May 8th, 2013by leyla

Lesson 33: A Dialogue between Leyla and Her Mother

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here
to listen.


Sour Cherries. Photo by Mohammad Nick. See more of his beautiful photos of Iran here .

Lesson 33 features a dialogue between Leyla and her mother.

LESSON 33 BONUS MATERIALS:

COMING SOON!

March 4th, 2013by leyla

Lesson 32: A Dialogue between Leyla and Aunt Farnaz

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here
to listen.


Persian Roses. Photo by Mohammad Nick. See more of his beautiful photos of Iran here .

Lesson 32 features a dialogue between Leyla and her Aunt Farnaz.

LESSON 32 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:



February 12th, 2013by leyla

Lesson 31: A Dialogue between Matt and Leyla

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here
to listen.

Lesson 31 features a dialogue between Matt and Leyla.

LESSON 31 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:



November 17th, 2012by leyla

Lesson 30: Review of Unit 3

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here
to listen.

Lesson 30 is a review of all that we learned in Unit 3!

LESSON 30 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

October 1st, 2012by leyla

Lesson 29: More Present Continuous and Imperatives (!)

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click
here
to listen.

Lesson 29 teaches how to emphasize the present continuous tense and how to form imperative statements.

LESSON 29 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

September 10th, 2012by leyla

Lesson 28: Habitual Actions

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click
here
to listen.


Photo credit: Unknown

Lesson 28 teaches how to talk about habitual actions.

LESSON 28 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

August 22nd, 2012by leyla

Lesson 27: Present Continuous Tense

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click
here
to listen.

Lesson 27 teaches the present continuous tense.

LESSON 27 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

July 23rd, 2012by leyla

Lesson 26: Prepositions

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click
here
to listen.


Photo by Ali Majdfar, who has created one of the most comprehensive photo galleries of Iran. More of his work can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/people/persia-majdfar/

Lesson 26 teaches prepositions.

LESSON 26 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

July 10th, 2012by leyla

Presenting our video about ‘Tarof’!

Please enjoy!

June 16th, 2012by leyla

Lesson 25: Compound Verbs

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here to listen.

Lesson 25 teaches compound verbs.

LESSON 25 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:



June 1st, 2012by leyla

Lesson 24: The Concept of ‘Ezafé’

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here to listen.

Lesson 24 goes over the concept of ‘ezafe,’ which will allow you to communicate many things in the Persian language, including adjectives.

LESSON 24 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:



April 3rd, 2012by leyla

Lesson 23: The Simple Past Tense

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here to listen.

Photo credit: Temsy Chen

Lesson 23 goes over the simple past tense, including how to talk about what you did over the last weekend.

LESSON 23 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:



March 18th, 2012by leyla

Presenting our first video for Nowruz 1391!

This video goes through some of the vocabulary associated with the Persian New Year, called Nowruz. Also, for the first time, see Matt and Leyla in action! As always, PLEASE ENJOY.

Also, here’s the write up we did of for Nowruz last year, with more key vocabulary for the season-

It’s almost time for Norooz, the most important holiday in the Iranian culture. This holiday marks the beginning of the Persian calendar and occurs every year at the exact moment that spring starts. This year, it will occur on March 20, 2011 at exactly 6:21 central time in the United States, and the corresponding times around the world. It occurs at the same moment everywhere on earth, at the exact moment the earth enters the vernal equinox. However, we won’t be celebrating 2011 in Iran, we will be celebrating 1390, signifying the number of years after the birth date of Mohammad.

There’s a lot to be said about Norooz, which originated as a Zoroastrian festival, the oldest religion of Iran. We’re going to focus less on that and instead we will go over the traditions and fesitivities of Norooz, and learn a few key words that you can use!

So first of all, the word ‘no-rooz’ itself has a word you should recognize in there.  We learned the word rooz in episode 3- it means ‘day.’   means ‘new,’ so combined they form ‘new day.’

The first thing we should learn is how to say ‘Happy Norooz’, which in Persian is norooz mobārak!

Another way to say ‘Happy Norooz’ is aidé shomā mobārak.

