Andragoški zavod Maribor - Ljudska univerza is the author and the coordinator of the Language Festival project. Together with the partners from the Netherlands, Germany, Check Republic, Slovakia and Hungary we applied for financing with EU programme Socrates - Lingua 1.
The project received positive feedback and was accepted by European Commission to be implemented between October 2003 and October 2005. In the project we prepared and organised the Language Festival in Maribor from 29th September to 2nd October 2004, held book exhibition of minor European languages, produced a web site and books on chosen languages.

The Festival hosted many experts who introduced 24 European languages to general public in 4 days not only at AZM-LU but also at many schools and other institutions.

In April 2005 we held book exhibition where we presented books and other materials on 17 minor European languages at Maribor Faculty of Education. We finalised the activities by producing the web site you're using at the moments. Here you can find some information regarding language connected culture, basic characteristics of relevant languages and language survival kits. Website language is Slovenian. Also German and English versions are available.  In time we hope to achieve English, German and Esperanto descriptions for all languages. This website is still very much alive and constantly expanding. We plan to add new languages as well.
Promotionally the project enjoyed great success. In cooperation with Mediamix we created an innovative way of attracting the public and received many awards at advertising festivals. Socrates Lingua declared the Language Festival project one of 50 best examples of promoting languages.

Info regarding promotion of the Festival is available on: http://www.mediamix.si/slo/News/2005junij02.html

Melita Cimerman and Zlatko Tišljar.


Author: Ljuba Stojanova Stojčeva

Bulgarian Language - General Information

Bulgarian is the native language of about 9 million people, most of whom live in Bulgaria, where it is the official language.

Bulgaria is a republic on the north-east part of the Balkan Peninsula. It is bounded on the north by Romania, on the east by the Black Sea, on the south by Turkey and Greece, and on the west by Jugoslavia [Serbia] and Macedonia. Although Bulgaria is a small country [with an area of 110,994 sq. km], its strategic location allows for control of major land and waterroutes from Europe and Russia to the Middle East
The greatest distance from north to south is about 330 km and from east to west about 500 km The Balkan mountains cross the country from the northwestern comer to the Black Sea and from the watershed between the Danube River and the Aegean Sea. Bulgaria has 911 square kilometres which is 22 percent of the Balkan Peninsula.

The majority of the population is of the Slav origin. Although the Proto-Bulgarians were originally a Turkic-speaking people from Asia, they merged with the Slavic tribes whom they conquired in the 7th century A.D. in the territory of present-day Bulgaria and took over their Slavic language.

The Bulgarian language is a member of the Slavonic language subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The Slavonic subfamily of languages is divided into three branches: East Slavic [Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian], South Slavic [eastern group -Bulgarian, western group - Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian], West Slavic [Czech, Slovak, Polish, High and Low Serbian].


History and Development of the Bulgarian Language

After the Great Migration of the Slavs, the Common Slavic language slowly disintegrated and the modern Slavonic languages began to develop. One of its descendants was also the Bulgarian language.

As part of the relentlessly dynamic Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria is and always has been the scene of charge and transition. Geographically situated between Europe and Asia, it occupies a strategic cultural, economical and political crossroads, and throughout history has consequently alterned between being powerful and being overpowered.

Thracian control over the territory began to disolve because of internal strife among the tribes as well as increasing conflicts with external powers looking to encroach on the region, including the Greeks, the Persians and the Macedonians. The area of present-day Bulgaria was divided into two Roman provinces. To the north of the Balkan Mountains was Moesia Inferior and the land south of that retained the name of Thrace.

Slavs arrived in the Balkan during the 6th century, and absorb and possibly drive out most of the Thracian-Roman population living there at the time. The Slavic language and customs spread across the region and took roots, making it the dominant culture in the area.

In the mid to late 600s, a tribe of mounted horse warriors ethnically related to the Huns and Avars continued their migration from Central Asia. They soon pressed southwards into the Slav territory, led by their khan Asparoukh, and took control of land where they went.

The Bulgarian state was founded in 681 AD as a union of Slavs, Thracians and proto-Bulgarians. This first Bulgarian Kingdom, which lasted until 1018, stretched roughly from the Carpathians in the north to the Balkan Mountains range in the south. It is generally considered the first Slavic state in history.

The more numerous Slavs did eventually assimilate the Bulgars [called proto-Bulgars as a difference from today Bulgarians] into their culture, but fuelled by the proto-Bulgarian's warlike nature. By the nineth century, Macedonian lauds were also under Bulgarian control. Bulgarian kings were called tsars, and in 865 converted to Orthodox Christianity. Tzar Boris I adopted the religion as the official faith of the country. Tzar Boris met a historical necessity at the time -Bulgarians came a part of European culture which was essentially Christian in nature. The adoption of Christianity quickly eliminated the differences between proto-Bulgarians and served to shape the Bulgarian nationality. Today Orthodox is an official religion in Bulgaria which is professed by 86,6 percent of the population.

"A Golden Age11 of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom began in 1185, when Bulgaria bordered on three seas: the Black, the Adriatic and the Aegean seas. From 1389 to 1878 Bulgaria was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks /Bulgarians call it the yoke/.