Svetlana Karadjova: I teach Bulgarian in Timișoara to create connections and build a community

Nicoleta Ciocan, Radio Timișoara, November 2025

Summary

Svetlana Karadjova is the new Bulgarian language lecturer at the West University of Timișoara, a position she has been preparing for by following a long path, including writing her doctoral thesis on the Bulgarians in Banat.

Bulgarian Language Program and Course Status:

• Her primary goal is to teach Bulgarian to non-Bulgarians, but she is also interested in teaching Bulgarians in Banat.
• A course for people whose mother tongue is Bulgarian was announced, and the first group of 12 people is already full, which she sees as a good sign of their desire to connect with Bulgaria.
• She arrived a month after the start of the academic year and is now working to promote the course, hoping to open a second serious and stable group in the second semester and gain a solid position for the Bulgarian language at UVT.
• Classes are currently held in the central building of UVT at 4 Vasile Parvan Boulevard.
• The course is currently free as a form of advertising, and non-students can enroll. Students from other faculties can also enroll starting in the second semester.

Teaching Approach and Impressions:

• She met with two Romanian students who had studied Bulgarian before and were interested in traveling to Bulgaria. She hopes this interest will be even stronger among young Bulgarians in Banat.
• Her role is to convey Bulgaria through language, and her current dilemma is what language to speak with the Bulgarians in Banat.
• A lesson’s focus will be exploratory, helping students introduce themselves, say basic things, and feel confident. The lessons will focus more on Bulgarian culture and the country, aiming to spark interest that leads to further independent study.
• She brought five textbooks for levels A1, A2, and B1.
• She finds UVT to be technologically and organizationally at a high level and open to the world. She finds Timișoara to be almost like a capital city.

Long-Term Goals and Vision:

• Her contract is until the end of June 2026, and she hopes to continue in the fall.
• Her goals include helping the Bulgarians in Banat and working with them for their common cause, language, and community.
• She stresses the need to unite and work together to prevent their history from ending, emphasizing the importance of connections and community building.

Interview with Svetlana Karadjova

Nicoleta Ciocan: Dear listeners, we are talking to Ms. Svetlana Karadjova. She is well known to our community. We have heard her before. Now she is a lecturer at the West University, in the Department of Foreign Languages. She is a lecturer in Bulgarian. Tell us about the Bulgarian language program and your new job!

Svetlana Karadjova: I have been preparing for this for many years. I wanted to learn Romanian 25 years ago. I wrote my doctoral thesis on the Bulgarians in Banat in the late 19th century. I followed this path. I had to come. I often told myself that I wasn’t ready. But when God says so, it has to happen. I’m not ready. But when God is with me, I believe it will work out.

I have several goals—to teach Bulgarian to people who are not Bulgarian. I have been teaching for many years, but to Bulgarians. I am curious to see if the Bulgarians in Banat will want to learn Bulgarian. Will it be easy for them? Will it be difficult?

The West University announced a course for people whose mother tongue is Bulgarian, and 12 people quickly signed up. When you look closer, it seems that the course is already full. This shows that the people here—I mean in Timișoara—the Bulgarians here want to learn Bulgarian. Now, I don’t know how persistent and consistent they will be, but this desire, this aspiration to get closer to Bulgaria in some way, seems to be a good sign.

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So that’s how it happened – the first group is already full?

The first group of 12 people is already full, now we have to see if we can open a second one. This is a challenge for all of us, because the course was not announced at the beginning of October and it was not known whether there would be a lecturer or not. I arrived a month after the start of the year and found nothing in the university programs, nowhere did it say “Bulgarian language.” We are now working on promoting it, so that more people find out about it, so that it becomes known in the second semester, so that other groups can be opened, which will be serious and stable, so that Bulgarian can gain a solid position at the university in Timișoara. I hope this will not happen quickly, it may take a year, but the first steps have already been taken and things are slowly moving forward.

Have you met with the students, with the young people who have enrolled, in these two weeks? Did you have a meeting?

Yes, just before I came, I contacted Gyuri Budur, who gave me the contact details of two young people who studied Bulgarian for a year with Mr. Grigorov. They are Romanian. One lives in Serbia, the other here in Timișoara. They are learning Bulgarian through Serbian, but it is easy for them because the languages are similar. They listen to a lot of Bulgarian music, which surprised me. When I asked them why they want to learn this language, they replied: “We want to know it, we are interested in going to Bulgaria, to get by and understand each other.” I think that if these young people want to learn the language, then young Bulgarians in Banat should want it even more. At least when they go to Bulgaria, they can speak comfortably, instead of speaking English. I could also visit the villages. I was sent here from Bulgaria to teach Bulgarian. I think that if there are people who want to learn—God willing, we will have time for everyone—it will be fine. I can’t accept everyone who wants to learn right away, but I think we can organize some classes, meet at least once a week, so that the meetings have a rhythm, and little by little, we can look for ways to make this something permanent.

When you meet people, when you have contact with them, then you remember and learn something.

