WIKITONGUES: Dragan speaking Macedonian

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[imeprezime]

I'm Bulgarian and understood everything he said, but, unlike other people, I'm not gonna shittalk about Macedonian. Instead, I'm gonna say Hello, neighbour! Hope you proceed with your studies and passion for folklore! / fellow Bulgarian

[ReidHenderson]

I can confidently say as an English speaker that I understood a massive 0% of this😂

[darknomad]

Dragan. Such a cool name. I bet he breathes fire.

[polako]

I am a native Polish speaker and I understood 50% of what he said I’m surprised 😮

[JRios]

I love the South Slavic languages! They're so pretty!

[papasitoman]

That's a great thing about Slavic languages: they are all fairly similar enough that one can understand another and/or easily learn a nearby country's language. I speak English and Spanish, live in Canada, so I hear/read French and, therefore, I sort of understand Italian. They're really not THAT different. I also have friends and family from all over Former Yugoslavia (Balkan) countries. They understand each other well enough.

[nashzapis]

he is speaking with an eastern Macedonian dialect

[MansNardo]

all these angry greeks and bulgarians in the comments, lmao Macedonia is literally recognized as its own country that has its own language and its own church

[ras]

As a guy from south-east Serbia, I understand this like my own dialect. It just flows into my ear.
Just like Shopski from western Bulgaria.

If west Bulgaria, Macedonia and south-east Serbia were one country, they would function perfectly. It's sad that both Serbia and Bulgaria are trying to destroy these dialects without mercy. Macedonians were lucky to have their language survive.

[davidblackwood]

Probably the least Slavic-sounding Slavic language. I like it!

[Greksallad]

South Slavic languages sound so beautiful to me, I especially like Serbo-Croatian. Bulgarian is also beautiful in its own right but I think I prefer Macedonian since it sounds more like Serbo-Croatian while Bulgarian sounds a bit more Russian-ish to me. Love from a Greek-Swede

[catherinetriestley]

When hearing this, have in mind that he speaks in an accent, because the pronunciation and the usage of some words is a bit off

[geliefdeliefde]

he said he is a vlach who speaks Macedonian

[marinrusi]

Greeting neighbor, glad you came to Tirana for a seminar :)

[saebica]

Does anyone have his Facebook or anything?
He's Aromanian like me and I wanna have a discussion about Aromanian

[nicholasouroumov]

Dragan, I really like the way you pronounce certain words and where you place the accent. It is not quite "literary" but as a Canadian Macedonian who hails from the Lerin region of Aegian Macedonia I was able to understand you perfectly. All the best!

[Sknde.]

BRO I THOUGHT I ONLY KNEW BULGARIAN ENGLISH AND SPANISH AND NOW I KNOW A 4TH LANGUAGE

[DavidBlagic]

Serbian here, vicinity of Belgrade. Understood every word with no difficulty. Truly we only speak dialects of the same language.

[АндрейП-ую]

i'm russian. I got that his name is Dragan, he is 20 years old, living in Shtip, Macedonia, he is of Vlach heritage (i.e romanian, влахи (vlakhi ) is an old name for romanians in russian). Also he said something like vlachs are indigenous people of the region he is from like native americans in America. He studies informatics (the city of Shtip is famous as one of the educational centers of the country). Also he is fond of folklore (?) he literally said he plays folklore, but i didn't get what it means though. Maybe playing folklore music or reading and studying about it. He hopes he will become a professional one day. He likes to meet new people, traveling (has been to China, South Africa, visited Rio Carnival, came to Tirana for a seminar.

[petervandelinderopashinov]

Let me settle all the arguments with this piece of evidence. My family is Macedonian and from the part that Greece took over, Aegean Macedonia, from a city now called Florina that use to be called Lerin in Macedonian. Now, for all those saying we speak Bulgarian and our language was made up in 1945, then why do my Baba and Dedo who were born before 1945 identify as Macedonian and identify the language they speak as Macedonian? Also why did their parents and their parents before them do the same? Even though we are from the "Greek Macedonia" none of our ancestors spoke a word of Greek or Bulgarian, excluding that both Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian are relatively easily understood because they're part of the South Slavic Language FAMILY!

As for Macedonians being Greek, I actually got DNA testing done for me and my family and the results were not surprising. Yes we can all say with confidence that Ancient Macedonians were a Hellenic people who spoke a Hellenic language, but they were a separate people. Almost like how Canada and the US speak English and have similar culture/customs, but consider themselves different from one another. So when I got my DNA back, sure enough half my DNA is Hellenic (Greek) DNA (most likely Ancient Macedonian) and the other half was Slavic DNA. Macedonians are the only Slavic people who have this much Hellenic DNA in them and it is because we are still Macedonian, only we now speak a Slavic language instead of a Hellenic one.

It shouldn't matter what language a Macedonian speaks, a modern Macedonian is someone with half Hellenic (Ancient Macedonian) and half Slavic DNA mixed together. Just like if you were to take a Bulgarian's DNA, most of it would be Slavic, but a lot of it would also be from the Bulgars, the ancient Turkic people who existed in Bulgaria prior to the Slavic people coming down and mixing with them bringing Slavic culture and language. Macedonians and Greeks should not be fighting, genetically we are closer than anyone else in Eastern Europe. We have the most unique sounding Slavic language and a lot of our vocabulary and grammar has been influenced by Greek and so has our culture. The Macedonians in Greece should be allowed to speak their modern language, but I also think it's important for all Macedonians and Greeks to understand our genetic roots and that language should not separate us. We should embrace the differences we have. I hope that one day the Greek and Macedonian people can reunite in peace and use both the modern Macedonian language and the Modern Greek language to express our culture together! Let's make peace, not war <3