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An Everyday Book: The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary*
LILLIAN PETROFF

Winter 1981 Vol. 3 No. 1 Pg. 20

"Don't you speak English?"
"Very little, sir."

In the days preceding the First World War, the majority of Macedonian men in Toronto had very little desire to learn English.

Toronto was yet another migratory stop for the men who had grown accustomed to the need of working beyond the bounds of the village. Macedonian men came to Toronto in hopes of making the best of it, to live frugally and to earn good money as industrial labourers. These men saw their future squarely in terms of the old country, amid their families and farms.

Cash obtained in the New World would be used to consolidate or expand meagre homesteads. As sojourners, they saw little need to familiarize themselves with Canadian ways.

As long as they could f nd and hold down a job for the duration of their stay, Macedonians were satisfied to stay at the periphery of the city's cultural life.

The boarding houses, cafes, diners, even the act of working together at the various slaughterhouses and smelting plants in Toronto provided the migrant men with a familiar ambiance in an otherwise hostile environment.

Assuming the temporary nature of their stay, Macedonians were content to depend on go-betweens, men who possessed a degree of literacy and an understanding of the English language, when the need arose.

Indeed, one should also note that the go-betweens provided an additional service to those men illiterate in their own language as well, by writing to concerned families in the village.

The few men who chose to learn English at this time, either because they had a literary turn of mind or, more likely, had already made the decision to remain in Canada, had to endure either hostility or the humorous barbs of their relatives and countrymen - "What do you want to be? A teacher?"1

Frequently afraid and suspicious, migrant men saw the acquisition of the English language as an unsettling and disruptive force threatening the workings of the migratory process.An immigrant summed up the situation:

If the father had a son and he wants to go school, he [the father] thinks as soon as he [the son] learns English he would leave the father and won't go to the old country. He'll stay for good.2

Another young Macedonian had his English-language texts burned in the stove by a concerned brother who also feared the undesirable influence of schooling.3

Perhaps the first migrant bachelors had been content to depend on go-betweens, but when men lost a sojourning frame of mind, sent for families or sweethearts in the old country, and began to have Canadian children, they knew that English-language proficiency, at least of a functional kind, was a weapon which could help to protect the safety and future of the family.4

The Macedonians' commitment to a temporary existence in Toronto was to be significantly altered by the cessation of the Balkan War. The long-standing and oppressive domination of Macedonia by the Ottoman Empire now gave way to the rigours of the succeeding Greek regime.

The confused and unhappy situation in the old country convinced the men abroad that the future for themselves and their families lay in the New World. The need to learn the English language took on new immediacy and importance as a result of the decision to stay.

The Toronto Board of Education offered English-language classes to the city's immigrants as part of its night-school program.

In 1907 English-language classes under the direction of the Rev. G.M. Atlas began at the Sackville Street Public School, which was located in the heart of the Macedonian East End settlement area.5

In 1909 a Bulgarian immigrant, Apostol Kalavasoff, also joined the Sackville Street School language program as an assistant master. Kalavasoff taught both oral and written English to a group of thirty Macedonian men.6

Later that same year, Kalavasoff obtained the position as principal of the night-school that was held at the Niagara Street Public School. As principal, Kalavasoff instructed a class of over forty men.7

The Baptist Church also offered English-language instruction in the evening at its King Street Mission. Young volunteer instructors, recruited from various established Baptist congregations in the city, assumed the responsibility for teaching the mission faithful.8

While the Baptist Church sought to teach the immigrants English, it did not forget its raison d'etre. Immigrants were taught the language, laws and customs of Canada only after they had been, in the words of one Baptist missionary, "taught the laws of Upper Canada - Heaven." Frankly religious in character, the classes included prayer and scripture-reading sessions.9

As part of their Canadian Christian Fellowship Program, Baptist women, moving away from the confines of the church and mission halls, ventured into the immigrant community and offered English-language instruction to Macedonian women in the familiar and less imposing surroundings of their homes.10

English-language classes were also set up by various industrial and business concerns. Dominion Glass Works, for example, conducted classes during company lunch breaks. Anglo-Canadian workmen, assuming the role of teachers, attempted to acquaint the immigrant workers, among them Macedonians, with the fundamentals of English." The teaching programs of schools, churches and industry were supplemented by classes conducted within the Macedonian community.

John Grudeff, an Arts student at the University of Toronto, organized two classes for his countrymen in 1917. One class was conducted at the Bull's Head Hotel. The Hotel's enthusiastic proprietor, Vasil Stoyanoff, provided free accommodation and encouragement to all those in attendance. The other class was held at Mitre's grocery store, which was located at the corner of Keele Street and St. Clair Avenue West. Here young Macedonian men learned arithmetic, English and Bulgarian grammar.12

Classroom attempts to teach English met with only moderate success. The demands of time and energy on Macedonian factory labourers and small shopkeepers discouraged steady attendance. Other Macedonians shunned the classes simply because they feared a public display of their uncertainty and verbal clumsiness.13

In 1907 the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church dispatched its clerical representative, Hieromonak Theophilact, to North America for the purpose of ministering to the needs of "our people and to organize church communities."

