Actually, the textbook I got is the one authored by Gernot Windfuhr (a German-born and educated professor of Iranian studies) and Hassan Tehranisa, published by the University of Michigan's Department of Near Eastern Studies (originally published in 1979, revised in 1981). Apparently they haven't revised it since then, for it is still the only one listed at the Web site of Michigan's Language Resource Center: <http://www.umich.edu/~langres/sales/flacs.html#persian>. The textbook is resolutely spartan: no attempt at all to please or entertain!
I bought it mainly because that's the only one available at the aforementioned local bookstore, but also because an Iranian friend of mine, who is a lecturer at OSU, says that I can come to his class in the fall quarter and that this is the textbook he will be using.
The Persian language is a calligrapher's dream* but a beginner's nightmare: e.g., Persians don't print letters, and all letters, except four, are always connected to those to their left! And many sets of letters are distinguished not by shape but by diacritical dots! (Thankfully, any pair of letters only distinguished by diacritcal dots are phonemically close, like the labial pair of b and p).
* Graphic design in Iran is truly remarkable: e.g., Reza Abedini <http://www.rezaabedini.com/> and Saed Meshki <http://www.saedmeshki.com/>.
On 6/23/06, Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> One thing I always enjoyed about studying classical
> languages was that the textbooks were so much more
> interesting than the ones for modern languages. While
> my French book was teaching you the Paris
> arronidissements and how to buy foot and the market,
> the Attic Greek one was discussing putting cities to
> the sword and cutting off the head of the Chimera. ;)
That kind of information is superfluous in a French textbook, but a Persian textbook can use it. Suppose you visit Tehran and feel you must have a tall cool drink to relax. You can't just go around the city in search of a telltale sign for a cocktail lounge. After all, it's the _Islamic_ Republic of Iran. Therefore, before getting there, you would have to know how to say, "So, where's the party?" I've yet to look at all the pages of my textbook, but somehow I doubt that this is included in instruction. :-0
As for the art of putting cities to the sword, I suspect that there can be only scant information about that in a Persian textbook. Why? Iranians have not been very good at winning a war (or a football match, at least not at the World Cup level)! You read the history of Iran, and you feel sorry for them: the country has been overrun, at various times, by Arabs, Turks, Mongols, British, and Russians! You would have to go back to Cyrus the Great to manufacture a glorious imperial past -- that explains the Shah's obsession with Persepolis.
On 6/23/06, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> >> I'm trying to learn Persian now, but the only textbook
> >> available at a local bookstore is a dreadfully dry one.
>
> Presuming you mean Farsi, the Rosetta Stone series of CD-ROMs are
> excellent.
>
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BKD8D0/
Will look into that. Thanks! -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>