At Unbabel we have a unique approach to translation: each text submitted by a customer is translated by our Machine Translation system, and then corrected by our community of editors in an online platform. By editing the output of the software, the editors ensure the quality of the translations and confirm that the message is accurate (i.e., has the same meaning as the original), fluent (i.e., can be easily understood and sounds natural) and is in line with the style requested by the clients (i.e. respects their register and terminology). In order to help editors do the best job possible, we provide various types of information:

Customer instructions, which include the identification of the client and his requests to personalize the translation, such as the register that must be used to address the recipient of the message. Following these instructions is vital to deliver translations that match the client’s expectations.
Glossaries, which correspond to specific vocabulary and expressions used by the client, and that must be respected by the editors.
Translation Memories, which correspond to stored segments (expressions, sentences or paragraphs) that have previously been translated and accepted for customer usage. They are useful for ensuring consistency across translations.

We also have Smartcheck, which is an application that checks the grammar, morphology, orthography and style of the translations while being edited. By using a large set of rules, Smartcheck flags words or groups of words that may present some kind of issue.

Finally, in order to deliver the best possible translation, we also provide these guidelines about your language specifications. Please, read them carefully and always follow these instructions in your editions.

2. Grammar

2.1. Agreement

2.1.1. Tense, mood, aspect, person (for verbs)

Regarding the agreement rules between subjects and predicates, there are some problematic points worth mentioning:

a) The verb can either in the singular or plural forms

In the following cases:

the subject includes a collective noun (група, отбор, ято, стадо, шепа, тълпа) and a singular noun:

Example

Source text: A group of students took part in the conference.

✓ В конференцията взе участие група студенти.

✓ В конференцията взеха участие група студенти.

the subject is the noun част in combination with a plural noun:

Example

Source text: Most of the teachers attended the meeting.

✓ По-голямата част от учителите присъстваха на събранието.

✓ По-голямата част от учителите присъства на събранието.

the subject includes a fraction:

Example

Source text: One third of the documents have been sent.

✓ Една трета от документите е изпратена.

✓ Една трета от документите са изпратени.

the subject is composed by two nouns connected by the preposition с/със or след:

Example

Source text: Ana and Georgi stood in front of the headmaster.

✓ Ана с Георги застанаха пред директора.

✓ Ана с Георги застана пред директора.

b) The verb has to be in the plural form

If the subject is composed by two or more nouns connected by the preposition и.

Example

Source text: Mihaela and Petar stayed in the classroom.

✘ Михаела и Петър остана в класната стая.

✓ Михаела и Петър останаха в класната стая.

2.1.2. Gender and number (nouns and adjectives)

Each Bulgarian noun belongs to one of the following gender groups: masculine, feminine or neuter. Adjectives, pronouns, participles etc. agree in gender with the nouns they refer to. Some problematic constructions are mentioned below:

a) Number of the nouns with two or more similar attributes

In case of two or more similar adjectives referring to the same noun, which designates two or more objects, the noun has to be singular.

Example

Source text: Mariela speaks German and English languages.

✘ Мариела говори немски и английски езици.

✓ Мариела говори немски и английски език.

b) Gender and number agreement of the verbs and the adjectives in the formal register

The adjectives and the past passive participles have to agree with the subject of the sentence and not with the pronoun.

Example

Source text: Dr Georgieva, you are outstanding.

✘ Д-р Георгиева, Вие сте изключителни.

✓ Д-р Георгиева, Вие сте изключителна.

The aorist participle has to agree with the pronoun.

Example

Source text: Mr Petrov, you have not answered the letter.

✘ Г-н Петров, Вие не сте отговорил на писмото.

✓ Г-н Петров, Вие не сте отговорили на писмото.

2.2. Determiners

In Bulgarian there is only one article, the definite article. There is no equivalent to the English indefinite article. The definite article in Bulgarian is always added as a suffix to the noun.

There are long forms -ЪТ/-ЯТ (пълен член) and short forms -А/-Я (кратък член) of the definite article for the nouns of the masculine gender. The long forms are used when the noun is the subject of the sentence, apposition or predicative. The short forms are used when the noun is any other part of the sentence:

Examples

Source text: The user has registered successfully.