That same year, Theophilact obtained the Macedonians' enthusiastic support for the building of SS. Cyril and Methodius Church in Granite City, Illinois. In 1908 he presided over the building of the Annunciation Church in Steelton, Pennsylvania,14 then Theophilact came to Toronto.

The Macedonian community in Toronto purchased a building at the corner of Trinity and Eastern Avenue on November 29, 1910.

The ground floor was converted into the SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, and duly consecrated by the Russian Metropolitan Platoon and his vicar at an elaborate and well-attended ceremony held on May 24, 911.15

By 1913 Theophilact was pastor of this church and had been elevated by the Bulgarian Holy Synod to the ecclesiastical rank of archimandrite in recognition of his outstanding missionary efforts.16 In that same year he compiled The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary.

As a spiritual leader among Macedonians in the New World, Archimandrite Theophilact heard at first hand the various problems confronting his immigrant flock. "Five years of constant communication" with his countrymen had convinced Theophilact of the "need for a Bulgarian-English dictionary, published in an easy-to-carry pocket form edition of a reasonable price."17

The priest felt that he was under a "moral obligation" to help Macedonians improve their material lot in life. He believed that his countrymen had left their "Fatherland," travelled to this "far off, unknown and frequently inhospitable land" for the "sole purpose" of bettering their economic condition; a dictionary would help them do so.

The dictionary was published by the first Bulgarian publishing house in Canada. Printing and publishing was made possible through the generosity of a group of Macedonian labourers and entrepreneurs.

Noting each man's village or city of origin, Theophilact graciously offered thanks to these gentlemen in the dictionary's introduction. The priest also expressed a special note of thanks to Mr. Nikola Velcoff of the village of Debrets for his "moral approval and material help" as printer and typesetter.

Theophilact received copy editing assistance from the educational secretary of the Broadview Branch of the YMCA, Mr. E.W. Cameron, who made corrections to the English-language portions of the text.

The support of such businessmen as Hadji D. Peroff and Vasil Pop Stefanoff was visible in the back pages of the book, where they had purchased advertising space. Peroff informed dictionary readers of the many services that his company, which was located in Toronto at 18 Eastern Avenue, could provide:

Our firm's business is selling large and small old country foodstuffs and products, issuing ship cards with the best steamships, sending money to Bulgaria and Macedonia through express and exchanging Napoleons.

Promising to serve customers "quickly, honestly and accurately," the steamship and banking agency, Slave Petroff and Company of 457 King Street East, Toronto, offered the services of a labour bureau, a post office and address bureau.

The firm also sold insurance and a variety of first-aid preparations. Steamship agent and restaurateur, Vasil Pop Stefanoff of 3 Morris Street, New York City, reminded all Macedonians who might visit that city that they could purchase their choice of steamship tickets and enjoy dining at his "well-established restaurant where every Macedonian and Bulgarian will be most satisfied with our reception as well as our food and our price."

The dictionary also contained such non-group advertisements as that of the Toronto pharmacist, F.A. Jacobs, who dispensed Cooper's Headache Cure and Cooper's Constipation Cure upon request.

The most interesting advertisement of the group is that of the Toronto book dealers, Bistreff Dimitroff of 304 King Street East, for it extolled the philosophy of the dictionary itself.

 

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As proud distributors of the work, the firm encouraged readers to expand their literary horizons in order to become more upwardly mobile:

The habit of reading and meditation is a most certain means of self-education for all those who did not have the opportunity to go to school when they were young.

We took the care to supply you through our bookstore for Bulgarian immigrants in both Canada and the United States with books that will help to widen self-knowledge.Ask for our catalogue, which is free of charge, and from it you can choose that book with which you are most pleased.

Read, educate yourself, widen your knowledge, if you do not want to be forever the slave of someone else.The unskilled man is forever subject to others. Live like a human being! Be conscious as a man! Our bookstore will guide you. Write to our above address.

Macedonians were also solicited by Mr. A.G. Raycoff, the "Official Interpreter at the Police and County Courts," and informed that he was available to those who sought accurate service "during the performance of any kind of case" or needed assistance when dealing with companies and official departments.

The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary reflected as much as shaped the Macedonian experience in North America. America to the majority of Macedonians was wherever there were jobs. One Macedonian's work history shows the pattern.

During his career, he worked in a shoeshine parlour in Detroit, a restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a bakery in Mansfield, Ohio, only to end up in Toronto, which had been his initial destination, working as an independent milkman. Later he owned a restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario.18

The dictionary foresaw such a man's needs and reflected in its phrases this element of movement and crossing of boundaries. A sample lesson read:

Do you know where do Bulgarians live in this city? Yes, sir. They are living on King Street.Will you direct me to this street?
On which part of the city?
On the east
On the west
On the south
On the north
Which car to take to go there?
It is not needed to take the car.It is close by.
You will take the King car.
Where to get off for Eastern Avenue?
Thank you for your kind information.

The next two pages suggested how little the border meant in the immigrant world of work.

Where is the Wabash depot?
What time does the train leave for Chicago? When does the next train leave?
When does the train arrive in Chicago?
How many hours does it take to go from Toronto to Chicago?
What is the fair [sic] from Toronto to Chicago?