Norooz first starts with the tradition of chāhār shanbé sooree. We’ll learn in a later lesson that chāhār shanbé means Wednesday.  Soor means celebration or party, so this refers to the night before the last Wednesday of the year. This is a festival of light winning over darkness and also goes back to Zoroastrianism. In this night, fires are lit, and people jump over the fires saying the phrase zardiyé man az tō, sorkhié tō az man to the fire. This means, I will give you, the fire, my yellowness, or my paleness and my sickness, and you, fire, give me your redness, meaning your strength and vitality.

Another important preparation leading up to the New Year is the tradition of khooné takoonee. Khooné is the word for house, and this phrase literally means ‘shaking of the house.’  During the few weeks before new years, Iranians work hard at making sure the house is impeccably clean. Not only is everything cleaned, but everything is organized, anything old or unused is gotten rid of, all the rugs are washed, and so on.  In general, norooz is all about rebirth and renewal, which goes along with the spirit of spring. In addition to complete cleaning of the house, new clothing is purchased. At the moment of new years, everything you are wearing must be new right down to your socks and underwear!

Now let’s get to one of the funnest parts of norooz, the haft seen table. We did the numbers a couple of lessons ago. Haft means seven and seen is the letter ‘s’ in the Persian alphabet. So this stands for a  table on which seven items are placed, all beginning with the letter s. You could say that this is our version of the Christmas tree, and it is the centerpiece of symbolism for norooz. Let’s go through the seven most common items!

Seeb- Seeb means apple. This symbolizes beauty and health.

Seer- Garlic, represents medicine and good health.

Serké- Vinegar, represents age and patience.

Somāgh- Somagh has the sound ‘gh’ in there we will be learning in a future lesson. Don’t worry about that for now. Somagh is the spice called sumac in English, and it represent the color of sunrise.

Senjed- This is something you might not have heard of before, the dried fruit of the oleaster tree. Apparently it symbolizes love.

Sabzé- This is one of the most iconic parts of the table. A couple of weeks before norooz, Iranians set dishes of sprouts, of either barley, wheat, or lentils and it grows into a sort of grass that is placed as the centerpiece of the table. The sabzé represents rebirth.

Samanu- This is a sweet pudding made from wheat germ, and it represents sweetness and affluence.

So there we have it, the seven seens, seeb, seer, serkeh, somagh, senjed, sabzé, samanoo.   Other important items are usually placed on the table as well, such as a goldfish, representing life, and hyacinth flowers, representing rebirth and life as well, decorated eggs, representing fertility, and more.

Another exciting part of Norooz is Hāji Firuz. Hāji Firuz is a character that wears a red costume and sings and dances with a tambourine in the street to herald the coming of the new year.

So the moment of Norooz is spent with dear friends and family and loved ones, and immediately afterwards, you congratulate everyone around you on the new year. And then begins the lovely tradition of deed o bāz deed. This literally means, ‘to see and see again’.  Norooz lasts 13 days, and during this time, all your friends and family must come visit you at your house, and you in turn must go visit them at their respective houses. Generally, you visit elders first, and then they in turn will come to visit and be hosted by you!

The thirteenth day of Norooz is called sizdah bedar. This day must be spent entirely outside in the park with a family picnic, often accompanied by music and dancing.  At the end of the day, the sabzee, which as we learned before is the wheatgrass centerpiece of the haft seen table, is knotted with wishes and dreams, and thrown into the river, to be recycled into a life form again!

There’s so so much more to this wonderful holiday, but we will leave you with this for now. Thanks to google, if you need any more information, it’s just a click away!

Hope you are all having a good ending of winter and entering of the spring season and AIDÉ SHOMĀ MOBĀRAK!

February 6th, 2012by leyla

Lesson 22: The verb ‘To Have’

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here to listen.

Lesson 22 is all about the verb ‘to have,’ which will come in handy very soon in our upcoming grammar lessons.

LESSON 22 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

January 6th, 2012by leyla

Lesson 21: The verb ‘To Be’

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

don’t have flash? click here here to listen.

Lesson 21 is the first lesson in Unit 3 of Chai and Conversation! In this unit, we will be going over the fundamentals of grammar of the Persian language! This entire lesson is devoted to the verb ‘to be,’ and its many different forms.

