Introduction to Persian
Culture and Language

Persian Speaking Countries

Tajikistan – Tajik Dialect

Afghanistan – Dari Dialect

Iran – Farsi Dialect

Map of Iran

Basic Facts
• Capital City: Tehran
• Population: about 77 million
• Slightly smaller than Alaska
• Official Language: Persian (Farsi)
• Major Religion: Shi’ite Islam

Tehran, capital city of Iran

Borj-e Azadi (Azadi Tower), Tehran

Inside Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz

History
• Over 2,500 years old
• Known as “Persia” until 1935
• A cultural center of the Muslim world
• Revolution in 1979 overthrew the monarchy and established an Islamic Republic

Persepolis, ancient capital of Persia

An example of Persian art from the Middle Ages

Modern Iranian women

Culture
• Persian New Year ( Nowruz ) occurs on the spring equinox - March 20 or 21
• Celebrates new life and new beginnings
• Traditions surrounding Nowruz include
– Chaharshanbe Suri
(Fireworks Wednesday)
– S izdah Bedar (picnic on the 13 th day of the year)
– Haft Sin
(traditional table setting with 7 items beginning with the Persian letter sin س )

Jumping over the bonfire on Chaharshanbe Suri

Picnicking outdoors to celebrate Sizdah Bedar

Haft Sin table setting

Haft Sin meanings
1. Sabzeh – wheat or barley sprouts - rebirth
2. Samanu – sweet wheat pudding affluence
3. Senjed – dried oleaster fruit - love
4. Seer – garlic - medicine
5. Seeb – apple – beauty and health
6. Somaq – sumac fruit – (color of) sunrise
7. Serkeh – vinegar – old age and patience

Culture
• Traditional Iranian foods include ghormeh sabzi, fesenjoon, kebabs, rice ( polo ), tahdig, and ash-e reshteh
• Both ice cream (400 BCE) and cookies (700 CE) were invented in Persia
• Iran is well-known for its carpet-making tradition
• Classical Persian poetry is popular around the world

Ghormeh sabzi served with polo (Iranian rice)

fesenjoon kebabs

tahdig ash-e reshteh

Persian carpet workshop in Iran

Persian calligraphy in the shapes of animals

Persian Language
یسراف نابز

Introduction to the language
• Farsi is name of the Persian language in the language itself
When people speak in Spanish, they refer to the language as
español.
When people speak in Persian, they refer to the language as farsi .
• Persian is spoken in
Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan
• Each country has a slightly different dialect.
These are similar to the different accents we hear in English-speaking countries (ex: USA, England, and Australia).

Hello
Salaam

How are you?
Haletoon chetore?

I ’m fine
Khoobam
مبوخ

Thanks
Mersee
یسرم

And how are you?
Shomaa chetorin?
؟ ن یروطچ امش

Goodbye!
Khoda hafez

A short conversation
A: Hello. How are you?
B: I ’m fine. Thanks. And how are you?
A: I ’m fine. Good-bye.
B: Good-bye.
A: Salaam. Haaletoon chetore?
B: Khoobam. Mersee. Shomaa chetorin?
A: Khoobam. Khoda hafez.
B: Khoda hafez.

Quiz
How do you say:
• Hello
• I’m fine
• Thanks
• Good-bye
• How are you?

Now let ’s learn some numbers
1 yek
۱
2 do
۲
3 se
۳
4 chahar
۴

1 yek
۱
2 do
۲
3 se
۳
4 chahar
۴

Let ’s learn 4 colors

yellow zard
درز

white sefid

blue aabi

turquoise firoozayee

Quiz
How do you say?

Introduction to Persian writing
• The writing system is called the Perso-Arabic script.
• It is based on the Arabic script but altered with new letters to represent Persian sounds.
• The alphabet has 32 letters.
There are 6 vowels. The short vowels are mostly left unwritten and the reader has to supply them.
• Letters can have 4 different shapes. These depend upon where they are found in a word.

Persian writing cont.
• There is no difference between capital & lowercase.
• Persian is always written in cursive.
• Persian is written from right to left. Books are read from the “back” to the “front”.
• This script is used in many languages (with some modifications) —Arabic, Urdu, Kurdish, Ottoman
Turkish, Punjabi (in Pakistan), Kashmiri

Hello

Worksheet: practice writing salaam

Hello
ملاس
ملاس
____________________________
____________________________

Numbers
1 yek
۱
2 do
۲
3 se
۳
4 chahar
۴

Worksheet: practice writing the numbers

1 yek
۱
۱
____
3 se
۳
۳
____
2 do
۲
۲
___
4 chahar
۴
۴
____

Numbers, Colors & Persian Tile!

Resources
20 Popular English Words with Persian Origin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ9QY3IRbR8

Additional language slides

My name is . . .
Man ……. hastam

What is your name?
Esme shoma chiye?

A very short conversation
A: My name is … What is your name?
B: My name is …
A: man ……. Hastam.Esme shoma chiye?
B: man …….. Hastam.

yellow

orange

blue
یبآ

green

Worksheet: practice writing colors