Farsi
Farsi is the main language of Iran. It is also spoken
in Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern Russia and India.
It’s spoken by approximately 25 million people in
Iran. In Afghanistan, where another 7 million people
speak it, the language is known as Dari.
Farsi is an Indo European language that has been
greatly influenced by Arabic. The Arabic script was
adopted after invasions and conquests by desert
Arabs in the seventh century. So while the language
is, like English, Indo European, Farsi speakers may
have difficulty with reading and writing because of
their unfamiliarity with Latin script.
Farsi, like Arabic, is written right to left with the
letters joining each other according to very definite
rules. There are no capital letters in Farsi so using
them in English can be difficult to get used to.
Numbers, although Arabic, are different from those
used in English. They are however written from left
to right.
With no pronoun gender distinction in Farsi, but
a single pronoun instead, he/she may well get mixed
up. Nouns don’t take plural forms when used with
numbers and this can get carried over into English,
e.g. Five car drove by.
There are few similarities between English and
Farsi vocabulary, though mother–madar and
brother–baradar show their Indo-European origins
and bad is bad in both languages.
One of the hardest things to learn is word order.
In Farsi the verb is usually placed at the end of a
sentence and adjectives always follow nouns. Getting
to grips with subject–verb–object construction is
hard. There’s also less punctuation in Farsi so
sentences tend to be very long and phrases joined
with a lot of ands and buts.
Stress and intonation patterns vary greatly
between Farsi and English. In Farsi stress usually
falls on the final syllable of a word. Therefore word
stress is highly predictable in Farsi and learners
might struggle with English’s unpredictability.
Distinguishing vowel sounds can sometimes be
difficult, e.g. a Farsi speaker might say sheep for ship.
With consonant clusters, a vowel might be placed
between the letters, e.g. perice for price, gelue for
glue. This is especially true at the start of words
beginning with s. A Farsi speaker will say espeak,
esmart, espring. There are no words in Farsi starting
with w and it’s likely to be replaced with a v sound.
A Farsi speaker speaking English might sound
aggressive without meaning to. They have a special
positive response to a question Chera which means
Why not? Are you going shopping? Why not? Chera
is a question tag used in nearly all situations so
learning different tags in English can be difficult.
Didn’t he? Didn’t you? Wouldn’t you? Couldn’t you?
A typical Iranian greeting is Salam meaning Peace.
Iranians generally greet each other with a slight bow
or a hug and kisses on the side of the face. Iranians
are natural communicators. Conversation is important
in Iranian society. They gesticulate a lot, point and
often talk loudly. None of this is considered rude.
Tilting the head upwards means no; tilting it down
means yes; twisting the head means what? Extending
the thumb is considered offensive, and showing the
soles of one’s feet or shoes is rude, and slouching or
stretching one’s legs in a group is offensive.
Teaching in Iran is usually formal and very structured
so Farsi learners will more likely accept a more formal
teaching style when learning English. Respect for elders
and teachers is very important.
© 2000 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ESOL HOME TUTOR SCHEMES (INC). PO Box 12-114, Wellington 6038, New Zealand. Ph 64-4 471 2382, Fax 64-4 471 2383, Email: natoffice@esolht.org.nz
Farsi
DURING THE LESSON
GENERAL
ENGLISH
FARSI
PRONUNCIATION
Hi/Hello
Salaam
Bye/Goodbye
Khodu hufez
How are you?
Hule shomu chetor ast?
Fine/Well, and you?
Khoob hastam va shomu?
Not so good
Zeeyud khoob neestam
What’s your name?
Esme shomu cheest?
My name is
Esme man _______ ast
Pardon?
Baleh?
Yes
Baleh
No
Nah
I don’t know
Man nemeedunam
Please
Lotfan
Thank you
Mamnoon, mersi
Good!
Ufareen!
Do you understand?
Meefahmeed?
Try again
Dobureh sa’y kon
Do you want some help?
Komak meekhuheed?
Don’t worry, learning takes time
Negarun nabush, yud geeree vaght meebarad
Shall we take a break now?
Behtar neest yek kam esteruhat koneem?
Let’s finish (the lesson) now
Beeyueed alun dars ru tamum konim
You’re doing well
Dureed khoob peesh meeraveed
Can you say it now?
Hulu meetavuneed begooyeed?
Can you answer (the question)?
Meetavuneed javub daheed?
Now you ask me
Hulu shomu beporseed
See you next week
Hafteye deegar meebeenametun