Macedonia or Bust!!

I recently got word from my editor in New York that a publisher in Macedonia has bought the Macedonian rights to my memoir, "Bar Flower".  This will be the first time anything I've written is translated into a language that I know so embarrassingly little about.  Thus, some homework has been in order. Without further ado, here are some fun facts about Macedonia!

J It's slightly larger than Vermont.

J It snows a lot there.

J The flag bears an eerie resemblance to that of imperial Japan.

J Citizens are: Macedonian 64.2%, Albanian 25.2%, Turkish 3.9%, Roma (Gypsy) 2.7%, Serb 1.8%, other 2.2%.

J The capital city is Skopje.

J The president's name is Branko CRVENKOVSKI.

J 96.1% of the population is literate.                                             

J The modern republic of Macedonia gained a peaceful independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.  The new country initially had some issues with Greece regarding the rights to Macedonia's name and official crest, but relations have improved.

J Macedonian is a Slavic language which uses the Cyrillic alphabet.  According to macedonia.org: Macedonian occupies a peripheral position in the Slavic linguistic world. This periphery, however, has a special place in history because it was the scene of one of the most vital and lasting contacts with the Byzantine world. ...Macedonian (sic) can justifiably be considered the most Balkanized South Slavic language.

J Some useful phrases:

ZDRAVO (hello)

MOLAM (please)

BLAGODARAM (thank you)

DOBRO UTRO (good morning)

DOBRA NOK (good night)

TE SAKAM (I love you)

SIRENJE (cheese)

Comments

[Rachel]

lol...that is so funny. I didn't know Macedonia still existed.

[Real Macedonian]

Dear Miss/Madam
Next time you should do a better homework...
First of all the name issue has not been resolved yet. It is very hot and serious matter. Actually the negotiations are taking place now as we speak. The real Macedonia is a Greek region and the real ancient Macedonians had nothing to do with the slavic race that lives there now. The spoken language is not slavic but it is a Bulgarian dialect.For more information try http://www.real.macedonia.gr/

[Real Macedonian]

In other words welcome to the Balkans world.