✘ Потребителя се регистрира успешно.

✓ Потребителят се регистрира успешно.

Source text: I called the leader.

✘ Обадих се на ръководителят.

✓ Обадих се на ръководителя.

The adjectives, as well as the pronouns, the ordinal numerals etc., used as attributes in the sentence are usually placed in front of the nouns they qualify. In this case, the definite article, if needed, is joined to the first attribute of the noun phrase.

Example

Source text: He is the tallest in the room.

✘ Той е най-високия в стаята.

✓ Той е най-високият в стаята.

The English indefinite article can be translated in Bulgarian using the forms of the cardinal numeral for 1 (or rather, the forms of the indefinite pronoun един, една, едно, едни):

Example

Source text: I was talking to a friend.

✓ Говорех с една приятелка/един приятел.

However, the constant repetition of these words is to be avoided when translating from English to Bulgarian.

2.3. Prepositions

Prepositions are function words indicating various relations between notional verbs, nouns, pronouns, etc. Similarly to English, in Bulgarian there are quite a lot of prepositions, which express different semantic relations. It is important to pay attention to their correct use in Bulgarian and not to translate the English prepositions literally.

Example

Source text: Thank you for your understanding regarding this question.

✘ Благодарим Ви за проявеното разбиране с този въпрос.

✓ Благодарим Ви за проявеното разбиране по този въпрос.

Doubling of the prepositions в and с

The prepositions в and с are written във and със before words that start with the letters в, ф and с, з respectively. This rule applies even if the prepositions precede a number whose pronunciation starts with в and с (със 100 %, във II век), and also when the preposition is accentuated (със и без подготовка).

Example

Source text: in France

✘ в Франция

✓ във Франция

2.4. Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Note that the nominative personal pronouns are generally omitted entirely when the referent is clear from the context and there is no particular emphasis on the subject.

Example

Source text: I don’t know.

✓ Не зная.

The possessive pronouns are either omitted or the short form is used. That is why it is not necessary to follow the English sentence structure by constantly repeating the pronouns:

Examples

Source text: I want to know how I can receive the parcel.

✘ Аз искам да разбера как аз да получа пратката.

✓ Искам да разбера как да получа пратката.

Source text: Enter your password.

✘ Въведете Вашата парола.

✓ Въведете паролата си.

Source text: Do you want to save your document?

✘ Вие желаете ли да запазите Вашия документ?

✓ Желаете ли да запазите документа?

In Bulgarian, there is also the so called reflexive possessive pronoun (себе си), which refers to a possession of the subject. In the 1st and 2nd persons, both short forms of the possessive pronouns (ми, ти) and short forms of the reflexive possessive pronoun (си) can be used without any differences in the meaning. However, in the 3rd person, different usage has a different meaning:

Examples

Source text: Peter is looking after his child. [the child of Peter]

✓Петър се грижи за детето си. [детето на Петър]

Source text: While Ivan is at work, Peter is looking after his child. [the child of Ivan]

✓Докато Иван е на работа, Петър се грижи за детето му. [детето на Иван]

2.5. Verbs

In some languages (as English), there is a ‘sequence of tenses’ that governs the agreement of the verb tenses within the main and subordinate clauses. In Bulgarian, this set of rules does not exist; that is why one should be careful with the translation:

Example

Source text: I thought he was still asleep.

✘Мислех, че той още спеше.

✓ Мислех, че той още спи.

3. Orthography

3.1. Abbreviations

Abbreviations and contractions should be avoided if the meaning is not clear to the reader of the translation. However, there are some rules that should be followed when it is necessary to use an abbreviation or a contraction:

Abbreviate after a consonant and put a full stop.

Example

Source text: p. (page)

страница

✘ стра

✓ стр.

Abbreviations formed by the initials of the words in a phrase are written in lower case, with full stops between words and without а whitespace.

Example

Source text: etc.

и така нататък

✘ и т. н .

✓ и т.н.

Abbreviations formed by removing letters of the interior of the word are written with a full stop after the final letter.

Example

Source text: see

виж

✘ вж

✓ вж.

Abbreviations formed by the first and the last letter of the word are written with a hyphen.