LESSON 21 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

December 23rd, 2011by leyla

Lesson 20: Review of Unit 2

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 20, we review many of the topics we learned in lessons 11 through 19.

LESSON 20 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

December 8th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 19: How to Talk About Love and Friendship

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 19, we learn how to talk about love and friendship.

LESSON 19 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

November 12th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 18: How to Talk About the Time and Weather

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 18, we learn how to talk about the weather, and how to tell what time it is.

LESSON 18 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

October 29th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 17: How to Describe Things (Includes List of All the Colors)

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

Photo credit: Alan Radvinksy

In Lesson 17, we learn how to describe things, and go over the list of all the colors.

LESSON 17 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

October 13th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 16: How to Talk More About Food and Specific Persian Meals

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

Photo credit: Azita M Tumeric and Saffron food blog

In Lesson 16, we learn more about meal times in the Persian culture, as well as popular foods to eat during each of those mealtimes. In addition, we have a continuation of the dialogue of Matt visiting his in-laws on a Saturday afternoon.

LESSON 16 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

September 29th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 15: How to Talk to People in a Formal Manner, and More on Hosting and Being Hosted

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 15, we talk more about the formal ‘you’ and listen to a dialogue of Matt visiting his In-Laws on a Saturday afternoon. We also learn some more vocabulary pertaining to hosting.

LESSON 15 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

August 18th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 14: How to Talk About Places Around Town

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 14, we learn vocabulary for places around town. We also learn how to speak about possession.

LESSON 14 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

August 4th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 13: How to Host or Be Hosted (especially when it involves chai)

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 13, we learn vocabulary that you will need to know when being hosted or when hosting others, including the names of different drinks you might be offered.

LESSON 13 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

July 15th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 12: More numbers, and the Months, Days and Seasons

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 12, we learn how to construct numbers. Also, we learn the names of the months, days, and seasons.

LESSON 12 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

June 9th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 11: How to Speak About the Languages You Know

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 11, we learn how to talk about languages we know, and to convey how much of a language we can speak or understand.

LESSON 11 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

June 3rd, 2011by leyla

Lesson 10: Review of Unit 1!

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

This is the last lesson in ‘Unit 1′ of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation. In this lesson, we review all the materials learned before, and learn some extra vocabulary that will help you to communicate effectively in the Persian language! Congratulations on reaching the end of ‘Unit 1′!

LESSON 10 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

May 27th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 9: How to Use Question Words, More Family Vocabulary, and a Few Filler Words and Phrases

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In Lesson 9, we learn more more words for extended family members, and we go over the ‘question words’ in the Persian language. Also, we will clarify some of the words and phrases we have learned in past lessons.

LESSON 9 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

May 9th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 8: How to Talk About Your Likes and Dislikes

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, you learn to talk about your likes and dislikes. Also, we will be learning the Persian sound ‘gh’.

LESSON 8 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

April 27th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 7: How to Talk About Your Job and Where You Work

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, you learn how to talk about your job, say where you work, and whether or not you like your job.

LESSON 7 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following:

April 17th, 2011by leyla

R.I.P. Legendary Designer Bijan

The legendary Beverly Hills designer known simply as Bijan died today at the age of 67. He owned what was known as ‘the most expensive store in the world’ on Beverly Hills drive, a store open by appointment only. In his many years as a fashion designer in the United States, designed clothes for some of the most powerful men in the world (including Barack Obama and several other sitting presidents).

He was known to many Iranians as one of the first Iranian-Americans to strike it big in the United States. He opened his store on Beverly Hills in 1976 and almost immediately became an international success. I remember as a young immigrant to the United States, every time I would see ‘Bijan’ perfume in stores, I would point it out, get excited, and have that vague feeling that the “American Dream” was possible. R.I.P. Bijan, you will be missed.

April 14th, 2011by leyla

Kayhan Kalhor and His Beautiful Compositions

If you listened to lesson six, you heard our exercise of counting from one through ten set to some beautiful rhythmic background music. The background music was composed by none other than Kayhan Kalhor, a world renowned Persian classical musician, specializing in the Persian instrument, kamanche.

