Danubius International Conferences, 15th International Conference The Danube - Axis of European Identity
Some Aspects of Studying Bulgarian as a Native Language in Educational Institutions of the Danube Region
Last modified: 2025-06-24
Abstract
The teaching of modern Bulgarian in educational institutions of the Ukrainian Danube region has been ongoing for over thirty years. In settlements with a concentrated Bulgarian population, modern Bulgarian is included in the school curriculum as a dedicated subject. However, this standardised form of the national language is not widely used in the region, in contrast to the Bulgarian dialects spoken in the southern part of the Odesa region. These dialects, spoken by schoolchildren, bear traces of influence from other linguistic varieties and contain a substantial number of loanwords. The linguistic heterogeneity of the region is a key factor affecting the choice of teaching methodology. Language instruction must be adapted to the realities of learning Bulgarian as a native language, while also incorporating elements typically associated with second language acquisition.
