Colloquial Persian: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series (CD)) [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Leila Moshiri (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0415157501 | ISBN-13: 978-0415157506 | Edition: 2

This new edition of Colloquial Persian offers an up-to-date, step-by-step approach to the written and spoken language of Iran, also known as Farsi. Written by an experienced teacher of the language, it is ideal for beginners, and also highlights important cultural aspects of communicating in Persian.
Learning to read and write Persian script is made as easy as possible. For those who wish to learn to speak Persian without studying the script, Romanization is included throughout.
Other features include:
* exercises with full answer key
* concise grammar explanations
* lively dialogues with essential everyday vocabulary
* Persian-English and English-Persian glossaries
These two 60-minute cassettes accompany the Colloquial Persian book and will help perfect your pronunciation and comprehension skills.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Persian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Abdi Rafiee has more than 30 years' experience of teaching Persian. He is also a freelance interpreter and translator.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (November 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415157501
• ISBN-13: 978-0415157506
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,271,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > More Languages > Farsi

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introductory Persian lesson book., August 18, 2002

By 

Zeno - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colloquial Persian The Complete Course for Beginners (With cassette) (Colloquial Series) (Paperback)

This is better than Thackston's "An Introduction to Persian", which can be forbidding for beginners. It differs from Thackston in that it's emphasis is on spoken Persian rather than written Persian. However, having said that, neither book really does much to teach you how to read or write. They should be viewed more as refreshers and practice guides. Also, Rafiee's book comes with a key to the exercises and a cassette to aid in pronunciation, which Thackston's book lacks.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A GOOD IDEA BUT POORLY DONE, October 12, 2002

By 

Bob (DALLAS, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colloquial Persian The Complete Course for Beginners (With cassette) (Colloquial Series) (Paperback)

After having bought several Persian self help books(most were of the literary form of Persian), this was a welcome attempt to fill the gap with the colloquial form. The only other colloquial book I have seen of merit is also from Rutledge publishers, but writen in roman transliteration. However, this new book written with Farsi script sadly falls into the same traps as many other language self help books, by constantly introducing new grammatical forms and vocabulary before explaining them; causing the reader to stop and try to look up an explaination somewhere else in the book- very frustrating.
Also, it give too much emphasis on slangy social etiquette forms early in the book used in meeting, greeting, introductions, etc. which also create frustrations when an adult learner tries to analize their structures grammatically.
Also, the vocabulary at end of book is not consistant with the words given in exercises, especially the English-Persian half.
Tapes are adecuate, thank goodness, and the whole set being the only "game in town"(using Farsi script colloquially),gives the nod to this purchase until someone else comes alone with a better version.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars pretty good introduction, February 11, 2004

By 

montoo (Penna) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Colloquial Persian The Complete Course for Beginners (With cassette) (Colloquial Series) (Paperback)

this is a decent introduction to spoken and written modern Farsi. I really did like it.
My two points of contention is that the written, atleast in the beginning and with the vocabulary does NOT include the vowel marks, i felt it would be more useful if all vocab and sentences in the first few chapters utilized vowel marks. makes life a tad bit easier.
I ended up not even focusing on the written and JUST used the book for the spoken

my other point of contention is that
they use the letter "x" for the "kh" sound, which is fairly gutterial...i felt it was alittle confusing.

This book teaches you both the polite spoken based more on the written (people will think ur really cute!) and slowly introduces alittle of the actual way its spoken (sound changes and whatnot)

but overall a really good book and introduction