Two weeks ago on Public Radio Interntional’s program, The World, there was a story about an Iranian-American musician who learned to play the kamanche by watching videos of Kalhor playing on YouTube, pointing out how with the internet, we don’t have to be in direct contact with the source or in any particular location to learn from the best.

Learn more about Kalhor and the kamanche by reading or listening to the story here.

Also, here are a couple of clips of Kalhor and the kamanche. Enjoy!

April 8th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 6: How to Talk More About Your Family, and How to Count to Ten

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, we expand on introducing family members to others, and we also learn how to count to ten! Also, we introduce a special guest at the end of the program.

LESSON 6 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

April 2nd, 2011by leyla

Elizabeth Taylor in Iran

Elizabeth Taylor was as much an iconic figure in Iran as she was everywhere else in the world. During the Shah’s time especially, she was revered as the prime example of beauty and elegance. She was also a bold figure unafraid of pushing boundaries and breaking stereotypes. To this end, she went on a spontaneous journey to Iran with a young photographer named Firooz Zahedi in 1976. Having recently graduated with a degree in art, Zahedi accompanied Taylor through several cities in Iran, including Persepolis, Shiraz, and Esfahan, photographing their adventure along the way. Over three dozen of the works are now being displayed in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.


Zahedi himself presents the works in the following YouTube video:

March 31st, 2011by leyla

‘Tarof’ on This American Life

One of the most important traditions in Iranian culture is the tradition of ‘Tarof.’ Tarof can be described as a specific form of Iranian etiquette or politeness, and comes with a very specific set of rules of how to interact with other people. Sometimes it can be extremely frustrating and seem disingenuous, but at other times, it provides a nice framework of how to interact with other people in an extremely polite and respectful way. A good example of tarof is that when you visit someone’s house, they must offer you something to eat or drink. Even if you are extremely thirsty or hungry, you must refuse the offer. They in turn must keep reinstating the offer, and indeed bring you food and drink, even if they are not prepared to give it to you.

This American Life is one of the best radio programs in the United States, airing on public radio throughout the states. They tackled the tradition of tarof a couple weeks ago in their program. As their program description stated-

“Nazanin Rafsanjani [speaks] about the Iranian custom Tarof, which leads people to constantly offer things they may not want to give, and to refuse things they really want. Nazanin is a producer for the public radio show On The Media

You can listen to Nazanin’s report here (the entire program is interesting, but to hear the part on Tarof specifically, fast forward to 34:30 minutes)-

March 25th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 5: How to Talk About Your Family, and Introduce Their Names

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, we learn the words for members of your immediate family, and learn how to introduce your family members to other people. We finish off the lesson by learning how to introduce the names of your family members to others.

LESSON 5 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please select from the following options:

March 23rd, 2011by leyla

A Delicious Persian New Year Dish

Najmieh Batmanglij made a guest appearance on the Martha Stewart Show to share a recipe for a homemade meal of lamb shanks made with rice and fava beans (baghali polo). Batmanglij has been the most influential voice for Persian cooking (or as the Washington Post put it “the guru of Persian Cuisine”) for the past 30 years. A copy of her book, “New Food of Life,” a comprehensive tome that not only lists recipes for most Persian dishes, but manages to also celebrate and integrate Persian art, tapestry, poetry and storytelling, can be found in the homes of many second generation Iranians living outside of Iran.

Watch a clip of the show here.

Buy a copy of the NEW Food of Life here.

March 18th, 2011by leyla

Happy Norooz to all!

It’s almost time for Norooz, the most important holiday in the Iranian culture. This holiday marks the beginning of the Persian calendar and occurs every year at the exact moment that spring starts. This year, it will occur on March 20, 2011 at exactly 6:21 central time in the United States, and the corresponding times around the world. It occurs at the same moment everywhere on earth, at the exact moment the earth enters the vernal equinox. However, we won’t be celebrating 2011 in Iran, we will be celebrating 1390, signifying the number of years after the birth date of Mohammad.

There’s a lot to be said about Norooz, which originated as a Zoroastrian festival, the oldest religion of Iran. We’re going to focus less on that and instead we will go over the traditions and fesitivities of Norooz, and learn a few key words that you can use!

