Many Iranians migrated to the U.S. after the Islamic Revolution. The U.S. is the country with the highest population of Iranians outside of Iran itself. Many of the Iranians working in the U.S. specialize in medicine, engineering, and business. It is stated that over 5 million Iranians have chosen to migrate out of Iran because of its government. Many Iranian teenagers will come to the U.S. to go to school and then get a job. Also because of immigration to the U.S., their religion does not remain Muslim here in the country where some resort to Christianity, Buddhism, or other religions. It is said that many American-Iranians stay away from politics. I just thought this was interesting because we are a nation of immigrants and the most immigration news I hear of is about Mexican immigration which I already am familiar with. Read more…
So I was curious what people actually meant when they referred to Farsi as a Persian language. What makes something Persian then? Well "Persian" refers to a part of the Iranian people. Back in the day, the Indo-Iranians arrived in parts of Greater Iran and then spread to surrounding areas in southern Iran and then the Fars province. This way the ancient Persians spread their language and culture everywhere while conquering everyone. This makes sense as there are different dialects just like any other language that sprout up throughout time. So Persian refers to the group overall yet sometimes the term can be mixed with "Iranian" which is controversal because the term "Persian" is really a varies of cultures.
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Posted by Laura Major on April 25, 2010 at 10:24pm
I'd say that this class has shown me how to view a language on a more linguistic level rather than just studying a language from scratch. I got to see how the language is not just a language but rather part of a culture. I have studied Spanish before but really you just learn how to speak it and you never really know where it came from or why. I got to see how I learned best from learning a language and I saw that I really need a book to look off of to follow. I can be self directed but I definitely need a step by step guide to show me where to start and to refer back to. I found with Farsi it was really difficult to find sources because not many people speak it. It was especially hard to find Farsi vocabulary for my cultural project because a lot of the words I found were transcriptions and most of the Farsi-English dictionaries online required Farsi script so I could never really look up anything that I found in Farsi and translate it into English. Overall I enjoyed the course as it showed me the hidden characteristics of a language behind the language itself. Read more…
Posted by Laura Major on April 25, 2010 at 10:17pm
It can definitely be useful knowing a nation's history in order to better understand the language. Many languages are altered from invading countries that have changed the language. For example, Iran has has the Farsi script changed to Arabic letters from the Islamic Revolution. Also languages can come from past indigenous communities that used to live in the region before other countries took over and brought their own language but kept some of the indigenous roots. By knowing some of the history, one can learn why words are spoken the way they are or why some of the vocabulary can be different in different regions of the same country. Read more…
Posted by Laura Major on April 25, 2010 at 10:14pm
I don't really have any idea about any cross-cultural experiences having to do with Farsi but I do know one from Latin America. I remember that when I was in the Dominican Republic a lot of things were influenced by American culture. It was weird being there and hearing words in English such as "cool", "nice," or even funnier when my mom would ask me if I wanted "corn flay" or Cornflakes for breakfast. I don't really know if that qualifies as a cross-cultural experience but it was definitely a mix of the two that I was familiar with. Read more…
Posted by Laura Major on April 25, 2010 at 10:08pm
For my extensive exercise I found a youtube video of a childrens song that I thought was pretty simple. It was about farm animals and I had just learned some animals so I wanted to see if I would be able to recognize some of the words. I was able to recognize simple words like cow, horse, pig, dog, cat, and things but I couldn't understand the sentences that they were singing in the song. For my extensive listening exercise I listened to a song with lyrics that played at the same time that I had found off of youtube. I learned a lot more vocabulary and some verbs but I still didn't understand everything just in terms of the grammar. It was a lot different though hearing the Farsi and then reading it because it sounded different from what I would have thought but I was able to see where the sounds were coming from in the script. Read more…
Persian calligraphy is absolutely gorgeous and is actually an art in itself. After Iran was conquered after the Islamic conquest, the Arabic script was then the official script for Iran. There are many types of calligraphy but a few aremuhaqqaq,rihani, and thuluth. The pen of a calligrapher was made from reed and there were actually rules for the writing that had to be considered "cypress in the garden of knowledge." The writing came from the calligrapher's spiritual state that is said to be "purity of writing proceeds from purity of heart."In other words, calligraphy as an art wasn't simply to just record notes but rather it was a more religious act and the calligrapher had to be spiritual and be similar to a "holy person."