Theophilact further acknowledged the continental quality of the Macedonian presence when he outlined and compared the citizenship requirements of both the United States and Canada. Speaking of Canada's citizenship requirements, the author observed:

You are not required to know the English language as in the United States. There is no examination.

Theophilact's treatise on citizenship is also important for its cautionary note. The priest offered a warning to his readers about the potential problems and uncertain protection provided by an American or Canadian passport in the homeland. This was a particularly important piece of advice, since visits to villages which fell under Greek rule could result in a demand, for example, to fulfill a military obligation as a Greek citizen.

The dictionary's compiler hoped to protect unsuspecting Macedonians from harm in the work world by making them more aware of their conditions of employment. He showed readers how to ask a foreman or potential employer for a job:

Good morning, sir. Have you any work for me? Yes, sir.
No work today.
Come tomorrow morning....

and for their friends:


Do you need more labourers?
I need five more men. All right. I will bring them tomorrow morning.

How to ask about wages:

How much do you pay per hour for this work?
How much do you pay per day for this work?
How much do you pay a week for this work?
How long will this work last?
Fifteen cents per hour.
Dollar and a half a day.
Nine dollars a week.
I am satisfied with this wage.

and hours of employment:

How many hours do we work a day?
Is there overtime?


Theophilact also included lessons on how to ask for a better job:

Dear Sir:

As my present work with the _________ does give me an opportunity for advancement I respectfully beg to make application for a change to some other work ....

and how to request a day off when ill or attending a relative's funeral.

The dictionary offered guidance on various matters of physical well-being and personal appearance, and how to communicate in English with a doctor through a description of symptoms.

While offering translations for such common ailments as constipation and diarrhea, Theophilact placed more emphasis upon diseases as rheumatism and tuberculosis:

I cough very much.
I have night sweats.
I spit blood.

because they were most prevalent among Macedonian workers in slaughterhouses and factories.

The immigrants were also instructed how to maintain health through a nutritious and familiar diet. English words were provided for such items as leeks, garlic, olive oil, green and red peppers, beans and beets. On personal grooming and attire, immigrants were taught, for example, how to ask for a shave and a haircut. They learned the English words for boots, working gloves, summer suits and vests.

In 1922 Archimandrite Theophilact, then Dr. Demetrius Mallin, having left the priesthood to pursue a career in medicine, sold his dictionary copyright to the Bulgarian printing house Naroden Glas in Granite City, Illinois. Naroden Glas was eager to produce a second edition of this popular work since there was, in the firm's opinion, "no other inexpensive aid to easily learn how to speak English." "Technical difficulties and other considerations," however, kept the second edition from appearing until the beginning of 1936.

The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary successfully served as a useful language primer, a first step in mastering the English language. "I do not pretend," Theophilact wrote in the dictionary's introduction, "that I did something complete." He admitted that his little dictionary was not a definitive work. Concerned primarily with the problems of work settlement, the major concerns of a mobile and temporary group of settlers, the dictionary was in many ways deficient as an English-language guide for the Macedonian as immigrant, permanent settler and family man.

The task of covering the omissions and broadening the immigrants' source of reference subsequently fell to the editors and compilers of the larger, more detailed letter-writers, but the dictionary succeeded in touching all aspects of the life of Macedonians in the New World, and occupied an honoured place in many homes.

NOTES

1. Interview with Vasil Dimitroff, Toronto, August 26, 1976.

2. Interview with Nick Temelcoff, Toronto, July 8, 1976.

3. Interview with Anastas Petroff, Toronto, December 6, 1975.

4. Polyphony, no. I (Fall-Winter 1977), p. 4.

5. Toronto Board of Education Minutes, 1907, pp. 468, 501.

6. Toronto Board of Education Minutes, 1909, p. 9; interview with Mike Tallin, Toronto, August 25, 1975.

7. Toronto Board of Education Minutes, 1909, p. 9.

8. C.J. Cameron, Foreigners or Canadians? (Toronto: Standard Publishing Company, 1913), p. 26.

9. 1 bid., p. 44.

10. C. Evans, Basic English (Toronto: Women's Baptist Home Missionary Society, n.d.) p. 1.

11. Interview with Dincho Ralley, Toronto, July 4, 1975.

12. John Grudeff, mss., pp. 197-99.

13. Polyphony, no. I (Fall-Winter 1977), p. 4.

14. SS. Cyril and Methodius Macedono-Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral, 50th Anniversary Jubilee Almanac, 1910-1960 (Toronto, 1960), pp. 27-28.

15. Ibid., pp. 34, 38.

16. Ibid., p. 39.

17. D.G. Malincheff and J. Theophilact, The First Bulgarian-English Pocket Dictionary (Toronto: D.G. Malincheff and N.D. Velcoff Co., 1913). Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent quotes, advertisements, etc., are from the Pocket Dictionary.

18. Interview with Methody Sarbinoff (Michael Phillips), Toronto, May 7, 1977.

* The author would like to thank Mr. Foto S. Tomev for his assistance and translations of the Bulgarian-language texts.

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