Synopsis
Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation teaches you conversational Persian in a fun and casual manner in weekly lessons of about 15-20 minutes each. Check out our website chaiandconversation.com for more information.
Episodes
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Speak Lesson 10 | Review of Unit 1!
03/06/2011 Duration: 18minThis 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′! The bonus materials of this lesson include exercises in which you can review your knowledge of what we've learned so far.
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Speak Lesson 9 | How to Use Question Words, More Family Vocabulary, and a Few Filler Words and Phrases
27/05/2011 Duration: 14minIn Iranian culture, family is extremely important. Instead of having just one Persian word for 'aunt' for instance, we have two- there is a different word for the sister of your father (amé) versus the sister of your mother (khālé). So when referring to one or the other, people know exactly whether you are speaking of your maternal or paternal aunt. Similarly, while there is only one word for 'cousin', in Persian there are eight different words for cousin depending on whether they are female or male, or whether they are on your mother or father's side of the family. This might seem complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it makes figuring out who a given person is referring to quite easy! In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we go over all the different words for extended family. These will be very useful when talking to Iranians, because, as we've said, family is extremely important in Iranian culture. In addition, we learn the most important question words to help you form useful questions when having conv
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Speak Lesson 8 | How to Talk About Your Likes and Dislikes
09/05/2011 Duration: 16minIn this Persian (Farsi) lesson, you learn to talk about your likes and dislikes. Also, we will be learning the Persian sound ‘gh’. There are two sounds in the Persian language that you don't hear in English. The first is the sound 'kh' heard in words such as 'khoobam'- we went over this in Lesson 1. The second is the sound 'gh' which we'll be going over in this lesson. We learn it specifically to learn the word for music, or museeghee in Persian. The phrases covered in this lesson will allow you to say whether or not you: like your job like chocolate like nature like sports like music Or, whether you like specific figures such as Charlie Chaplin. In order to learn how to say that you like a specific person, we have to learn about the 'direct object marker', the sound rā which has no direct translation in the English language. We also go over talking about what you like to do. The phrases we learn with regard to this are: I like to watch movies I like to read books I like to exercise I like to eat chocolate I
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Speak Lesson 7 | How to Talk About Your Job and Where You Work
27/04/2011 Duration: 14minIn this Persian (Farsi) lesson, you learn how to talk about your job, say where you work, and whether or not you like your job. We learn vocabulary for a long list of jobs, including: student engineer lawyer writer architect accountant cook waiter dentist pilot artist We then learn how to combine these words into the phrase saying what we do and asking others what they do for a living. Again, very useful phrases for making casual conversation with others to get to know them better. We also learn how to say whether or not we like our jobs, and to ask others if they like their jobs as well. We then learn the vocabulary for different places you could work. These include: Restaurant Hospital Factory Office Not all people work, however. So we also learn the following Persian phrases: I work I don't work I am jobless I am retired
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Speak Lesson 6 | How to Talk More About Your Family, and How to Count to Ten
08/04/2011 Duration: 15minIn this Persian (Farsi) language lesson, we expand on introducing family members to others, and we also learn how to count to ten in Persian! Also, we introduce a special guest at the end of the program. If you need a quick reference, the vocabulary for counting from one to ten in Persian is: yek - one dō - two sé - three chāhār (chār for short) - four panj - five sheesh - six haft - seven hasht - eight noh - nine dah - ten
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Speak Lesson 5 | How to Talk About Your Family, and Introduce Their Names
25/03/2011 Duration: 18minIn this Persian (Farsi) 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. We begin by learning the vocabulary words for several key members of the family in Persian. As you know, family is very important in the Persian culture, so these vocabulary words wll be more useful to you than you could imagine. The words learned in this part of the lesson include: brother sister mother father daughter son husband wife In the Persian culture, family is extremely important, and there are many many more words for specific family members than there are in English. For this reason, we'll leave the vocabulary words (yes, there are multiple multiple words) for cousin, aunt and uncle to a different lesson. We also learn how to talk about a direct relative of yours by saying phrases such as: my mother my son my daughter This is my ____________ We fin
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Speak Lesson 4 | How to Say Where You Live, and Answer Simple Questions
07/02/2011 Duration: 18minIn this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we review all past lesson materials. You'll have a chance to test out your comprehension of the vocabulary learned, and see if you're able to use the words and phrases in the correct context.We also learn the words needed to answer simple questions in the Persian language- essential when having any casual conversation! These words are: Yes (balé) Yeah- more informal (āré) No (na) 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. The phrases in this section include: I am from ___________ I am not from _________ I live in ______________ Where do you live? I am from _______________ but now I live in ______________ As always, we'll go over several potential conversations you could have using just this vocabulary.In addition, we learn that in the Persian language, it's not necessary to state the subject in the sentence. The subject is understood based on how you conjugate the verb in the sentence. For inst
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Speak Lesson 3 | How to Introduce Where You are From, and Introducing the Different forms of You
21/01/2011 Duration: 13minIn the Persian language, there are two different ways of saying 'you'- a formal version (shomā), and an informal version (tō). In this lesson, we learn both forms, and learn when it's appropriate to use them. For instance, when you're talking to a close friend or a family member close to your age, you would use the informal you, tō. When speaking with someone older than you, or someone you should show respect for, you use the formal version, shomā. Iranian culture places a high value on respect, so when in doubt, err on the side of formality. In the podcast, we talk more about this so that you are confident with your choice of which to use. In addition to the different forms of you, we go over some questions you can ask using the formal or information versions of you. These include: And you? What is your name? Another wonderful topic of conversation and good way to get to know others is by asking them where they're from. This is a great topic of conversation no matter where in the world you are. We'll learn t
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Speak Lesson 2 | How to Greet People at Different Times of Day, Say Goodbye, and Introduce Yourself
13/01/2011 Duration: 15minIn 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 in the Persian language.
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Speak Lesson 1 | How to Greet People and Ask How They're Doing
28/12/2010 Duration: 16minSalām, and welcome to the first-ever Persian (Farsi) language 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 Persian! We also learn a few simple ways to reply when asked how we're doing. In addition, there's a short introduction to the teacher, Leyla Shams, and the student, Matt Bourneuf. If you're new here, you can find out more about our comprehensive language learning program here.