After reading a story on مورچه (ant) that wants to eat some عسل (honey) but is to up high and he is not able to reach it, we started reading second story about two کبوترهای doves who are neighbours.
Each story that I have read so far starts the same way as in English stories (i.e. Once there was). The story starts when one dove, Arza says that she will join the other one to go to journey. But the other dove male Namabr says no because he need to go stright to work. As the story progresses you can see how the feminine dove is proud and wants to be equale with male kabootar.
Besides reading the story Sofia also told me to rewrite them and circle words that I don't understand.
All Posts (42)
Sort by
People in Middle East, Central Asia and other parts of the world gear up to celebrate Nowruz, which means New Day, as the year of 1388 comes to end in the Iranian calendar. Nowruz is on March 21 this year like it has been for about three millenniums. Nowruz indicates the first day of spring and the beginning of the year.
The modern western calender is dated from the time of Christ, which is about 2010 years, however the modern Iranian calendar is dated 1389 year from the time of Mohammad. Years are counted since the Hijrah, which is when Prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Madina.
Modern Iranians celebrate the New Year for 13 days. It is expected for all to bath and clean themselves before Nowruz. New clothes are worn to emphasize freshness. The houses get cleaned, since Nowruz is "a feast of hope and renewal.
Families wait at home for the New Year to be announced. Once it is announced younger members of the family will visit the older members to pay respect and wish the a happy New Year. Relatives kiss and hug and presents are exchanged. Candies are offered to symbolically sweeten their lives for the rest of the year. New Year festivities continue until the 13th day. The 13th day is mostly spent outdoors. People leave their homes to go to the parks for festive picnics.
This celebration reveals many aspects about Persian people. Nowrus is a very old tradition and it still is celebrated by many people t shows that they have been following their ancestors. This event tells that Persian people value their religion and family the most.
Also, I wanted to learn the colors, so I found a website, which taught all the colors in hebrew. I wrote them down to my notebook, and I am trying to memorize all of them. But it seems like it is not that easy to remember all of them, because the colors also change depending on whether the word is a masculine/feminine/plural form. For ex: white can be "lavan" for mas.sing. "levana" for fem.sing. "lvanim" for mas.plu. and "levanot" for fem.plu. depending on the object/s that is/are white.
Other than that, I keep on working on Rosetta Stone, which I think helps a little bit on learning some more random words such as: water, bread, rice, apple, milk, car, newspaper, fish, eggs and etc. I also find Rosetta Stone helpful on learning how to say basic things in proper grammar.
As a general overview to Iranian customs, the country has also preserved many pre-Islamic customs.
The family is central to Iranian life and they put it at the core of their social structure. It is custom for female relatives to be protected from outside influences and are taken care of at all times. For this reason, it is inappropriate to ask questions about an Iranian’s wife or other female relatives.
Although the custom in Iran, for the majority of people, is to only have 1 or 2 children, extended family is usually very close which forms a tight network. It is custom for family loyalties to be prioritized against any other relationships and nepotism in Iran is generally considered a good thing.
Iranians typically see themselves as having two distinct identities: “zaher” (public) and “batin” (private). When they are in public, they must conform to accepted modes of behavior, which are often legally dictated.
The only part of their lives where they can be themselves is within their homes and among their inner circle. It is custom in Iran for the inner circle to form the basis of a person’s social and business network. Friendship is very important and extends into business. The people from the inner circle can be relied upon to: offer advice, help find a job, or cut through bureaucracy.
The stories carried a lot of similarities to western ones. There was a lot of repetition (great for language learning!), and the characters were often personified animals and elements, reminiscent of Aesop's fables. Each story was centered on a message, a moral lesson for children. Though English stories are also usually teaching tools, the Iranian morals were a bit different.
The first story was about kindness and hospitality. An old woman welcomed strangers into her home on a cold night, and they turned out to have skills and became her family. I think Western fairy tales tend to be much more grim, like DON'T talk to strangers, because they'll mislead you and then eat your grandmother.
The next story had a similarly cheerful moral: everyone can be the strongest in his or her own way. It's interesting, this is a very modern message in Western standards, which makes me wonder when these were written. It gave the impression of being old stories everyone knew. I guess Beowulf, with his warrior prowess, wouldn't fit in to Iranian children's stories. The host commented after the story that everyone is endowed with strength and greatness, but "perhaps best kind of strength is that which comes from love and wisdom," because it benefits others. This is really telling - instead of strength in what I would call a traditional sense (i.e. brute strength), this strength is measured by its power to help the most people.
The host adds comments at the end, which happen to be religious things (like being strong is especially in spirit, or everyone is perfect in heaven's eyes). That either means that it's acceptable to teach children about religion on TV, or that the TV station isn't secular.
I first tried learning the list simply by reading and speaking it over and over. This didn't stick. I then, in groups of 5 or so, wrote and spoke them over and over. This repetition worked really well, and now I know quite a few of the words - though I still need to work on some further down the list.
I also watched an animation in farsi about a family on youtube. First there were some quick statements about the family, which after a few times through I could pick out the words for mother, father, and sister. Then, the written form of "family" was shown and repeated - I found I could pick out the letters and sounds in the word easily. Finally, with a cute little animation, the words were spoken over and over, "Mother, Father, Daughter, Son." I don't know how much this will help me, since I already remembered those words, but I now have an auditory reference for the basic family words.