So first of all, the word ‘no-rooz’ itself has a word you should recognize in there.  We learned the word rooz in episode 3- it means ‘day.’   means ‘new,’ so combined they form ‘new day.’

The first thing we should learn is how to say ‘Happy Norooz’, which in Persian is norooz mobārak!

Another way to say ‘Happy Norooz’ is aidé shomā mobārak.

Norooz first starts with the tradition of chāhār shanbé sooree. We’ll learn in a later lesson that chāhār shanbé means Wednesday.  Soor means celebration or party, so this refers to the night before the last Wednesday of the year. This is a festival of light winning over darkness and also goes back to Zoroastrianism. In this night, fires are lit, and people jump over the fires saying the phrase zardiyé man az tō, sorkhié tō az man to the fire. This means, I will give you, the fire, my yellowness, or my paleness and my sickness, and you, fire, give me your redness, meaning your strength and vitality.

Another important preparation leading up to the New Year is the tradition of khooné takoonee. Khooné is the word for house, and this phrase literally means ‘shaking of the house.’  During the few weeks before new years, Iranians work hard at making sure the house is impeccably clean. Not only is everything cleaned, but everything is organized, anything old or unused is gotten rid of, all the rugs are washed, and so on.  In general, norooz is all about rebirth and renewal, which goes along with the spirit of spring. In addition to complete cleaning of the house, new clothing is purchased. At the moment of new years, everything you are wearing must be new right down to your socks and underwear!

Now let’s get to one of the funnest parts of norooz, the haft seen table. We did the numbers a couple of lessons ago. Haft means seven and seen is the letter ‘s’ in the Persian alphabet. So this stands for a  table on which seven items are placed, all beginning with the letter s. You could say that this is our version of the Christmas tree, and it is the centerpiece of symbolism for norooz. Let’s go through the seven most common items!

Seeb- Seeb means apple. This symbolizes beauty and health.

Seer- Garlic, represents medicine and good health.

Serké- Vinegar, represents age and patience.

Somāgh- Somagh has the sound ‘gh’ in there we will be learning in a future lesson. Don’t worry about that for now. Somagh is the spice called sumac in English, and it represent the color of sunrise.

Senjed- This is something you might not have heard of before, the dried fruit of the oleaster tree. Apparently it symbolizes love.

Sabzé- This is one of the most iconic parts of the table. A couple of weeks before norooz, Iranians set dishes of sprouts, of either barley, wheat, or lentils and it grows into a sort of grass that is placed as the centerpiece of the table. The sabzé represents rebirth.

Samanu- This is a sweet pudding made from wheat germ, and it represents sweetness and affluence.

So there we have it, the seven seens, seeb, seer, serkeh, somagh, senjed, sabzé, samanoo.   Other important items are usually placed on the table as well, such as a goldfish, representing life, and hyacinth flowers, representing rebirth and life as well, decorated eggs, representing fertility, and more.

Another exciting part of Norooz is Hāji Firuz. Hāji Firuz is a character that wears a red costume and sings and dances with a tambourine in the street to herald the coming of the new year.

So the moment of Norooz is spent with dear friends and family and loved ones, and immediately afterwards, you congratulate everyone around you on the new year. And then begins the lovely tradition of deed o bāz deed. This literally means, ‘to see and see again’.  Norooz lasts 13 days, and during this time, all your friends and family must come visit you at your house, and you in turn must go visit them at their respective houses. Generally, you visit elders first, and then they in turn will come to visit and be hosted by you!

The thirteenth day of Norooz is called sizdah bedar. This day must be spent entirely outside in the park with a family picnic, often accompanied by music and dancing.  At the end of the day, the sabzee, which as we learned before is the wheatgrass centerpiece of the haft seen table, is knotted with wishes and dreams, and thrown into the river, to be recycled into a life form again!

There’s so so much more to this wonderful holiday, but we will leave you with this for now. Thanks to google, if you need any more information, it’s just a click away!

Hope you are all having a good ending of winter and entering of the spring season and AIDÉ SHOMĀ MOBĀRAK!

February 7th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 4: How to Say Where You Live, and Answer Simple Questions

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, we review all past lesson materials. Then we learn how to say where we live (and if it’s different than where we are from), and how to answer some simple questions.

