Learning Persian (Farsi) on my own

Virum

Short Post:

Okay, so I want to learn some Persian / Farsi; enough that I can follow a conversation. Any books for self-learning that you can recommend? Rosetta Stone isn't an option, it is too expensive.

Long Post:

I want to learn Farsi.

Why, my girlfriend speaks it exclusively with many members of her family and I hate being the guy that has no clue what is going on.

She doesn't care one way or the other if I learn it, but I also know her Grandma would like it since she can't speak any English and my girlfriend can't translate between English and Farsi very well.

Anyways, I was looking on Amazon.com for some language learning books for Farsi, but their don't seem to be many and the ones that are there have low star ratings. If anybody has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

I don't know if it matters, but I have taken many languages - 2 years of French, one of Greek, 5 of Latin, and 3 semesters of collegiate German. I only remember the German which came very easily to me because of previous language experience I think - I didn't get as hung up over grammar as other people in my classes did.

Oski

Hey you speak Latin too! Hi5!

About Farsi, taking a community college class is always a plus.

Just so you know, there is a bit of a culture difference between European and Iranian culture that they may not want you to transcend. My dad is and Irish Jew and my mom is full Persian, and when they got married, my maternal grandparents pretended that my family didn't exist for 16 years.

Just something to watch out for. But as far as Farsi, my recommendation is a class. You can immerse yourself, learn from a teacher, and have peers to communicate with.

Virum

The community college near me doesn't offer Farsi.

However, my university does have a beginning level class, but I have heard that the teacher is horrible... and it is the off semester (Beginning level II is being taught this semester) so I couldn't register for it anyway.

I'd like to get started if I could before taking the class.

I am aware of the culture difference - I deal with it everyday in that my girlfriend isn't able to spend the night, or go anywhere with me without getting a call from her mom every two hours or more often. However, her mom is decently westernized in that she is divorced, rejected the family religion (Zoroastrianism), etc. so that's not a big deal. Only her grandma would the one really unhappy about it.

Doxa

A book that teaches you basic vocabulary, verbs, conjugation, and grammar will do good, but you have to hear it and try to interact to really learn it. Since you know people who are native speakers you can interact with them. Use them. Ask them to correct you if you say something the wrong way or with bad grammar. That's the best way to learn a language.

Anecdotal: I took spanish in high school, but couldn't really speak it. I started learning when at work I was tired of getting spanish customers and having to get a translator or doing charades. My boss was hispanic and we started talking. I asked questions about how to say something, and we spoke in spanish at length with him correcting me when I did something wrong. I ended up getting quite good.

Hakkekage

Get one of those where they say the phrase and have you repeat it. However, classes are the best way to go. It's a pity your community college doesn't offer it. Ask your girlfriend to help you out.

It's easier to understand farsi than it is to speak it, and triple harder to read and write it. If you need some help you can always PM me. Just remember the basics:

Salam: Hello!
Khodahafes: Goodbye!
Madar jendeh: Motherfucker!

supabeast

Try Rosetta Stone. At first it will seem childish and even insultingly simple, but if you can get past it and have the desire to get through the lessons, it’s a great way to learn the basics of conversation in many languages.

SpaghettiMatt

I've been taking Farsi (along with Arabic) at my university for 3 years now and I can confirm that there are pretty much no good text books or resources on learning it. My professor makes her own texts and has taught us all of the grammar on her own. It sucks, but there is really no standardized way of teaching the language in the Western world, unlike romance languages/russian/arabic/etc. Moreover, few universities actually offer it, nevermind community colleges.

That said, here are some decent resources:

Thackston's guide is probably the most comprehensive for grammar. Outdated, but includes everything you need to know about conjugation etc. http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Persian-W-M-Thackston/dp/0936347295

Mace's grammar guide isn't terrible either: http://www.amazon.com/Persian-Grammar-Reference-John-Mace/dp/0700716955/ref=cm_lmf_tit_23_rdssss0

If you're looking for conversational Farsi, I would suggest a combination of Pimsleur's tapes (about 40 hours of listen/repeat conversation) and the Lonely Planet guidebook: http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Farsi-Persian-Phrasebook/dp/0864425813/ref=pd_sim_b_4

Pimsleur is expensive but it can probably be had at local libraries and *cough cough* other means.

At the end of the day, nothing can replace the experience that you'll get just talking to your girlfriend in Persian. Still, it won't be easy.

Lord Malory

I know you said Rossetta Stone was too expensive. And while I agree, it also may be something I'd save for if it's that big of a deal. This is something that is like, a huge deal for someone, or should be. (Like in Scrubs when Turk learns Spanish for Carla, secretly, for their anniversary.)

While this may not be much of a helpful post, I think what you are doing is admirable and I wish you the best of luck.

Virum

I was going to surprise my girlfriend, but I decided that this would mean too much to her family for me to just bungle it up by trying to learn it myself, so now she is teaching me. Thankfully I had enough learned from Pimsleur that I was able to kind of surprise her a bit She's happy to help me!

Thanks, and this can be locked I guess.

www.easypersian.com seems to be a good website if anybody stumbles across this later.