Persian/Farsi Journal (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Persian/Farsi Journal
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Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

Fenn
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 4833 days ago
51 posts - 119 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian

Message 1 of 6

01 July 2012 at 10:27am | IP Logged

I got bored with Italian so im going to dabble in Persian for a month or so and see how
it goes.

Reasons for learning.
Im not entirely sure why i want to learn Persian. Its a beautiful language and the
country (not the politics) looks amazing.
I'm not entirely sure if i have ever met an Iranian, probably have but it has never
clicked. I guess its just exotic.

Materials.
At the moment i use Easy
Persian which is apparently more writing
and reading based.
I have acquired Persian Pimsleur from a friend and will be using that for speaking.

The Plan
The plan as of now is to complete persian pimsleur and to do one or 2 lessons a day of
EasyPersian depending on how much i
understand. When i feel i have a decent grasp on the pronunciation i will start using
the TowerofBabelfish method. Which is
basically Learn the pronunciation, add/learn the most 20000-5000 common words in anki,
start reading and writing getting
writing checked by natives, start speaking with natives. (easier said then done, eh.)

I will hopefully be going geeky and recording time with Excel.

If anyone reads this any suggestions will be greatly accepted.
1 person has voted this message useful

happycheeks
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 4649 days ago
57 posts - 59 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

Message 2 of 6

01 July 2012 at 11:08am | IP Logged

You have a good method. You could listen to Persian radio or watch Persian/Farsi
programmes. You may not understand everything but it's good to let your brain become use
to the sounds and speed. Listen to songs in Persian. Do fun things if you're bored with
learning a language. But anyway, I wish you good luck :)

Edited by happycheeks on 01 July 2012 at 11:08am
2 persons have voted this message useful

druckfehler
Triglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4810 days ago
1181 posts - 1912 votes

Speaks: German*, English^C2, Korean
Studies: Persian

Message 3 of 6

01 July 2012 at 1:45pm | IP Logged

Great to see a Persian log! If I ever have the time I want to resume studying it, but unfortunately it's not a top priority.

I second happycheeks. Try BBC Persian. I also studied mainly with easypersian and thought it was a great resource for learning and practicing the grammar, but sadly some of the vocabulary introduced is rather irrelevant for a beginner. Virtual Persian might also be useful, as well as the University of Texas site.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!
2 persons have voted this message useful

Fenn
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 4833 days ago
51 posts - 119 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian

Message 4 of 6

01 July 2012 at 8:26pm | IP Logged

happycheeks wrote:

You have a good method. You could listen to Persian radio or watch
Persian/Farsi
programmes. You may not understand everything but it's good to let your brain become use
to the sounds and speed. Listen to songs in Persian. Do fun things if you're bored with
learning a language. But anyway, I wish you good luck :)

Yeah audio is something im looking for. At the moment it doesnt even sound like a real
language, it just comes across as "noise" (beautiful noise, interesting noise, but still
just noise. haha)

Thanks, i think ill need it.

Edited by Fenn on 01 July 2012 at 8:28pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Fenn
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 4833 days ago
51 posts - 119 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian

Message 5 of 6

01 July 2012 at 8:32pm | IP Logged

druckfehler wrote:

Great to see a Persian log! If I ever have the time I want to
resume studying it, but unfortunately it's not a top priority.

I second happycheeks. Try BBC Persian. I also studied mainly with easypersian and
thought it was a great resource for learning and practicing the grammar, but sadly some
of the vocabulary introduced is rather irrelevant for a beginner.
Virtual
Persian might also be useful, as well as the
video/greetings/">University of Texas site.

Have fun and let us know how it goes!

Thanks. After a quick browse the University of Texas site looks fantastic and covers an
incredible amount of the language in a fairly simple looking way.

Hopefully i'll update the log a few times a month. With progress and a breakdown of how
much time im spending on the language.

Edited by Fenn on 01 July 2012 at 8:36pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Fenn
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 4833 days ago
51 posts - 119 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian

Message 6 of 6

07 July 2012 at 10:25am | IP Logged

So its been a week since i started. Im at just under 5 hours worth of learning time
(hopefully by the end of the
day ill bump it up to 6h30), not really happy with the amount of time i spent this
week, a few days i felt sick
as a dog and couldn't bring myself to do the EasyPersian lesson but its a marathon not
a sprint. I've got a
graph of how much time im spending on reading, speaking, listening and writing, ill
post that tomorrow when i
have a full seven days worth of lessons.

Right onto my thoughts of how im doing/how its working so far.

I need to spend 3 lessons on every Pimsleur lesson, one mainly listening, one mainly
understanding and one
getting to 80% (if that makes sense). I hope that will lower to at least 2 when my ear
adjusts and the language
becomes comprehensible. That seems like a million miles off right now though. haha.

My speaking is obviously terrible and its more like reciting then actual speaking. Ive
still got to make a
connection in my head between how it sounds to an English counterpart, that a lot of
times doesnt have anything
to do with the meaning of the word (for example Goodbye is xodâhâfez [lifted from
google) and in my head its
memorised by Hodorhor'face. Makes me smile and remember the word. Win/Win).

The written language is beautiful, when i can make a character look something like its
correct counterpart i
feel like an artist. I can spot the letter im looking for about 1 in 50 times but thats
when im simply looking
for a character, not looking for the character understanding its sound and "reading"
it. At least im
instinctively going from right to left when i see the arabic script.

I have started to ramble and got fairly long (shouldnt have started this at 8:30am). I
think ill have to update
more then once a week

Edited by Fenn on 07 July 2012 at 10:36am

1 person has voted this message useful

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