Example

Source text: doctor

доктор

✘ др

✓ д-р

Units of measurement and scientific symbols such as км (km), мг (mg), мин (min) etc. do not need a final full stop, regardless of the alphabet used (Cyrillic, Roman).

Example

Source text: cm [centimetre]

сантиметър

✘ см.

✓ см

Note: There is a full stop after the abbreviations of час, минута, секунда when they designate a specific moment of the day: ‘Срокът изтича в 14,00 ч’.

Abbreviations of foreign proper nouns in which the initials keep their original pronunciation are written without a full stop and with spaces between them.

Example

Source text: BBC

✘ БиБиСи

✓ Би Би Си

3.2. Capitalization

Syntactic use of capitalization

In formal texts, the first two lines always start with an upper case letter, regardless the punctuation of the first line:

Example

Source text: Dear guests,

Thank you for…

✘ Уважаеми гости,

благодаря за...

✓ Уважаеми гости,

Благодаря за...

Morphologic use of capitalization

The rule regarding the capitalization of words in Bulgarian is simple: all proper nouns are capitalized. However, sometimes, it is difficult to decide if a noun has the status of a proper noun or not.

A frequent error is related to the capitalization of proper nouns that denominate institutions, historical events, etc. In these cases, only the first component of the proper noun should be capitalized, unless the other one is also a proper noun itself.

Example

Source text: The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union.

✘ Европейската Комисия е изпълнителният орган на Европейския Съюз.

✓ Европейската комисия е изпълнителният орган на Европейския съюз.

Stylistic use of capitalization

The capitalized personal and possessive pronouns in second person plural (Вие, Вас, Ви, Ваш) are used to designate one or more persons in the formal register. If the same pronouns are used in the informal register, they are written in lower case letters.

Example

Source text: And you, sir, have you heard the news?

✘ Господине, а вие чухте ли новината?

✓ Господине, а Вие чухте ли новината?

Differences between Bulgarian and English

Keep in mind that in the following cases the Bulgarian words are written in lower case:

nationality, language, religion and ethnic groups;
days of the week, months and seasons;
cardinal points;
currencies;
eras (палеолит, неолит);
disciplines and academic degrees

Example

Source text: On the first Monday of March she will get British citizenship.

✘ През първия Понеделник на Март ще получи Английско гражданство.

✓ През първия понеделник на март ще получи английско гражданство.

Regarding disciplines and academic degrees, note that the capitalization depends on the context.

Examples

Source text: Course of study ‘Spanish Philology’

✓ Специалност „Испанска филология“

Source text: I study Spanish philology.

✓ Уча испанска филология

3.3. Compounds

a) Written with a whitespace

Compounds that include components with foreign origin that are used as independent words (допинг контрол, бинго зала, фитнес център).

Example

Source text: web page

✘ интернет-страница

✓ интернет страница

Compound numerals (двадесет и четири, сто и тридесет).
Fractions (една втора, седем осми).
Compounds formed by а present active participle and a noun (водещ предаването).
Compounds formed by an abbreviation and a noun (ДНК фактор, DJ парти).

b) Written with a hyphen

Compound nouns in which the second component specifies the first one (кандидат‑студент, заместник‑директор).

Note: If there is a third element, it is written separated from the other two:

Example

Source text: Deputy Prime Minister

✘ заместник-министър-председател

✓ заместник министър-председател

Compound nouns with equal components (внос-износ, покупко-продажба).
Compound nouns and adjectives that have as a subordinate component a letter, the denomination of a letter or a letter that represents an abbreviation of an adjective (гама‑лъчи, алфа-стабилизатор, е-подпис, е-фактура, Г‑образен, V‑образен).
Compound adjectives with a numeral as the first component (24‑годишен, 3‑минутен).
Compound adjectives with two equal components (социално‑икономически, английско‑български).
Foreign words and phrases written in the same way as in the language of origin (ноу‑хау, тет‑а‑тет).

c) Written together

Compound nouns and adjectives with unequal components, where the first component specifies the second one (законопроект, десетгодишнина, водохранилище, вечнозелен, тъмносин, старобългарски).

Example

Source text: The dark blue car is hers.

✘ Тъмно-синята кола е нейна.

✓ Тъмносинята кола е нейна.

