Quin's English

It's been a long time since I wrote anything here, as an irritating Facebook message keeps reminding me, but today at school I overheard a teacher of Bulgarian expressing her annoyance that some of her students had in the semester exam written 'Прънц Хамлет' when they should have written 'Принц Хамлет'. The word 'принц' is of course a loan-word in Bulgarian, from the English 'prince' or perhaps from the German 'prinz', but assuming the English - Hamlet after all being an English-language work - it uses a sound which the Bulgarian language doesn't have. The sound represented by the letter 'i' in 'prince', or in 'sin', 'bin' or 'Quin' for that matter.

There is the letter and sound 'и' in Bulgarian but this is pronounced 'ee' - so giving 'preence' or 'Queen'. Which is what they do here in Bulgaria with my name - spell it 'Куин', so that this FB page would be 'Queen's English', which there is of course, but that's not my name.

The other letter/sound in Bulgarian which approximates the English 'i' in 'prince' is 'ъ', the use of which by some of her students so vexed my colleague. It's the 'i' in 'prince' but semi-glottalized - the tongue is further back in the mouth, the lower jaw is a little slacker, and the sound is partially 'swallowed'.

'ъ' is a much used sound in Bulgarian - as in the name of the country itself: България - so I can understand how a Bulgarian student who hears 'Prince Hamlet' might assume that the 'i' is rendered 'ъ'. In some respects, it's more faithful to the English sound than is 'и'. The Bulgarian language gurus have seemingly ordained otherwise but perhaps they should be listening a little more closely to what the young people are doing.

Did you know? That the Bulgarian way of observing that some job was, or will be, very easy is as cryptic as the English one? In English, we would say, "Huh, a piece of cake!" Whereas in Bulgaria people would say "Фасулска работа!" (fasulska rabota) - "A bean job!" Both as idiomatic as you could get.

Did you know? That the old advice for not making premature assumptions in Bulgarian and English both involve counting chickens? In English of course, we say "Don't count your chickens before they hatch". But in Bulgaria, someone might say "Пилците се броят на есен" (piltsite se broyat na esen) - "Chickens are counted in autumn". :)

Did you know? When someone in Bulgaria makes a big fuss over a very small issue, the reaction might be "От мухата, слон" (ot muhata, slon - from the fly, an elephant) - whereas English speakers would observe that the person is "making a mountain out of a molehill".

Check out the latest Quin's English blog - on using the f-word on the telly when kids might be watching - at http://quins-english.com/the-f-word-on-tv-in-nz

The F-word on TV in NZ | Quin's English New Zealand’s state television broadcaster TVNZ is to appeal a ruling of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) which upheld a citizen complaint about two uses of the word “f**king” in November last year. TVNZ considers the ruling to be “incomprehensible”.

has a blog going at http://quins-english.com/the-qe-blog Check it out for thought-provoking comment and helpful hints on the English lanugage, with a Bulgarian flavour.

The QE Blog | Quin's English From time to time, we’ll add some comments and some – hopefully! – helpful advice on English usage, often with a Bulgarian-language focus. Like the first ones.

advises that the next course "Colloquial English for Media & Communication", in association with Apeiron Academy, is now scheduled to start on Saturday, 25 September. Learn more at the Quin's English website http://quins-english.com/home/colloquial-english-course-2 and at Apeiron Academy's blogsite - link below.

Apeiron Blog

has a website. It's here - www.quins-english.com

Effective English tuition in Bulgaria for business, law and life. Quin’s English offers innovative English tuition in Bulgaria for law, business and other special purposes and indeed for anyone wanting to improve their use of natural and effective English.

notes this item from yesterday's New Zealand Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10661892
and recommends that anyone who wants to sing like a Kiwi should model themselves on these roosters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AaICq0eI60
Good on ya, mate.

Kiwi pop stars sing with US twang - National - NZ Herald News Call us loyal, but not to the Kiwi accent - nearly all New Zealand pop musicians sing with an American-influenced accent, new research has found.

wonders if "текствам" (I text) wouldn't be a better verb than "есемесвам" (I sms) ...