Learning Persian (Farsi): Book One (Persian Edition) Pap/Com Edition

I purchased this book thinking it was for absolute beginners like myself. It wasn't--at least not with the instructions all being in Farsi! After removing the clear plastic wrap off of the handsome, brand new book (a great sensation), I looked at the book itself for close to two straight hours, toward the end thinking about hiring a cryptologist to help me figure out the Farsi. I ended up taking two headache pills just to uwind my eyes. Somewhat frustrated, I contacted Ibex Publishers by e-mail telling them I couldn't make heads or tales of the book, my being a total beginner. I was shortly informed that the book was meant to be used with a classroom instructor. Ibex was kind enough to send me a complimentary copy of another book entitled, "How to Speak, Read, & Write Persian," by Hooshang & Farideh Amuzegar (Ibex, 2003), indicating that this book (with step-by-step instructions in English) would perhaps do a better job at meeting me at my level. This book, a 285-pager, was certainly the magic key I had been looking for! Don't get me wrong, it's no light reading and requires much practice and application, but it does get you started, which is what I wanted from the book I initially ordered. Ibex suggested that I return the initial book I purchased (the one all in Farsi), but if the excellence of the second book is any indication, I believe the initial book will prove its use when I get more proficient with Farsi. My suggestion to those who are into teaching themselves Farsi is to get a book like "How to Speak, Read, & Write Persian" and to supplement its heavily structured approach with a Pimsleur's conversational Farsi audio program which will get you going with the conversational side of learning a language. My strategy in learning anything has been to get plenty of materials to cross-reference information with. That's why I get more than one book or program on a subject I'm seriously interested in learning, although it might look redundant or even wasteful to the bystander. It's a bit more money initially, sure, but what an investment in yourself! Am I being a bit hasty by giving "Learning Persian (Farsi) Book One" five stars before I've begun to even understand it? Perhaps, but looking at its intelligent layout of the materials and overall presentation, I have a good sense that this is a winner which I'll learn to appreciate one day soon!!!

I'm very interested in learning Persian, and (after reading the reviews) decided to try this book since it supposedly began at an introductory level and came with an audio cd to help pronunciation.This book's authors must either assume 1) you already have some working knowledge of Persian despite it being labeled as introductory level 2) that you're working with an instructor who will fill in the gaping holes, OR 3) this is Iran's way of getting back at George W. Bush, causing the heads of American students to explode in frustration across the land.The book begins by teaching you basic phrases/verb conjugation, which would be awesome....except that it's 100% in Persian script, with no help in pronouncing it, much less understanding the words, or even what letters are being used. When they said they begin by using the Persian alphabet from the first lesson, I assumed that they'd actually teach you the alphabet you were going to be using (crazy, I know).All of the instructions are 100% Persian script, so I have no idea what they actually want me to do. The CD is no help, I might as well listen to some Judas Priest records played backwards. I think my favorite part is how the table of contents tells you such-and-such is on page 234, but when you get into the actual book all the page numbers are in Persian script so you can't even tell what page you're on! If you can actually make sense of this course, chances are you don't need a basic course in Persian in the first place.I'm not giving up trying to learn Farsi, but I am giving up on this course.

If you know how to read Persian, this book is OK. I say "OK" because it falls short of pronunciation anomalies such as stress. In Persian, there are changes in stress because for certain grammatical constructions. Well, to be fair, many of the texts out there for Persian have the same shortcoming. Otherwise, the book is good. I would recommend the purchase of a work alongside this one that speaks more to phonology. Stress can fall on different syllables in Persian for grammatical reasons much like Turkish. I think the two languages are sometimes oversimplified in this respect.

When I first opened this book, I busted out laughing. Every single word is written in Farsi script. As a novice, trying to learn Farsi, this is zero help! I don't even know if the first page of the book is in the front or back. You would think a book TEACHING FARSI to english speakers would have some english words and the latin alphabet, or a lesson on Farsi script. Maybe when another resource teaches me Farsi, I can use this book as review.

I bought it for my sons,ages 15-17, and they have found it very useful.

Thank you

What a refreshing difference from some existing Persian language textbooks. Persian script is used from day one, rather than requiring students to master phonetic symbols that are about as hard to learn as the Persian script. Instead of throwing at the student new words never again used, each lesson builds well on the vocabulary employed in previous lessons. The same approach extends to the grammatical points; any grammar introduced in one lesson is then systematically applied in the next lessons. And the book has a reasonable price.

Just to reiterate what Matthew has written: no English anywhere in this book. I hope you have a teacher to explain the subjunctive, or relative clauses, or conditionals in English to you, because this book doesn't do that and they're too hard to master just by the inductive method.

スキットの対訳はありませんが新出単語が英訳されています。また付属CDではテキストがナチュラルなスピードで読まれているので勉強になります。ただ、文法説明部分が全部ペルシア語で書かれているのであくまでもリーディングの副教材として使うべきかと思います。