Even before I came here, I thought that my job as a Bulgarian language teacher required me to speak Bulgarian myself. That is my role here—to convey Bulgaria through language. I feel that many people who have studied a little Bulgarian want to talk to someone in that language, to remember, they have memories from a bygone era. That is my dilemma now – what language should I speak with the Bulgarians in Banat?

We can try. I haven’t thought about it yet, but we can learn together.

Yes, I think it could be a challenge. I came here on 26 October 2025, and started a Romanian course with foreign students. I study Romanian five hours a day and see how difficult and hard it is to learn. We would all like to have such an intensive Bulgarian course someday.

I’m curious to know what you teach. What does a lesson consist of? These children are foreigners, they know nothing, but we Bulgarians know something. It must be different.

First, we need to see who these people are and what they know. It is important that in the few hours we spend together, everyone can at least introduce themselves, say basic things, go to Bulgaria, buy something, greet someone. Above all, they need to feel confident. Even if they know very little, they should say it with confidence. You can’t learn a language in one hour a week.

You need five hours a day.

Yes, five hours a day and homework every day. It’s hard, you have to listen and think in that language. But I think our meetings will at least open up the subject of Bulgaria a little. To learn how to go somewhere, how to greet people with “welcome,” how to speak.

Do you have a program, a foundation, books?

I brought five books for levels A1, A2, and B1. B1 is already a high level. Bulgarians in Banat could start at this level and progress quickly. For now, I only have five textbooks, but if the group is serious, I can bring more from Bulgaria. The first lessons will be exploratory, to see what we know and how to proceed. The lessons are not so much about grammar as they are about culture, the country, explaining what Bulgaria is. Interesting things that will spark interest, so that when people return home, they will search the internet and read more. We all know that people spend hours on the internet these days. If they devote even half an hour of that time to the Bulgarian language, it will be a victory for all of us. The university has provided us with a room in the central building of the West University of Timișoara (UVT), at 4 Vasile Parvan Boulevard. That is where the classes will be held. That is where the classes will be held. I hope that next year, in the fall, we will have 2-3 groups. We know that there are many Bulgarian students studying here—both at UVT and at the Polytechnic—and that they have the right to choose courses from other faculties. We need to make this public.

We need to spread the word about this. I found out last week that students from other faculties can enroll to study Bulgarian.

Yes, they can. They can do this starting in the second semester; they have this right.

Can those of us who are not students enroll?

Yes, the university has allowed a group to be formed. For now, it is free, people do not pay anything. This is also a form of advertising to show the community that this language can be learned.

You are from the capital Sofia. How does Romania compare to Bulgaria in terms of science and universities? Is there any difference?

I was here three years ago for a two-week summer school in Romanian, and even then I saw that the university was very good. Both technologically and organizationally, it is at a high level.

More developed and more advanced?

Technologically, it is better, and you can feel a concern for it. On the first day, I had a meeting with the dean, Ms. Dana Percec. She gave me an extremely warm welcome. Everyone I spoke to was very friendly, which makes me believe that the university is open to the whole world. It accepts people who come from far away to give students here the opportunity to learn foreign languages.

You come from Sofia, how do you find Timișoara?

Timișoara is almost like a capital city. I like this city and I am happy to be able to spend a few months here.

Do you miss anything from Bulgaria?

I miss my loved ones. I miss the things I used to do there, the people from the Association of Bulgarians in Banat in Bulgaria, “Falmis.” I send them my regards now via radio. I try to be there and here in my thoughts, so that my absence is not felt. Our ancestors once migrated here from Bulgaria, and now I am making the same migration in reverse.

In a different time and under different circumstances.

Yes, in a different time, under different circumstances, and with different technologies. I can say that I am neither there nor here—I am everywhere. Technology makes this possible.

Now it is easier for people to travel around the world. What are your goals?

I have several goals for the months I am here – until the end of June. I hope to be here in the fall as well, if there are people who want to learn the language. My contract is until the end of June, but if everything goes well and the university approves, we will continue.

Let’s get back to the goals.

My goals… if I can help the Bulgarians in Banat in any way. I have been working in this field for almost 30 years – for the Bulgarians in Banat in Bulgaria, for those here and for those around the world. I want to devote some of my energy to this place. It hurts me when I see someone closing themselves off and thinking that others are nothing or that no one understands them. This is harmful to everyone. We must set out on a new path – not because I have come, but because we must work together for our cause, for our language and our community. Our ancestors preserved them for so many years, we must not destroy them now. We must do everything in our power to prevent our history from ending right now, while we are still here. We must give our best.

We must not sit idly by and refuse to connect with anyone. I am not pessimistic that our time is up. There is time after us, but we must be part of it. We must unite—with skills, knowledge, and inner wealth—to do something for all of us. It is not just about what Nikoleta, Svetlana, or anyone else does—it is about what we all do together. Then it is easier.

We have to end now, because our time is up. We will see each other again during this academic year. I will come to visit the students and improve and enrich my own language skills in Bulgarian, to learn it better. We will announce in our program that we have a Bulgarian language lecturer here. Anyone who wants to can enrich their language skills. Let’s shake hands more firmly. Good luck and, as you said, God be with us all. Thank you.

Photo: Svetlana Karadjova in Radio Timișoara (source: screenshot)

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