Recently, more and more people have been talking about the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet and the differences between it and the Russian one.
More and more people consider the recognition and implementation of the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet as a problem, a valuable national asset, and take it to heart.
According to Professor Todor Vardzhiev - font teacher at the National Academy of Arts, you should:
...to fight the chaos in the use of written signs and to suggest to our compatriots that there is a Bulgarian identity in the field of font culture, which is high time to find its place in life!
On June 14, 2014, the independent civil initiative "For Bulgarian Cyrillic" called for unification around a common national goal — promoting and using the Bulgarian graphic form of the Cyrillic alphabet.
How does Bulgarian Cyrillic differ from Russian?
The differences between the way of writing and the letters are associated with the language reform of the Russian Emperor Peter I from the beginning of the 18th century. The change aims to facilitate book printing, leads to a strong Latinization, and fundamentally changes the development of the Russian alphabet. It is here that the paths of the Bulgarian and Russian Cyrillics diverge. Typographically, Russian Cyrillic aligns with late baroque Latin typography.
The most distinctive differences between Russian and Bulgarian Cyrillic are the shapes of the lowercase letters. The Russian Cyrillic alphabet is based on the capital Latin letters in form, both upper and lower case.
The Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet relies on the handwritten writing of lowercase letters, which children learn from an early age in school. The shapes of lowercase letters are rounder, more unique, and more easily recognizable than those of uppercase letters. Many of them have upper and lower lengths (b, c, d, g, h, k, r, y, f, u), which further increases their recognition and helps with faster reading. You can read more about the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet in the article in "Magazine 8".
The analysis of the two types of Cyrillic shows that each one has its own specifics, its own qualities and shortcomings. For an objective comparative assessment between them, we can use four criteria:
Character recognition
Readability of text typed with these characters;
The information density of the text;
Identity.
An additional general criterion related to the above can be introduced, namely: how far the connection between the handwritten and the typescript is preserved.
The basis for this is given by the words of the English typographer and authority in the field of typography and typeface design Stanley Morrison:
... it is extremely important to remember that the letters we use today evolved solely and solely through the practice of pen writing.
You can read more about the history and differences between the two forms in the article "Bulgarian Cyrillic as a sign of identity", by Kultura magazine.
Where to find Bulgarian Cyrillic fonts?
It is not enough to just talk about how important it is to use the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet. It's also important to let people know where to find similar fonts and how to use them in different software.
That is why we are sharing with you several sites where you can download Bulgarian Cyrillic fonts completely free of charge:
1. BgKalendar
On the "Bulgarian Calendar" site, you will find, collected in one place, numerous proposals for free Bulgarian Cyrillic fonts that you can freely use in websites, documents, and projects.
2. Local Fonts
Over 80 free fonts can be found at localfonts.eu, including the Adys font, which is a font family designed to facilitate readers with mild to moderate dyslexia. The basic Adys typefaces (Regular and Bold) are completely free to download and use.
3. Azbuki
The "Azbuki" font was developed by the branding studio Brandly Collective, and the project is a joint project with the online media Uspelite.bg. The author of each letter of the font is the graphic designer Anita Rupova. Learn more about the font, its features, its idea, and its message at azbukifont.com, where you can also download it.
