Varna Travel Forum

I am looking at a property 5km outside Varna. I have a 7 year old son and I dont know much about the city. I wonder if you can answer a few questions for me.

Is there good schools that he could go to and do they cost money or are they free.

Is the city of Varna busy all year round.

Does English get spoken by many or few people.

What is the average wage in Varna. Is there much unemployment.

i have been to Varna 4 times, in the summer it is a very nice place to be in the winter all along the sea front is closed ,english is spoken in alot of places but i would say try to learn as much bulgarian as possible as a lot of bulgarians will speak english if the feel like it!!!! but when the eu joins it will be in there interest to be speaking english as much as possible as for schols i am sure they are free and the average wage is around £120-£140 per month i hope this helps u if u like u can contact me on steve8here74@hotmail.com cheers and good luck .

Are you looking to move and live in Varna on a permanent basis? In such a case, I'd advise you to find a job first and then move with your son. There are private schools and I'm sure the embassy of your country can give you advice as to where your son would feel best. Being only 7, he'll pick Bulgarian before you know it, so no worries about that.
English is widely spoken, but it's not the official language. Personally I make it a point to try and learn the language of the country I live in - that's proven to help with locals' attitude.
Varna is one of the big Bulgarian cities with constant population that does not go away in winter (unlike the resorts around). It is also one of the most expensive places in the country - again, be serious about employment if you wish to live there.
Hope that helps.

You might want to check out www.mybulgaria.info .

There are lots of Brits on there who are in the same situation as you: Moving to a country they know nothing about and whose language they do not speak. They generally wind up forming little Brit colonies and cliques and recreating as much of their own culture as they can in Bulgaria, just as they do in Spain. They like Bulgaria because it's cheap, and because having a little money makes them feel superior to the local people.

I am an English lady living in Bourgas with my 6 year old son. We have lived in Bulgaria for 3 years, my son attends Kindegarten (Bulgarian speaking language only) and is now fluent in Bulgarian, whereas I am still taking lessons and learning painfully slow. Children do not start school until they are 7 years old, most of the schools now are learning the English language, and the children only attend for half a day, therefore I am going to pay for after school tuition for my son.
I spent last Christmas in Varna, it was very busy with the shops opening Christmas Day.
English is widely spoken in the main resorts, but smaller areas you may have trouble.
Hope this helps.
Celia

You can check them out for yourself, Pupulainen. In my extremely biased opinion, English is a bit much for some of them to handle. I wouldn't want to see the mess they would make of Bulgarian.

Working-class Brits are not exactly world-class linguists.

Now that's an interesting dispute. I've seen plenty of English speakers (Brits, Americans, Canadians, etc.) living abroad for many years without knowing more than 4-5 words in the local language. It's not that they're stupid (in most of the cases at least :)), but with half the world's population learning English, they see no reason to bother.
Yes, they're being lazy, and yes, we work hard to encourage them being lazy.

"i think youre overreacting.."

I think you're using "overreacting" incorrectly, but no matter. I am talking about working-class BRITS, not working-class Finns or Somalis or the working class in general, and the evidence of their linguistic ineptness is right there for you to see.

Fear not, the workers of the world are not under attack.

Pupulainens answers are negative and based on assumptions. It will be very much in the Bulgarians interest to speak english and they are actively pursuing this to make it their second language, given that the official languages of the EU are English and French. Get some info from the Bulgarian embassy and take no notice of these negative views. I have spent some time there and english is widely spoken. How on earth can anyone imagine that an EU country will not need to speak english!