Mariano from Peru dreams of being able to, one day, come and live on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Lara from Portugal wants to go to lectures at a Bulgarian university. But to be able to do that they both need to learn Bulgarian.

And Mariano and Lara saw their chance with Alexander Dimitrov, a student of international business at the University of National and World Economy, and a polyglot. For two months they have been studying the Bulgarian language in his online classes.

“I have always enjoyed presenting Bulgaria to people from other countries,” Alexander says. “But the idea to organize Bulgarian-language classes was something that came up when I was talking to friends from other countries, and I asked them whether they would like to learn something in Bulgarian. Most said they would and even asked whether they could invite friends along. So, we agreed I would teach them some basic words. But when I saw there was interest I urged other friends to invite people who also wanted to learn something. Ultimately a group of 55 people from 20 countries on 4 continents was formed.”

South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, China – these are some of the remote destinations where young people study Bulgarian. Until a couple of months ago most of them had never even heard of the country, others only knew about footballers Hristo Stoichkov and Dimitar Berbatov, the seaside and had heard of… banitsa.

“When they applied each person had to write what had motivated them to join the class,” Alexander says. “Firstly, there are people from faraway countries who know nothing about Bulgaria but would like to learn some exotic language. There were others who had, at some time, been on holiday here and they liked it, so they wanted to be able to come back some day and communicate in the Bulgarian language. Then there are others who have studied in this country but have been unable to master the language and would now like to do so. There are linguistics students as well – they are interested in languages and this is a very good opportunity for them.”

Besides the language itself, the young people also find out about historical and cultural landmarks, customs, literature and music. They choose the topics themselves, and now know who Baba Marta (Granny Marta) is, and what kukeri are. At Christmas they are going to recite their first Bulgarian poem, choosing from among Ivan Vazov, Geo Milev, Elisaveta Bagryana, Assen Raztsvetnikov. The initiative for such a recital belongs to Razvitie-1873 (Development 1873) chitalishte (culture community club) in Peshtera. The videos will be posted on Facebook and the best performance will be awarded.

Alexander first started learning a foreign language at the age of 5 – English. At school he studied French and later at secondary school – Spanish. At university he took up Portuguese and Romanian, and now speaks five foreign languages fluently.

“There is no magic formula for memorizing so much information and not mixing up the languages,” the polyglot says. “But it helps, when we want to learn a given language, to concentrate only on that language.”

Knowing so many languages opens up boundaries for Alexander to meet new people and see new cultures, and not just by travelling. The young man also works as a guide for Free Sofia Tour, and shows visitors the landmarks of Sofia and other towns in the country, speaking to them in their own language. He is also pursuing his goal of making Bulgaria a recognizable and memorable destination.