria in the end of 866.

Many Turkish words were adopted into Bulgarian during the long period of Ottoman rule. Words have also been borrowed from Latin, Greek, Russian, French, Italian, German and increasingly from English.