When I was in Argentina one of my first priorities was learning slang. I didn't give much attention to the classes there but I practiced all the time because my family didn't speak english and neither did some of my friends. I found that through learning slang and curse words I picked up the rest of the language faster than other students. More importantly, I actually knew what was going on in conversations because people, especially young people, tend to speak with colloquial terms and use some cursing. Because I knew what was going on in the conversations I was able to contribute more, which means I was speaking more, all of which gave me an edge in learning the language.
Possibly the most important part of learning slang is that its fun and interesting. Its especially funny when you figure out the literal translation in english because it usually sounds really weird, but it helps you remember it.
The traditional sport in Turkey is oil wrestling, but the most popular sport is football. Turkey's top teams are Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbache. Galatasaray won the Uefa Cup in 2000 and Turkey's national team managed to finish third in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and they have a pretty good team.
The culture of Turkey is ver similar to the culture of Cyprus since they lived together for many years. Many words we have are similar to theirs. The most popular sport in Cyprus is football too. We also have a good team but we never made the World Cup. Turkey has managed to go to the World Cup many times. Galatasaray is one of the most known and good teams in the world and they are also known for their fans.
Their fans are also very similar to Greek fans. They are 'hooligans' I would say. They could die for their team adn do crazy things. Their home games are always intense and it is very difficult to leave their stadium victorious due to the great atmosphere the fans provide for their players. Galatasaray is also the most successful Turkish team and they hold a record number of championship leagues. It is also the only Turkish team to ever win a major European trophy (UEFA Cup).
Today I met with my learning partner Albar and our topic was one of my two main goals. We learned about soccer. We both together came up with words that are part of the game for example referee, uniform, ball and other words I should know so I could understand during a game on TV or a sports article.
We came up with a lot of words and he also translated for me some phrases I could use like for example the referee showed him a yellow card. Good thing I already learned the colors. Many words are similar to english words but most of them are written differently. They just sound the same and they ofcourse have the same meaning as english.
In the last 10 minutes of our meeting we watched a video on YouTube of Galatasaray and another turkish team. The commentator was speaking Turkish and he was speaking really fast but I did get some of the words we talked about earlier like goal, shoot and yellow card. Galatasaray was in front by 1-0 but in extra time the other team tied the game. The commentator said that Galatasaray was struggling for the top in the beginning of the game and I guess this draw was really not a good result for them.
Next time we said to continue and watch more videos because it is a good way to learn the phrases and try to keep up even though they speak really fast.
A: Hello. How are you?
B: Im doing good, thank you. How about you?
A: Im doing good. What is your name?
B: My name is Stella. How about yours?
A: My name is Andreas. Nice to meet you.
B: Nice to meet you too.
A: Where are you from?
B: I am American. How about you?
A: I am Cypriot. How old are you?
B: I am twenty years old. How about you?
A: I am twenty too.
A: Something happened, i have to go.
One seemingly circumstantial facet of the language is the absence of q, w and x. Although these letters are absent in Turkish, they are present in Kurdish, which is spoken by many in the Southeast. As only the official Turkish language is allowed on state-issued identification documents, the Kurdish names for people and towns are limited to colloquial use. Further, Kurdish has been limited throughout various periods in modern history, including, until 2002, in broadcast media (television broadcast was allowed in 2006). While this limitation on non-official languages may be supported for reasons nation-building or cultural unity, it is controversial that foreign loan words could be used on television as early as 1992 (Show TV as the oft-cited example).
The Ergenekon and Balyoz cases have been perceived differently among disparate factions in the Turkish political spectrum. By some, the investigations represent the secret goings-on of the "deep state," which is representative of the military and judicial branches that are not under civilian or electoral oversight. Others perceive the cases as an attempt by the ruling party to discredit its main opposition. The main opposition party, the CHP, perceives the military as an effective check on the possibly islamist orientation of the AKP. The nationalist party, the MHP, sees the military as the most important actor promoting the interests of the Turkish state and would like to see the military's influence expanded, not reduced. The Kurdish parties are possibly the most sympathetic to the AKP's efforts, as the military and judiciary have been the most rigid opponents to Kurdish interests. This point has been magnified by the recent court ruling banning the pro-Kurdish DTP from political activities.
No matter the intentions of the AKP, a series of military coups from 1960-1980 (and a "post-modern" coup in 1997) give credibility to fears of military intervention. The cases of 1960 and 1980 are especially infamous for the military's role in stabilizing volatile political situations. The 1980 coup, as the most recent intervention where military force was used, is remembered for its violence and persecution of political prisoners throughout Turkey, with Diyarbakir prison as the often used example of brutality.
Thus is it credible to fear military intervention in political life, but the connection between those arrested and the plots they are accused of planning is somewhat dubious at best, and political farce (saçma) at worst. Recently, there have been calls for early elections and constitutional amendments to address the most contentious aspects of the AKP. The recent regional elections saw a decrease in support for the AKP, but it is yet to be seen whether the base of AKP popularity will decrease below the margin of plurality in the coming months and years.
The multiple intelligences test said that I am a visual learner which is true. After learning two languages from a scratch I understand the techniques and strategies for learning a new language. I prefer to learn a language by seeing examples, by observing how to write and spell words. Therefore I decided to find websites where they have examples and tell the pronunciation of the written part. Since I am a visual learner I would look at the way the word is written and then try to do that myself and pronounce every single vowel in that word. My goals for this course is to learn how to write short letters and be able to write my thoughts. Since I am able to speak the language it makes much more easier for me to learn the writing and reading part. So if I'll learn how to write and read them it will be easy for me to understand the word and translate it.
Now it is time to lean some Farsi!!