Some compound nouns with foreign components (голмайстор, киносалон).
Compound nouns that represent abbreviations (дивиди, имейл, диджей).
Compound nouns whose first component cannot be used separately in Bulgarian (уебсайт, екосистема, туроператор).
Compound nouns whose subordinate element is an abbreviated adjective with foreign origin (електроуред, масмедии, термоизолация).
Some compound adjectives formed by a noun and an adjective (външнополитически, научнопопулярен).
Compound adjectives formed by a numeral and a noun (петвековен, четиристаен, петчленен).
Compound adjectives formed by a proper name (алекоконстантиновски).
Compound adjectives whose main component is a present active participle (бързоразвиващ се, дървообработващ).
adverbial, prepositional and conjunctional locutions formed by:
- preposition and adverb (докога, вляво);
- preposition and noun (следобед, вследствие, подръка); there is, however, one exception, commonly used: от време на време);
- preposition and conjunction, conjunction and conjunction, and conjunctions (отколкото, накъдето, затова).

3.4. Diacritics

The feminine personal pronoun for third person singular (ѝ) must be written with a symbol that resembles the grave accent in order to be distinguished from the conjunction и. This symbol must not be omitted because of possible ambiguities. Sometimes, because of technical limitations, the letter й can be used; however, this is incorrect.

Example

Source text: Her brother brought the documents.

✘ Брат и донесе документите.

✓ Брат ѝ донесе документите.

The particles по and най are written with a whitespace and (in the case of по) a grave accent when combined with a noun, a verb or a preposition (пò към мене, най харесвам).

Example

Source text: I like it better.

✘ По-ми харесва.

✓ Пò ми харесва.

3.5. Foreign words

The choice between translation, transcription, transliteration and keeping a word in the original language is something that has to be done by the translator in every specific case. Of course, if an equivalent form exists in Bulgarian, it is preferable to use it.

However, in some cases, there is no equivalent, and it is necessary to make a choice. The translator should be guided by different factors, some of which are: (i) whether the alphabet of the original language is legible by the Bulgarian reader; (ii) whether the meaning of the word is clear enough to the reader; (iii) whether the transliterated/transcribed word is recognisable by the reader.

In all cases the translator should check the official documents about transliteration and transcription of foreign names, the most recent Bulgarian dictionary and a dictionary of neologisms in Bulgarian.

When foreign words are used, they can be separated from the text by using italics or quotation marks:

Example

Source text: E-learning is a form of learning in which the means of the information technologies are used.

✘ Е-learning е форма на обучение, при която се използват възможностите на информационните технологии.

✓ Е-learning е форма на обучение, при която се използват възможностите на информационните технологии.

3.6. Numerals

Regarding numerals format (written in numbers or words), you must always respect the source text: if they are written as digits in the source text, this should be maintained in the translation; on the other hand, if they are written as words, they should be translated to the target language.

Please note that the conventions for punctuating large numbers differ between languages. For example, in English a comma is used to indicate groups of thousands while in Bulgarian a whitespace is used.

Example

Source text: 20,000

✘ 20,000

✓ 20 000

Also, English uses a period to indicate the decimal place while Bulgarian uses a comma.

Example

Source text: 2.5 dollars

✘ 2.5 долара

✓ 2,5 долара

3.7. Symbols

According to this source, there isn’t an explicit norm requiring a whitespace between a number denoted by numbers and the symbol %.

Example

Source text: Just 25 % of the audience approves the host of the show.

✓ Едва 25% от зрителите одобряват водещия на предаването.

✓ Едва 25 % от зрителите одобряват водещия на предаването.

Note: Keep in mind that there is only one way to write adjectives that include the words ‘per cent’ in Bulgarian. It is by writing down the complete form of the word.

Example

Source text: 10 %

✘ 10 %-но

✓ 10‑процентно

4. Punctuation

4.1. How to use punctuation marks

a) Comma | ,

It is used:

After greetings and closings in letters, complains, declarations, etc.
Between items in series.
Between linked sentences and before the conjunctions, such as че, но, обаче.
Before and/or after autonomous parts of the sentence.

Example

Source text: The young people who were sitting around the table were talking lively.

✘ Младежите насядали около масата оживено разговаряха.

