I learned how to write in Persian early on in life. However, it had been a few years since I last wrote in Persian. My language partner, Zari, made writing a major part of our learning plan. So after most of our lessons, I am assigned to write a short paragraph reflecting what we learned or prepare a short discussion for assigned homework. When it comes to writing, I write at a faster pace when writing with a free hand but I do prefer typing. Especially when it gets to jotting notes down while watching a video, I write with my hand but then take the time to type it on the computer. The struggle has been training my fingers with the Arabic/Persian keyboard. I am so used to typing in English that it has been difficult to not press the keyboard buttons in English that make the sound in Farsi. For example, when I want to write “توت”, pronounced “toot” for mulberry, I find myself drawn to press the T button whereas the letter “ت” is on the J button on the keyboard. Regardless, I have improved from where I started and feel more confident about memorizing the keyboard in Persian by the end of the semester.
In regards to sentence structure, I do see the patterns between the structures of words, clauses and sentences. Because of taking classes in Dari/Farsi until 9th grade of high school, I became proficient in understanding these structures before starting this class. However, when I think of the time I first started putting these patterns together, I can not recall and now it feels like second nature to me. For most of the time, the verb is always placed at the end of the sentence and we write right to left. The basic sentence structure is first: the subject then the verb. For example:
Subject |
Verb |
Sentence structure |
من I |
رفتم Went |
من رفتم I went. |
For more complex sentence structures, there are other factors such as modifiers and prepositions that influence the sentence. It’s important to note that in Persian, personal endings (suffix) and beginnings (prefix) are used to conjugate and mark the person and the tense. As a result, a verb and the appropriate personal conjugation may be considered a sentence or a clause. If you are familiar with the Spanish language, it’s a similar context to conjugating words ending in -ar such as escuchar. So based on who it is referring to, the word escuchar “to listen” can turn into escucho, escucha, escuchas...etc. All of this is to say that simple sentences can be created with subject and verb while complex sentences are a combination of simple sentences with a few added structures.
Additionally, interacting with written contexts has been a major part of my learning plan. So thankfully, I have had the skills to read scholarly articles and published news in Farsi/Dari. My knowledge of parts of speech, government and agreement have definitely helped me in this area as I have continued with my language skills over the course of the semester. For example, for one of my assignments, I watched an interview of the exiled Prince of Iran, took notes and then wrote a short reflection about it. In my reflection, I was able to use my notes, combine it with my understanding of the political issues of Iran and write an analytical piece on it. I have attached the photo below. This reflection talks about the constraints that the current Iranian government has put on the Iranian people in order to isolate them from the world. The exiled Prince of Iran says that the current leaders need to realize that the people of Iran want to be known for things such as freedom, democracy and human rights, not for banning certain rights of its people. Furthermore, this reflection emphasizes on the importance of certain rights such as religious freedom which is currently banned in Iran.
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