Reading, writing Farsi.

[i_like_bats]

This might be a stupid question but how hard is it to learn to read and write Farsi? I understand it perfectly- anything anyone says I'm good. Songs are a little trickier but I figure it out heh. My dad spoke it to me my entire childhood (I'm half Turkish so my mom spoke Turkish and for the longest time I didn't think my parents could understand

Comments

[yasaman]

Just when I stop by this community there's a post that is relevant to my interests, heh!

Anyway, I took two semesters of Persian for native speakers at UC Berkeley, which was basically just a crash course in reading and writing, and didn't find it too difficult. It's a steep learning curve with getting used to a new alphabet, and you should just kind of resign yourself to having the reading comprehension of a slow fourth grader for a while, but it's not so hard. I'm taking a Persian lit class now, and at this point it's just a matter of further building up my vocabulary.

I'd recommend it, as it's a pretty rewarding experience if you're willing to put a bit of work into it. And you can impress your parents by reciting poetry and stuff.

[i_like_bats]

Okay I'll probably go ahead and do it. I know my dad would get all sappily happy haha. Thanks for your help!

[wiped]

it should be very easy. i was able to teach a friend who was in the same position as you (fluent speaker but never learned to read/write) to read and write persian in just a couple of hours one afternoon. while taking a class would probably be the easiest way to learn, you could always ask a relative to teach you (if they're around) or use easypersian.com which has very simple, easy-to-follow lessons with which you could teach yourself.

by the way, the name of the language in english is persian, not "farsi," just like how in english your mother probably says she speaks turkish, not "türkçe."

[i_like_bats]

Yeah I was a little hesitant writing that because I wasn't really sure which was the proper term since I never said it English, thanks for letting me know.

[pne]

I imagine that learning to read is easier than learning to write? (As with most not-completely-phonemic writing systems, really.)

[wiped]

for some reason, LJ keeps eating my responses to you

[picnicbird]

Out of curiosity, how did your boyfriend teach himself Turkish? While learning it in a year is a distant dream to me, I'd be interested to know if he took actual classes or, if not, what books/sites he used.

[i_like_bats]

He started with those programs like Rosetta Stone and then he took classes and came and did a semester at a university there and then last year stayed in Turkey for a while and worked there. He also watches soap opera a lot. A LOT. It's kind of funny, but hey it helps.

[bugtilaheh]

taught himself to read Cyrillic and Greek (though he doesn't understand what he's reading).

That isn't a hard task, really. :P I taught myself how to "read" Cyrillic and Greek in less than a year. Though I don't understand either language unless a familiar cognate pops up and/or a few words/phrases here and there.

[i_like_bats]

I'm still impressed :)

By you too.