site.btaBTA Unveils "Written Words Remain! 101 Language Notes" on First Day of School

On the first day of school in Bulgaria, September 15, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev announced a new joint initiative of BTA and Az Buki, the national publishing house for education and science. Written Words Remain! Write Correctly! 101 Language Notes, published by Az Buki, was presented at BTA's National Press Club on Monday. The book, produced by the Institute for the Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), includes selected texts by scholars from the Institute. The aim is to reach the widest possible readership and to draw attention to errors in written and spoken language that are characteristic and frequent, as well as to recommend correct usage.

Nearly two years ago, BTA and Az Buki signed a partnership agreement. As a result, there have been more than 120 BTA reports about Az Buki since then, compared with only one story in 2021. "We also have such a cooperation agreement with BAS, which is behind this book, together with the publishing house," Valchev said.

"Since 2022, all correspondents, editors and reporters at BTA must have a university degree. But we know this is not enough to write correctly, because rules change, new language situations arise, and one must keep learning, especially if one works in this field for a lifetime. Incidentally, on my first day at the Classical High School, the then-principal Gergina Toncheva had written on the blackboard the Latin saying Non scholae sed vitae discimus, which means 'We do not learn for school, but for life'. So all BTA correspondents, editors and reporters must keep learning for life. There are quite a few Latin sayings in this direction. Seneca says that learning is a lifelong pursuit, with the quote paraphrased as, 'As long as you live, keep learning how to live'. The idea of our meeting is to present this book, which we will send to all correspondent bureaus, the national press clubs of BTA - all 43 of them, 33 in Bulgaria and the rest abroad, including Livingston Island at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base. So these 101 extremely interesting linguistic notes may be of practical use to our reporters, correspondents and editors," said Valchev.

He also said that one in five employees at BTA is a student. "Until four or five years ago, one in five was a pensioner. In addition, BTA has partnership agreements with 46 out of 51 Bulgarian universities, and the aim is to have such agreements with all by the year's end. Right now, besides covering the start of the school year in all schools, we are also covering the start of the academic year in all universities."

Valchev also said that for several years BTA has paid allowances to employees who are parents of children entering first and eighth grade. "We introduced this through the collective labour agreement, together with the trade union organizations in the news agency. Since the allowances were introduced, 58 parents have been supported, that is, 58 students, with a total of BGN 50,400. This year it is BGN 8,100 for nine students, of whom six are first graders. At BGN 900, the allowance at BTA is three times the amount paid by the state. This is roughly the sum needed for a first-grader or a new secondary school student to start the school year," Valchev explained.

Emil Spahiyski, Director of the Az Buki Publishing House, quoted Bulgarian linguist Lyubomir Andreychin, one of the foremost scholars of the Bulgarian language, as saying that the struggle for enlightenment and education is of paramount importance for a nation. Interestingly, this book has sparked exceptional interest, because people become absorbed in it and discover the origins of words they had never imagined, said Spahiyski.

BTA Deputy Director General Evgenia Drumeva said that regrettably, the news agency had not recorded all the occasions when it called the duty officers at BAS. "I think we could have produced a thicker book, something like Language Notes for Advanced Learners. Perhaps it is not too late to start gathering such cases, because language is a living thing, it evolves, and reforms are made. I am from the older generation, I studied a somewhat different grammar, and I often have to consult the BAS dictionary, for instance, about writing words as closed compounds or open compounds. Sometimes our questions even spark debates, and we do not receive definitive answers. It turns out that different linguistic schools hold different opinions. So we could try to make our own additional notes, with the help of the BAS scholars."

Genka Ivanova, Head of the Home News Directorate, said that as a student, she came across a small reference book on spelling. "I want to thank my colleagues and promise them that this new book will sit alongside the BAS dictionary. We rely on it really often, we check things up and even ask questions on the phone. It is a valuable aid in our mission to preserve the Bulgarian language."

Reni Nikiforova, Deputy Head of BTA's Correspondents Department, said BTA correspondents are now close to 70, which allows the news agency to cover a very wide range of events. "We cover things that other media cannot reach. The hardest part for all of us is maintaining quality while rushing to deliver information. It is difficult for editors, and it is difficult for reporters. Sometimes the pressure of speed leads to unintentional mistakes, some of which are even slightly humorous, but I hope that now, with this new edition, we will reduce those mistakes."

"This brief meeting was meant to show that today is the first school day for all of us. Not only school-goers must learn all the time; for BTA this is especially important, because we set the standards."