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Introduction to Persian Culture and Language

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Persian Speaking Countries

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Tajikistan Tajik Dialect

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Afghanistan Dari Dialect

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Iran Farsi Dialect

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Map of Iran

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

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Tehran, capital city of Iran

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Borj-e Azadi (Azadi Tower), Tehran

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Inside Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz

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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

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Persepolis, ancient capital of Persia

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An example of Persian art from the Middle Ages

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Modern Iranian women

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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) Sizdah Bedar (picnic on the 13 th day of the year) Haft Sin (traditional table setting with 7 items beginning with the Persian letter sin )

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Jumping over the bonfire on Chaharshanbe Suri

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Picnicking outdoors to celebrate Sizdah Bedar

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Haft Sin table setting

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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

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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

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Ghormeh sabzi served with polo (Iranian rice)

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fesenjoon kebabs

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tahdig ash-e reshteh

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Persian carpet workshop in Iran

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Persian calligraphy in the shapes of animals

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Persian Language

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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 espaol. 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).

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Hello Salaam

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How are you? Haletoon chetore?

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Im fine Khoobam

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Thanks Mersee

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And how are you? Shomaa chetorin?

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Goodbye! Khoda hafez

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

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Quiz How do you say: Hello Im fine Thanks Good-bye How are you?

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Now lets learn some numbers 1 yek 2 do 3 se 4 chahar

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1 yek

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2 do

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3 se

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4 chahar

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Who would like to count to 4 in Persian?

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1 yek 2 do 3 se 4 chahar

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Lets learn 4 colors

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yellow zard

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white sefid

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blue aabi

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turquoise firoozayee

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Quiz How do you say?

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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.

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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

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Hello Salaam

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Worksheet: practice writing salaam

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Hello Salaam ____________________________ ____________________________

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Numbers 1 yek 2 do 3 se 4 chahar

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Worksheet: practice writing the numbers

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1 yek ____ 2 do ___ 3 se ____ 4 chahar ____

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Numbers, Colors & Persian Tile!

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

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Additional language slides

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My name is... Man. hastam -------

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What is your name? Esme shoma chiye?

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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.

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yellow zard

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orange naaranji

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blue aabi

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green sabz

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Worksheet: practice writing colors