✓ Младежите, насядали около масата, оживено разговаряха.

Before and/or after intercalated words and phrases (разбира се, да кажем, изглежда, между другото, естествено, за съжаление).
Between independent clauses in a sentence.
Before conjunctions, such as само че, само да, стига само да.

Example

Source text: She wanted to help, but they didn’t give her a chance.

✘ Тя искаше да помогне само, че не ѝ дадоха възможност.

✓ Тя искаше да помогне, само че не ѝ дадоха възможност.

Before relative clauses starting with pronouns and adverbs, such as който, която, което, които, какъвто, каквато, каквото, каквито and the conjunctions че, как, кога, да.
Before conjunctions, such as защото, понеже, тъй като, като, като да, за да, та да, че да, та дано да.
There is no whitespace between the word and the comma.

It is NOT used:

After words such as всъщност, действително, несъмнено, следователно, очевидно, например when they are at the beginning of a sentence.
If the sentence starts with a date or a period.

Example

Source text: After 14 April 2017 the team started three new projects.

✘ След 14 април 2017 г., отделът започна три нови проекта.

✓ След 14 април 2017 г. отделът започна три нови проекта.

Before and/or after prepositional phrases (по повод на, въз основа на, в изпълнение на, предвид).
If the conjunctions и and или are used just once in a sentence.
When the conjunction дали – или не is used, there is no comma before или.

b) Colon | :

It is used preceding items in a series.
There is no whitespace between the word and the colon.
The word following the colon starts with a lower case letter.

Example

Source text: I took care to bring everything necessary: notebooks, books and pencils.

✘Погрижих се да донеса всичко необходимо тетрадки, книги и моливи.

✓ Погрижих се да донеса всичко необходимо: тетрадки, книги и моливи.

c) Semicolon | ;

It is used when relatively independent items in series are long and complex or involve internal punctuation, they should be separated by semicolons for the sake of clarity.
there is no whitespace between the semicolon and the word that precedes it.

Example

Source text: In the public institutions we see official documents, prepared by administrators, who cannot express themselves logically; we wait on long queues and lose valuable time.

✘ В държавните институции виждаме официални документи, изготвени от администратори, неспособни да се изразяват логично чакаме на дълги опашки и губим ценно време.

✓ В държавните институции виждаме официални документи, изготвени от администратори, неспособни да се изразяват логично; чакаме на дълги опашки и губим ценно време.

d) Period | .

It is used:

After the last sign of the sentence, which may not always be a letter (brackets, quote marks, numbers, etc.).
After abbreviated words and phrases.
After each number in a date (11.2017 г.). However, it is not used before and after the months when they are written in words (14 ноември 2017 г.).
After numbers, in order to designate ordinal numerals ( клас = шести клас).

Example

Source text: The voting in the town of Burgas starts on 22.11.2017, it is a single vote per category and age group and continues until 30.11.2017, 12 p.m.

✘ Гласуването в грБургас започва на 22,11,2017г, еднократно е във всяка категория и възрастова група и продължава до 30. ноември. 2017г. 12:00 часа

✓ Гласуването в гр. Бургас започва на 22.11.2017г., еднократно е във всяка категория и възрастова група и продължава до 30 ноември 2017г. 12:00 часа.

It is NOT used:

After headings, subheadings, names of authors below a heading or in the end of a text after signatures.
If the sentence finishes with an abbreviation that uses a period, a second period is not used.

e) Exclamation point | !

It is used after an exclamation.
After addressing someone: ‘Слушай, момче!’
After an imperative: ‘Изяж си вечерята!’
There is no whitespace between the word and the exclamation point.

f) Question mark | ?

It is used:

After a question.
To express doubt and perplexity; in this case, an exclamation point could be added after the question mark.

Example

Source text: Is it exactly there where you intend to go?

✘ Точно там ли смяташ да идеш.

✓ Точно там ли смяташ да идеш?

It is NOT used:

If the question is expressed indirectly.

Example

Source text: This decision puts the question whether to search for other solutions.

✘Това положение поставя въпроса, дали да се търсят други решения?