LESSON 4 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please select from the following options:

January 21st, 2011by leyla

Lesson 3: How to Introduce Where You are From, and Introducing the Different forms of You

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, we learn the different forms of you, formal and informal. In addition, we build on learning how to introduce yourself, including asking where others are from, and how to answer where you are from.

LESSON 3 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following:

January 14th, 2011by leyla

Our Theme Music

Fared Shafinury in Iran

So many people have written us asking about our wonderful theme music. It’s a great little piece, an original composition by Fared Shafinury, one of the most talented musicians in the Iranian community. You can check out his music on his webpage. He will be providing more music for the podcast in the future, and is releasing his first full length album sometime this year. We will keep you posted!

January 13th, 2011by leyla

Lesson 2: How to Greet People at Different Times of Day, Say Goodbye, and Introduce Yourself

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click here to listen.

In this lesson, we build on the last lesson, and learn how to greet people during different times of the day, several forms of the word goodbye, and how to introduce yourself.

LESSON 2 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

December 28th, 2010by leyla

Lesson 1: How to Greet People and Ask How They’re Doing

Listen Now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have flash? Click  here to listen.

Salam, and welcome to our first-ever lesson of Chai and Conversation!

In this lesson, we learn one of the most important things in any language – how to greet people and ask them how they are doing. In addition, there will be a short introduction to the teacher, Leyla Shams, and the student, Matt Bourneuf.

LESSON 1 BONUS MATERIALS:
(For more information, and to download sample bonus materials, see how this works. )

Please choose from the following options:

December 26th, 2010by leyla

Why ‘Persian’, Not ‘Farsi’?

There is an ongoing debate in the Iranian and academic communities as to whether you should use ‘Persian’ or ‘Farsi’ to refer to the language in English. It’s not a simple issue of To-may-to vs. To-mah-to: the reasons for using the term ‘Persian’ when speaking in English are based on history and precedent. Here’s an excerpt from the Persian Language wikipedia entry on the topic (emphasis ours):

English Nomenclature

Persian, the more widely used name of the language in English, is an Anglicized form derived from Latin *Persianus [...] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term Persian seems to have been first used in English in the mid-16th century. Native Persian speakers call it “Pārsi” (local name) or Fārsi. Fārsi is the arabicized form of Parsi, due to a lack of the ‘p’ phoneme in Standard Arabic. In English, this language is historically known as “Persian”, though some Persian-speakers migrating to the West continued to use “Farsi” to identify their language in English and the word gained some currency in English-speaking countries. “Farsi” is encountered in some linguistic literature as a name for the language, used both by Iranian and by foreign authors. According to the OED, the term Farsi was first used in English in the mid-20th century.  The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has declared that the name “Persian” is more appropriate, as it has the longer tradition in the western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity.

M. R. Ghanoonparvar, a Professor of Persian and Comparative Literature at U.T. Austin, has also compared using the word ‘Farsi’ as if you were to say ‘Español’ in place of ‘Spanish’ when speaking in English, or ‘deutsch’ for ‘German’.

We recognize that language is fluid, but on Chai & Conversation, we will refer to the language as “Persian” for consistency. At this point though, “Farsi” has entered into the common lexicon for better or for worse.

December 19th, 2010by leyla

Salaam, Welcome to the site!

Welcome to Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, the podcast for anyone trying to learn conversational Persian.

With Chai and Conversation you will be learning conversational Persian in weekly lessons of about 15 minutes each.  If you’ve been trying to learn Persian, you will have noticed that there is a such a lack of effective learning materials, especially if your goal is to learn informal Persian.  The point of this podcast is to teach you Persian in a fun and casual manner so that you can quickly begin using it in conversation.

We will begin with spoken Persian only, and in the future, if there is enough interest, we will add lessons for written Persian as well.

Please help support us by checking out and purchasing the  supplemental learning materials that go with each lesson.  Producing these podcasts is time intensive and costly, so any support would be much appreciated!

We are developing this program as we go along, so any comments or suggestions you have would be much appreciated.  Please use our contact form to write us directly.  We look forward to hearing from you, and welcome to Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!