The Cyrillic Alphabet

[Tangra]

Does anybody know what day it is today?
It's May 24th! The day of the Cyrillic alphabet which was brought to Russia from Bulgaria. Yes, it was the two brothers Cyrill and Methodius who wrote the alphabet. Later on, their faithful disciples spread it from Bulgaria to Russia and elsewhere, making Bulgaria more than any other land the birthplace of Slavic languages and culture.

Let's forget our differences, and embrace that which unites us, Russian brothers! Bulgarians and Russians we are the same race, we speak almost the same language, we have the same religion. You are us and we are you. Let's never forget that.

The Slavic countries must be united, we must stand together. Western Europeans hate us Eastern Europeans, Americans hate Russians, it's like the West hates the East. They say we're "backward" Slavs. We are Orthodox, and we fight wars against Muslims. They say we're racist, and hateful. But we know better. Empires don't last forever, and things will soon change. Who knows, maybe one day the Slavic countries of Eastern Europe will be the ones dictating the rules. Nobody likes to be dominated.

[Wendist]

Hello Tangra

Would you be interested in answering a few questions about the cyrillic alphabet?
If so then i will be back with my questions.

Thomas

[Straighterway]

Dear Tangra,
it's great that u have a sense of "Slavic unity". it is wonderful as long as we look at it as something to draw us closer to each other, without to isolating us, and putting a barrier between us and the other counties. let's not allow the sense of Slavic nationalism lure us into creating our very own private "Slavs vs the West" club........

u say the West hates us, Slavic Easterners. well, i lived in France for 2 years and this is my second year in the United States. tell u what. yes, they do have misconceptions about us, but they welcomed me with friendliness and curiousity. nobody hated me for being Russian.

in France, when i said i was Russian, i had crowds of people gathering around me, asking questions etc...

Politicaly, yes. the Cold war is not as gone as we all would like it to be. Tensions and conflicts of interests are still there. but ordinary people really don't hate each other. TRUST ME.

we are making history. the future depends on us.our legacy is in our hands. it is our job to do away with the Cold War mentality as much as we can.

there are misunderstandings between the East and the West. Still, we should CHOOSE to focus on peace and on what we DO have in common instead of our differences.

P.S. yes, Bulgarians, Russians.... and also the Frech, the British, Americans, Africans, Mexicans and whoever u want- are one race- HUMAN.

love, your sister in Christ, Evelyn.



[This message has been edited by Straighterway (edited 24 May 2000).]

[ILay]

2 Tangra:

what I really like is the trend in your country.

Meaning:

I visited Bulgaria 4 or 5 times during last 7 years.
In 1993 it was not wise to use Russian. Anytime people found out that I'm from Russia i heard "occupant, commie etc.". But later on, in 95-98 i suddenly saw a change in the perception of ordinary people. I simply received the best service and the best attitude just by saying: " ÿ èç Ðîññèè ".

So, since 1996 I'm not using English in Bulgaria at all.

And from that time I begun not just like Bulgaria but love it.

Allthough I visited just 2 cities - Sofia & Varna, the perception of mine is as follows:
very friendly, cheap, nice and pleasant to visit, virtually anyone speaks russian, and now people do really LIKE you just because you are from Russia.

To my regret I have to use English language which is not supposed to transfer the emotions, but I will try to assume:
all the time I was in bulgaria I felt myself AT HOME. Simply walking the boulevard of 'Zhar - libbirator' , turning to the Alexander Nevskiy cathedral, drinking beer in Park Kuljtury

About the hate of the West vs. East.
Whatever people say I will always remember the dissertation of Dr. Gebbels. 3 pages of which were devoted to proof that the word Slavic is originated from die Sklaven - slaves in English.

The issue will be your leadership. They want to join NATO. Is this what ordinary people reaaly wish?

Ïðèâåò and best wishes!!!

P.S. just to prevent the allocations that I'm not objective - I've been living 8 years outside Russia, incl. Sweden, Austria, Yugoslavia. But now I'm back in my beloved city - content and happy

[Tangra]

To Wendist - yes, I'd like to answer any questions you have about the Cyrillic alphabet, if they're within my knowledge.

Dear Ilay,
I can explain why people in Bulgaria didn't like you before 1993. Russians shouldn't get mad at insults from people whose countries were Russia's satellites in the Communist era. Back then around 1990-1993, Bulgarians were trying to get out of the Communist rule, and of course we liked to blame Russia for everything. We hated the fact that we had to study Russian, so the first thing we did was remove it from the schools. But things changed. Bulgarians realized that communism was not just "Russian Rule" - it was the Bulgarian Communist party who sold our country. Anyway, today we have warm feelings for Russia and more than 80% of the population speak fluent Russian. Now that we don't have to study it, everybody likes to practice it from time to time.
About NATO. This is a very touchy subject in Bulgaria. I can assure you that nobody wants it. The thing is that we have to! I mean, let's face it - our economy is in the worst condition ever! The only way out is a membership in the European Union and a free-market economy. For years and years we depended on Russia for everything. Now that Russia can't help us, there is nothing else we can do.

To Evelyn.
Hello. Maybe you misunderstood my statement in a way. I'm not promoting hate for the West, but you have to agree that politically, they want to dominate us! I mean, it is so obvious. Of course ordinary people don't hate the Slavs because many ordinary people don't have the slightest idea who the Slavs are. To them, Slavic sounds like something exotic and unknown. But when you have an important job that deals with foreign relations, you realize how biased and prejudiced the whole world is!
Maybe I should put it this way - the West doesn't hate the East, but fears it. And you are forgetting something very important - they are united, and we are not.

Best regards-
your Bulgarian sister

[This message has been edited by Tangra (edited 26 May 2000).]

[Straighterway]

Dear Tangra,
u are completely correct about political competition, prejudice, domination, and propaganda. it's all a stupid dirty game.

but we don't have to get dirty if there's dirt around us. the west is opposed to the east politicaly, but we should work toward REDUCING THE TENSIONS, instead of trying to "outfight" the west.

Ilay,
why refuse to forget?.......and they'll never forget the Cuban Missle Crisis, the berlin wall, and the blockade, and Afghanistan....

..........and we'll never forget Kosovo, and the 1980 Olympics,and the poisoned chicken.........

...........and if everybody remembered everything, we all would be so mad at each other that...........
TAKE COVER, THE H-BOMBS ARE COMING!!!

why don't we just REFUSE to let ourselves be irritated by the dissertation of Dr. G- whatever his name was.........i forgot!

love, Evelyn.

[Wendist]

Hello Tangra

I really do not now much at all about the cyrillic alphabet, so anything you care to tell me will be appreciated.

In the last few days i have tried to find something about it on the internet, without much luck. Most sites seem to be about how to convert computers.

Apparently there exists a number of different versions, where the russian version is made up of 33 letters.
How many versions are there and what are the differences?

In comparison with the latin alphabet what are the major differences? I know they look differently but what else is there?
Do you read it from left to right, from top to bottom?

On this site you occasionally see postings or part of postings that are not in english ( i assume it to be russian ) but written with latin letters.

How do you go about to do that? Is there a corresponding latin letter for every cyrillic one, or would that be to easy?

Thomas