Customer Reviews

Accent on Afghanistan: Dari: The Language and Culture of Afghanistan [With Language Flash Cards Book and Cultural Notes Booklet]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was looking for a guide to Dari for someone with some Persian experience. That's not what I found here. Instead I found a good basic introduction to Dari with an extremely heavy military orientation. I have students who immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan. I'd like to speak with them and their parents in Dari. But I have no desire to say, "Do you have any unauthorized weapons?" or "Hands behind your back." Both of these phrases are representative of the more complex translations on the CD. There are also instances where opportunities to explain are missed. For example, there is the translation of "pistol" as "tofangcheh" immediately followed by the translation of "rifle" as "tofang." This occurs without any mention of the diminutive which might be applied to many other circumstances. On the other hand, it can only be a good thing for soldiers to read advice on how to show respect to Afghans.

this is a great product - very compact and focused on the basics of Dari langauage. it also comes with good cultural guidelines. the only thing that didn't work for me was the emphasis on military words, etc. about 1/5 of the language CD helps you learn words and phrases like, "how many guns do you have", or "i am a brigade general", etc. still, the product is packaged well, and is very easy to use. i would purchase it again.

I gave this to an acquaintance after reviewing what was in it. It has useful phrases and vocabulary, but is very basic. One would have to learn Dari grammar somewhere else or assume analogies with Farsi.

The large format of this package makes it unnecessarily bulky and the back cover was pealing off when I got it. They need to use better glue.

If you're looking for a serious introduction to the Dari language, the workings of its grammar and its relationship to Farsi/Persian, this is not for you. If you're looking for a ready store of keywords for military personnel and aid workers, on the other hand, this is a great, compact starter kit. The watchword for this kit is practicality: It comes with a set of flashcards with key words and phrases, a CD so you can hear them pronounced and drill yourself and a culture guide focused on how to stay out of trouble.

If you're serious about learning Dari, you should get your feet wet with the Pimsleur program and consider working through the Hippocrene Beginner's Dari course. But if you're headed for Afghanistan and don't have time for all that, this will give you key words to memorize on the plane and a nice selection of flashcards to carry around and review.

This is a nice little package of text and DVD. The language though is very elementary and suited to someone who knows no Dari at all rather than to someone with some experience.

Fantastic learning addition in expanding the spoken use of Dari, which is the language spoken in parts of Afghanistan.