Generic Bulgarian Handwriting 1

This first version of a generic model for handwritten modern Bulgarian (predominantly mid- and late 20th and 21st centuries) was trained at the Slavic Department in Freiburg im Breisgau (PI: Achim Rabus, researcher: Franz Beimesche). We used synthetic data (text formatted with handwriting fonts) to complement our handwritten Ground Truth data. Handwritten texts from the 1960s to the present have been provided by several organizations and individuals, such as the Bulgarian School Munich “Paisii Hilendarski”, the Bulgarian School in Berlin, the University of Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sigrun Comati and Irina Guteva. A small number of Bulgarian texts which represent an earlier version of Bulgarian orthography were used. The content of the provided text data differed strongly. Lecture notes, letters from former students to their professors and personal notes were used to train the Bulgarian model alongside everyday language. The Bulgarian School in Berlin kindly provided its annual commemorative publication, which contained several handwritten texts by the school's students. Many thanks to all who supported the creation of this model!