✓ Това положение поставя въпроса, дали да се търсят други решения.

g) Hyphen | -

It is used in some proper nouns, such as anthroponyms and toponyms that have two components (Ана-Мария).
In terms, proper nouns and compounds composed by letters and numbers (Аполо-13).
In abbreviations (г-жа, г-н, д-р, у-ще).
In some compounds (черно-бял, министър-председател)
In the comparative and superlative forms that use the particles по and най.

Example

Source text: It is better to get the bigger box.

✘ Най добре вземи по голямата кутия.

✓ Най-добре вземи по-голямата кутия.

In ordinal numerals whose endings are different from the cardinal numerals (1-ви, 2‑рата, 10‑тите, 90‑те).
There is no whitespace before or after a hyphen.

h) Em dash | —

It is used to mark elision.
Before direct speech.
After direct speech, if there are explanatory phrases.
To emphasize a specific part of the sentence.

Example

Source text: In my view he has nothing to do here.

✘ Той аз мисля тъй няма какво да прави тук.

✓ Той — аз мисля тъй — няма какво да прави тук.

Note that if there is a combination of an em dash and a comma, the comma is written before the em dash.

Example

Source text: ‘Who’s this boy,’ he said, ‘is he yours?’

✘ — Кое е това момче — рече той —, твое ли е?

✓ — Кое е това момче — рече той, — твое ли е?

There is a whitespace before and after the em dash, except when used as an ideogram (XVII—XX век).

i) Quotation marks | „“

In Bulgarian, the quotation marks are represented as follows: „“

No other type of quotation marks is correct when writing in Bulgarian, except in specific scientific texts.

The quotation marks are used:

To enclose citations.
In direct speech.
To mark proper nouns within nouns that are names of objects: район „Средец“, шоколад „Своге“, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“:

Example

Source text: It is on Otets Paisiy Str.

✘ Намира се на ул. “Отец Паисий”.

✓Намира се на ул. „Отец Паисий“.

Also to express the opinion of the author (usually negative) regarding certain topic.

Example

Source text: Their team ‘covered itself with glory’ on the last competition.

✘ Техният отбор ‘се прослави’ на последното състезание.

✓ Техният отбор „се прослави“ на последното състезание.

There isn’t a whitespace between the quotation marks and the enclosed words. However, there is a whitespace before the first quotation mark and after the second one.

j) Brackets | ( ) [ ] { }

There are several types of brackets that can be used in different cases in Bulgarian: ( ), [ ], { }.

The round brackets ( ) are used in the following cases:

To separate parts of sentences or even whole sentences that are explanatory or supplementary to the meaning.

Example

Source text: He had to ask his neighbours (and they didn’t like him) to help him unlock his door.

✘ Трябваше да помоли съседите а те не го харесваха да му помогнат да си отключи.

✓ Трябваше да помоли съседите (а те не го харесваха) да му помогнат да си отключи.

To mention the real name of a person, who became famous with his or her pseudonym: Елин Пелин (Димитър Иванов).
To mention the date of birth and death of a person in biographies: Иван Вазов (9.VII.1850 – 22.IX.1921).

There isn’t a whitespace between the brackets and the enclosed words. There is a whitespace before the first bracket and after the second one.

4.2. Punctuation in greetings and closings

In greetings and closings, a comma is normally used, although it can be a different punctuation mark, depending on what the author wants to express.

Note: If the name is in the middle of a sentence, there is a comma before and after it.

Examples

Source text: Hello, Mr Petrov,

✘ Здравейте г-н Петров,

✓ Здравейте, г-н Петров,

Source text: Kind regards,

Yoana Petkova

✘ С уважение.

Йоана Петкова

✓ С уважение,

Йоана Петкова

5. Register

5.1. Grammatical and Lexical Registers

Register refers to the level of formality used in the text. It shows how our clients address their customers and contributes to the voice of the brand itself. Register may vary depending on the company, the brand, the service they offer, the customers, and the target language.

We make a first main distinction between grammatical and lexical register: the first one regards the use of pronouns and verb person (for the languages to which this morphological feature is applied), while the latter is related to lexical choices, since some words and expressions also have a degree of formality or colloquialism.

Both these registers are also divided into formal and informal, as shown below.