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One book that I absolutely love is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam which is a collection of translated poems by Omar Khayyam (or longer name: Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nishapuri al-Khayyami...quite a handful) from Iran. Mr. Khayyam was a brilliant mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and much much more. This collection of poems is amazing as it talks about his philosophy on life mostly involving the afterlife and lots of wine drinking. In one section he talks about a potter molding a pitcher out of clay but he describes the potter molding the clay of a young girl who has the hand of a king around her neck. I'm not sure if he was implying that the potter was a king in another lifetime and was straggling the girl who is now part of the earth that "the potter" is molding. Or possible it could just describe the handle on the pitcher as the kings hand and the pitcher itself as a girl. It is an amazing piece nonetheless as it talks about Khayyam's views on religion and the afterlife. Persian poetry plays a great role in Persian literature with the importance of philosophy. Read more…
Whenever I think of Persian culture I always think of the Persian rugs. The rugs are made with looms and are knotted with either the traditional Persian knot which is used for the finer rugs or else they use the Spanish knot among others. Most of the rugs are made from wool but others can be made from cotton or silk. The Persian carpets create an immense income for Iran and have been a hand weaving art for many many years. Today many countries try and copy the Iranian rugs but nothing compares to an original Persian carpet hand woven with the Persian knot. From this cultural trait of Persia came the fable of the flying magic carpet which originally started when there was a rumor that King Solomon had a huge magical carpet. In the movie Aladdin you can find a very exciting flying magic carpet. Read more…
Persian gardens were designed for the purpose of creating an earthly paradise in which you could sit in and relax and "maximize" yourself or emotions. There is a type of garden called the chahar bagh which is supposed to be similar to the garden of Eden which has 4 rivers and 4 quadrants. Many influences such as this one came from invading ethic groups such as the Arabs and the Mongols. There are many other types of gardens but the main purpose of them was to create an "enclosed space" for religious or spiritual purposes. Read more…
So I was reading in an article that tea houses, or chaikhanehs, are quite popular in Iran. Since clubs and bars are not allowed, teenages can use the tea houses as a place to kind of just chill out and relax, have some tea, and maybe a meal. At the tea houses they serve meals, tea, and hookah. The tea is generally strong and bitter so the traditional way to sweeten your cup is to put a sugar cube in your teeth and sip the tea through the cube. This way, Iranians can have multiple cups in one day. In many of these traditional tea houses your drink your tea on a rug in which you must remove your shoes. I remember that in downtown Charlottesville there is a tea house that I feel would be somewhat similar to what a Persian tea house would be like. They serve hookah, tea, and small food dishes. They have a section where you can sit on a rug if you would like and they require that you remove your shoes. It's quite a fun place! And the tea and hookah is delicious. Read more…
Salam! Esme man Laura ast. Esme fomil man Major ast. Man inglisi suhbat mekonam. Fardar char shanbah ast. Man ahele Richmond hastam. Man daram yak mawdar, yak padar wa yak berawdar. Man daram se garba. Shumawre telefon man se, haf, sifr, hast, yak, hast, nuh ast. Shumawre otawq man yak, char, sifr, char ast. Read more…
I have = Man daram. You (informal) have = Tu dari. You (formal) have = Shumaw darid. He/she/it has = O darad. We have = Maw darim. They (informal) have = Anhaw darand. They (formal) have = Ishawn darand. Read more…
Salam! = Hello! Esme shumaw chist? = What's your name? Esme man ___ ast. = My name is ___. Esme fomil shumaw chist? = What's your last name? Esme fomil man ___ ast. = My last name is ___. Chtor hastet? = How are you? Khub hastem = I'm good. Khub nestum = I'm not good. Shumawre telefon shumaw chist? = What's your telephone number? Shumawre telefon man ___ ast. = My telephone number is ___. Shumawre otawq shumaw chist? = What's your room number? Shumawre otawq man ___. = My room number is ___. Shumaw ahele kujaw hastet? = Where are you from? Man ahele ___ hastam. = I am from ___. Man inglisi suhbat mekonam. = I speak English. Wa shumaw? = And you? Read more…
This week we continued practicing the personal pronouns and the verb "to have." I am now starting to be able to form my own sentences with the verb "to have" in sentences such as, "I have three cats." We also learned some of the human body parts which are also hard to learn just through the Farsi alphabet without the transcription but it is slowly getting easier to read. Several times we go back through past vocabulary and re-read the words in Farsi to make sure we know how to pronounce them correctly. Read more…
This week we learned personal pronouns. I had been familiar with a few of these just from learning common greetings so it wasn't too hard to learn. With the pronouns we included the verb "to have" which helped me learn how to conjugate in the present tense. I have taken other languages before and the set up was similar in that the conjugated verb is taken from the root of the main verb and then the ending for the specific pronoun is just added onto the end. We also learned the days of the week which are really easy. The week starts with Saturday as "shanba" and then numbers are added in front of shanba. So Sunday is just "yak shanba" in which yak means one. Next week we will learn human body parts. Read more…
So far I have found that the Farsi language is not that difficult to learn. It can be kind of similar to English or really any other language to learn in that the conjugations and declensions are similar. I'd say that the only huge difference is the alphabet which takes patience and practice to learn. Now that I have learned the alphabet the only trouble is trying to read and pronounce words without knowing a lot of vocabulary. In order to read a lot of the Farsi language, you need to be able to recognize the word in order to know how to pronounce it. As I don't know a lot of vocabulary, it's difficult to read. I had bought a book on how to learn Farsi and that has been a great help. However I would say that the greatest help I have is from my language partner, Wadia. She helps us with our pronunciation and grammar and we can learn one on one much easier than reading through a book with no idea how to pronounce anything. I feel that everything can be learned for Farsi without too much difficulty as long as they are willing to be patient and practice their language enough. Read more…
Posted by Laura Major on March 24, 2010 at 10:15pm
I read in an article somewhere that milk prices in Iran have increased due to high demand. This interested me and I read farther into the history of milk production of Iran. In the past Iran had used milk powders yet then switched to pasteurized milk. Through recent years, Iran has increased milk production due to the demand for the products. Milk prices have also increased through the demand the money put forth for agricultural needs for the cows to produce the milk. Recently Iran's milk export has increased and the demand is causing the production to increase. I read in several articles that Iranians enjoy cream and cream dishes. However, I am not sure that this could fairly justify as a cultural statement for Iranian culture. But it can be said that milk is a healthy product and interest is increasing in Iran as studies have proven through the stats on its high demand. Read more…
