Persian in use: An Elementary Textbook of Language and Culture (Iranian Studies Series)

this is the textbook i will use for the Farsi summer class next month. Nice pages and it has other resources along. But it is heavy book to carry around. In 40 days I will study Farsi...very challenging language I heard... ay ay....patience.... Takashur.

Really good

I am using this text to reinforce what elementary Persian language I learned in the spring at American Councils - Dushanbe, Tajikistan, which uses a different textbook, namely, Reza Farokhfal Persian Here and Now. (I really liked the latter textbook, by the way, notwithstanding that I was handicapped by not having access to audio material.) After that course, however, I felt that I needed additional reinforcement to strengthen my ability to express myself spontaneously in the language. Pluses: [1] The textbook is replete with many exercises in each chapter so the textbook is like a textbook and a workbook in one volume. About 30 exercises for each of 10 chapters making for 300 exercises. [2] Good, simple-to-understand grammatical explanations are presented [3] The audio/video material is easily accessed on line. There are even exercises that use the audio material e.g. listening to conversations in the bazar over costs of items that then need to be recalled. The video material is mostly drawn from youtube with few specifically produced videos for the textbook; there is, for example, a video concerning a lady calling a real estate agency inquiring about renting an apartment. [4] A variety of lexicons are presented from informal to formal speech. [5] The material is interesting -- an important factor to avoid boredom that might result in getting fed-up and abandoning studying. [6] Fine editing overall. Shekel is presented for the short vowel sounds for the most part aptly (though not always - See below.) Minuses: [1] There are no answer keys to any of the assignments. This is not a teach-yourself resource. I am using an Iran-born, Persian language tutor based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Without him, I would not have access to the correct answers and I would have been frustrated with certain exercises [as in those drawn from ads like the one in the middle of the page I have uploaded (CH5, Exercise 17, p. 183) and the poetry (e.g. of Forough Farrokhzad) and the song (e.g. Hayedah's Gul Sangam) at the end of each chapter. (With the ads, moreover, the font is sometimes difficult to parse.)] [2] $85 is expensive for about 315 usable pages including end-of-chapter vocabulary lists excluding prefatory remarks, first cover page of each chapter and appendices. Cutting the other way, however, each page measures 11 inches by 8 1/2 inches so that enables presentation of more material on each page (since pages are oversized). [3] Exercise 18 (p. 183) needs some extra thought / editorial work. With respect to question#1, there is no shekel so one might be tempted to read "sabk" instead of "sabuk;" if "sabk" is read, then there is no obvious answer. That was way to tricky for the level. Questions#3-4 left the tutor and me scratching our heads. For Question#3, the tutor suggested "mubaraka" because the other words would presumably be said before a sale but "mubaraka" comes after the sale. I thought that "lahza" (moment) should be the answer because that word can be used in a vast array of contexts whereas, in Iranian culture, the other words are identifiable with sales. I found Question#4 to be even more contentious. The words "baashe" and "khub" are certainly cognate but both of the other two words ("omidvaram" and "mislaan") seem disassociated with "bashe" and "khub." Readers should note that I have only worked through pp. 116-186. (Pages before p.116 I deemed too basic for my level and purposes.)

This book is very good, I’ve learned the alphabet and I’m starting to learn how to write and read. I work with my son who is 11 years old. And I’m 32 and we work together. I highly recommend it

Having just studied this book in a summer course, I highly recommend it!

It has been very helpful in my endeavor to study Farsi.

The book did not come with the audio that was supposed to be included. Without the audio lessons, the book was too difficult for beginners to get started. Disappointing…

Perfect Persian book

J'utilise ce livre avec la méthode de Persan de L'INALCO et les deux fonctionnent a merveille ensembles. Le livre Persian in use est vraiment un plaisir a utiliser surtout pour apprendre l'écriture. Les caractères sont gros et très lisibles et la présentation Multichrome facilite énormément la mémorisation. Les leçons sont sans translittération mais vraiment on s'en sort très bien avec un peu de patience. En plus le Farsi n'est pas une langue très difficile côté grammatical. Sur le site web on a accès aux enregistrements sonores... C'est un livre fait pour être utilisé avec un enseignant, mais on s'en sort en autodidacte.