Stefan Sofianski
Mayor of Sofia

Dear Mr Sofianski,

As Bulgaria's only English-language newspaper and the voice of the country's foreign community, we would like to put our full support behind the recent informal proposal to have Sofia's street signs written in the Latin alphabet.

In fact, we will go one step further. The Sofia Echo will fully sponsor the transliteration of all of Sofia's streets, large or small, into the Latin alphabet.

As part of the work we do involves writing names of Bulgarian places, streets and people in the Latin alphabet, we feel that we possess the necessary qualifications in this regard, and could ease the transliteration process.

Our reasons for extending this offer to the Sofia Municipality are numerous.

The Echo exists as a service to the country's foreign community - to provide it with information on all aspects of Bulgarian life - and in many cases we serve as the only informational lifeline to expatriates. Participating in a venture which would make Sofia a more familiar place for foreigners to live falls directly into our line of business.

Please don't mistake our intentions, we have the utmost respect for Bulgarian culture - a large part of which we recognise is the cyrillic alphabet - however, we believe that as most of the world's population is unfamiliar with cyrillic, it makes sense to accompany signs throughout the city with their Latin counterpart.

It is largely a matter of comfort. When a foreigner comes to visit or live in a new country there are many factors which present challenges. In Bulgaria, as in many other countries, the language, the culture and the different way of life are all things that members of the foreign community must adapt to.

Why not make it a little easier for us?

A map of Sofia that is in Bulgarian borders on useless for most visitors, while a map in English is similarly difficult to use because street names and signs cannot be easily identified. Using the Latin alphabet would make many of the country's visitors, or more permanent residents, much happier.

Sofia, and the rest of Bulgaria, is in desperate need of foreign investment to enable the country to realise its full potential. If possible investors arrive in Sofia and are made to feel comfortable, there is a greater chance of them investing. What makes more sense - having foreign investors wandering around the city's frequently confusing streets looking for offices, or helping them to find those offices and learn what the Bulgarian economy has to offer?

Our offer is simple and, for the municipality, hassle-free. Give us a list of all of Sofia's street signs written in Bulgarian and we will transliterate them into the Latin alphabet. It's a win-win situation, for Bulgaria, and the foreigners who call this country home. We await your response.

Sincerely,

The Sofia Echo