5.2. Formal Register

In Bulgarian, the formal register is used when the speaker/writer is addressing someone with whom he/she is not familiar, and/or when addressing more than one person. In these cases there is the use of more formal terms. In writing, the formal second person forms are capitalized.

Category	Examples	Type of Register
Personal pronouns: 2^nd person singular 2^nd person plural	Вие, Вас, Ви, Вам, на Вас	Grammatical
Verbs (person used to conjugate the verb)	The verb has to be conjugated in 2^nd person plural	Grammatical
Possessive pronouns	Ваш, Ваша, Ваше, Ваши, Ви	Grammatical
Greetings	Здравейте, Уважаеми, Уважаема,	Lexical
Closings	Поздрави, С уважение, С най-добри пожелания,	Lexical

Verbal adverbs are encountered more often in formal than in informal language use. They are formed by adding -йки to the third person singular present tense forms of imperfective verbs: разбирайки, носейки.

Example

Source text: That is why, being guided by my sense of responsibility, I vote for this report.

✓ Ето защо, водейки се от чувство за отговорност, гласувам в подкрепа на този доклад.

Note that the present active participle is also found fairly frequently in more formal writing styles, but relatively rarely in the colloquial spoken language. This participle is formed by the third person singular present tense form and suffixes: казващ, обичащ, живеещ.

For more information regarding the agreement of the verbs and the adjectives in the formal register, please check the subsection “Gender and number (nouns and adjectives)” in the “Agreement” section.

5.3. Informal Register

As in many other European languages, the singular form of the personal and possessive pronouns is used with singular entities only when the speaker/ writer is addressing someone with whom they are on very familiar terms (e.g. family member, close friend), or a young child.

Category	Examples	Type of Register
Personal pronouns	ти, тебе, те, на тебе, ти	Grammatical
Verbs (person used to conjugate the verb)	The verb has to be conjugated in 2^nd person singular	Grammatical
Possessive pronouns	твой, твоя, твое, твои, ти	Grammatical
Greetings	Здравей, Мила,	Lexical
Closings	С обич, Целувки,	Lexical

6. Localization challenges

6.1. Proper nouns

Proper nouns refer to unique entities, such as persons, places, organizations, brands, events, etc. As foreign proper nouns are concerned, languages may adopt different rules regarding whether they should be translated or kept in the original language. When editing a text, you should follow your languages rules for all different types of proper nouns listed below. However, please note that if there is a glossary provided by the client that includes these types of units, you should always apply the glossary items.

6.1.1. Persons

Names of persons are not translated even when they have an equivalent in Bulgarian. However, they can be transliterated or transcribed phonetically, following the official rules of transcription and transliteration.

Example

Source text: George

✘ Георги

✓ Джордж

An exception of this rule is the case regarding pseudonyms and names of historical figures (Карл Велики, Вилхелм Завоевателя).

When the name is a whole family, which in English is in plural (e.g. the Smiths), in Bulgarian the name remains in singular and the word ‘family’ in front.

Example

Source text: The Simpsons

✘ Симпсънови

✓ Семейство Симпсън

6.1.2. Places

When translating names of places, it is important to have in mind one fundamental question: will the reader need to find the place referred in the text or not? If the answer is yes, then the name of the place (like an address) should be kept in its original form and original alphabet. If the answer is no, and there is a Bulgarian translated, transcribed or transliterated (in Cyrillic script) form of the name of the place (cities, countries, monuments), the translator should use this form.

In all other cases, it is translator’s choice whether to translate it, to use a phonetic transcription or to use a transliterated form, following the official Bulgarian guidelines about transliteration of foreign names.

Example

Source text: Lisboa

✘ Lisboa

✓ Лисабон

6.1.3. Organizations

If the organization has an equivalent in Bulgarian, it should be used. If there is no equivalent, the choice between translating, transcribing, transliterating the name or keeping it in its original form should be made by the translator.

Example

Source text: United Nations

✘ Юнайтед Нейшънс

✓ Организация на обединените нации

6.1.4. Brands and products

Usually, the names of brands and products are kept in their original form and alphabet because of copyrights. However, if there is a translated form of the brand or the product, the translator should use it.

Example

Source text: iPhone

✘ Айфон

✓ iPhone

6.1.5. Other entities

Names of works of art, events, etc. are usually translated. However in every specific case, the translator is responsible to make the best choice.

