Persian Handwriting (book and interactive CD set) is designed to introduce the Persian script to students whose native languages are written in the Latin alphabet. This systematic approach is presented in step-by-step instructions for copying the standard written style of the language. Models are provided to help students learn how to recognise and mimic the relative size and shape of letters and words. Legibility in Persian handwriting is the main instructional objective of "Persian Handwriting". Elements of legible writing are described and illustrated in various exercises and contexts. The text calls the students' attention to correct letter formation, consistency in the spacing of letters and words, good alignment, and other characteristics of the script conforming to generally accepted practices and rules for writing the language. The introductory chapters are intended to give the reader some background information on the history and development of the writing systems employed in recording the Persian language. The subsequent chapters provide explanations of the techniques and procedures of writing Persian, accompanied by various types of writing exercises.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Mehdi Marashi, Ph.D. has taught Persian (Farsi) at the University of Utah, the University of California, Berkeley and the Monterey Language Institute.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Overpriced and not very useful,
By
This review is from: Persian Handwriting (Book and Interactive computer disk) (Paperback)
I bought this book expecting to learn how to write nasta'liq. I succeeded to a certain degree, but no thanks to this book, which is highly flawed and which I cannot recommend to any fellow student (and certainly not for $40!) Problems abound:
1. Examples of handwriting are almost always given without any printed equivalent. If you cannot puzzle out what the author has written, and there is no picture to give you a hint about what the word should be, then you are out of luck. Which leads into the next complaint ... 2. The pedagogical examples are hard to read and in some cases plain old ugly --- not the ideal model for the student. Many appear to have been scanned at a very low resolution --- the individual pixels are even visible to the naked eye! 3. The author seems unclear as to what level of student he is trying to reach. Many examples require knowledge of Farsi: you'll see a picture of a book with "kitab" handwritten underneath it, but if you didn't happen to know that word in Farsi, you'd have no idea what letters the author was trying to write. However, much of the book is also filled with introductory material having very little to do with "Persian Handwriting," the purported topic --- for example, 30 pages teaching you the letters of the alphabet (in printed form) and how they connect to each other, and another 20 discussing spelling conventions. Nice to know, but not the reason I paid money for this book. 4. The book is highly unfocused in its content. Beyond the problems discussed above, the author also devotes many pages to famous historical examples of Persian calligraphy. They are indeed quite pretty, but we introductory students have no hope of being able to imitate them (or indeed to look at them as anything but pretty pictures) --- and you'll be no closer to being able to imitate them after you finish this book. 5. The attached "software" (really something along the lines of a PowerPoint or HyperCard presentation) has absolutely NOTHING to do with teaching you nasta'liq. Don't buy this product expecting the software would include animations showing you how your hand should move as you write each letter, or comparisons of written and handwritten form, or anything else --- all you get is a basic tutorial introducing you to the alphabet in it printed form (aimed at someone who cannot read whatsoever), recorded pronunciation of vocabulary words, and a few low-resolution pictures of calligraphy which you could find on the Internet. To make it clear: there is NO discussion of "Persian Handwriting" whatsoever in the included software.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
On second thoughts...,
By
This review is from: Persian Handwriting (Book and Interactive computer disk) (Paperback)
This is a flawed book, as another reviewer has stated. When I received it from Amazon, I was extremely disappointed. Nothing was explained, and it appeared to be of little or no use. However, once my study of Persian had progressed so that I had acquired a reasonable (if small) vocabulary and some confidence, I went back to this book. Working painstakingly through it, writing my own transliterations and translations in the margins (which, unforgiveably the author did not do), I found that it was indeed useful for developing an understanding of Persian handwritten script, and also for developing my own writing. The CD that comes with it is very useful - for putting your coffee cup on while reading the book. To sum up, buy this book once you have worked through your first couple of "teach yourself" books, and once you altready have a sound grasp of printed Persian script. PS. I have now removed my recommendation that the publisher of this book should be shot, as my contribution to reversing the world trend to greater violence and intolerance.
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