Example

Source text: The painting ‘Nymphéas’ by Claude Monet was sold at an auction last week.

✘ Картината „Nymphéas“ от Claude Monet беше продадена на търг миналата седмица.

✓ Картината „Водни лилии“ от Клод Моне беше продадена на търг миналата седмица.

6.2. Acronyms and initials

If the acronyms exist in Bulgarian, they should be used. On the other hand, when the acronym does not exist in Bulgarian, it should be kept in its original form.

Examples

Source text: AIDS

✘ AIDS

✓ СПИН

Source text: UNIDROIT

✘ УНИДРОИТ

✓ UNIDROIT

6.3. Date format

English differs from other languages by using, in general, the format mm/dd/yy. This means that references to date need to be changed to a dd/mm/yy format when translating into Bulgarian. The date could be written in the following way ‘18.04.2016 г.’ or ‘18 април 2016 г.’

Note: The months in Bulgarian are not capitalized, nor are the days of the week.

Example

Source text: The conference took place on 20 March 2017.

✘ Конференцията се проведе на 20 Март 2017 г.

✓ Конференцията се проведе на 20 март 2017 г.

6.4. Time format

English differs from other languages by using, in general, an a.m./p.m. format. This means that references to time need to be changed to a 24 hour format when translating into Bulgarian. There are several ways to translate time format, by words or by numerals, as following: ‘В девет часа сутринта’ or ‘В 9:00ч.’.

Example

Source text: The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

✘ Събранието започва в 6 p.m.

✓ Събранието започва в 18ч.

6.5. Measures

Measures should always keep the format of the source text and should never be converted. You should only translate them when they have an equivalent term in your language.

The measures could be written in Cyrillic, Roman or Greek script, and without a full stop when they are abbreviated. Note that:

The abbreviations of the measures do not vary in number.
There is a whitespace between the number in figures and the measure term.

Example

Source text: 150 ml of warm water are necessary.

✘ Необходими са 150мл. топла вода.

✓ Необходими са 150 мл топла вода.

6.6. Currency

Currency values should be left as they are in the source text, only translating the currency.

Example

Source text: 100 dollars

✘ 100 USD

✓ 100 долара

Note that in Bulgarian there is no plural form of the word евро.

Example

Source text: The room rate is 80 euros.

✘ Цената на стаята е 80 евра.

✓ Цената на стаята е 80 евро.

If there are currency symbols (€, $, £, etc.) in the source text, they should follow the amount, and they should be preceded by a whitespace.

Example

Source text: The discount is $25.

✘ Отстъпката е $25.

✓ Отстъпката е 25 $.

Do not translate currency initials (USD, GBP, EUR, INR, DKK, NOK, etc.) as they are a convention accepted worldwide. When the monetary unit is accompanied by an amount, use the amount in figures followed by a fixed space and the currency initials.

Example

Source text: The necessary amount is EUR 53,200.

✘ Необходимата сума е EUR 53 200.

✓ Необходимата сума е 53 200 EUR.

7. Tricky cases

Unlike English, which has SVO (subject-verb-object) word order, in Bulgarian the word order is flexible. Although the SVO word order is prevailing, it is not obligatory. The variations in the word order in Bulgarian can have stylistic or emphatic function.

It is clear that by copying the English word order automatically, it is very likely to produce a translation that does not sound fluent to the Bulgarian reader. Thus, always consider changing the word order and reviewing the conjunctions, the particles and the prepositions in the sentence.

Example

Source text: John was painting his bookcase blue with a special brush in the garage this morning.

✘ Джон боядисваше етажерката си синя със специална четка в гаража тази сутрин.

✓ Тази сутрин в гаража, Джон боядисваше синя етажерката си със специална четка.

8. Most frequent errors

Some of the most frequent errors when editing a machine translation text are related with Overly Literal Translation, Lexical Selection and Spelling mistakes.

Overly literal translation

Literal translations can be found when idiomatic expressions are translated literally or the translated sentence structure is a copy of the original text, resulting in an awkward structure.

Example

Source text: The exam was a piece of cake!

✘ Изпитът беше парче торта!

✓ Изпитът беше фасулска работа!