Summary

If you don't know about Wikipedia, now is the time to find out! Especially since it is so useful in learning languages.

Wikipedia is the "Free Encyclopedia", a collectively-authored, dynamic, online encyclopedia that is free not only as in price, but also as in freedom. This means that the content you find anywhere on Wikipedia is free and open in the Public Domain. You can reproduce, redistribute and rehash the information there. This is empowered by the GNU Free Documentation License. This same license protects and empowers the content on Free Language! (How?)

This particular resource links to the Wikipedia entry on the Persian language. This entry contains loads of information for the curious reader as well as for the serious Persian language learner, including historical and linguistic data.

Use this resource to become familiar with the Persian/Farsi language and its context in today's world, to discover facts and linguistic data about Persian and its many varieties, access further information about and resources for learning Persian, and much more.

From Resource

Persian (local names: فارسی [fɒːɾˈsiː] or پارسی [pɒːɾˈsiː]; see Nomenclature) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and countries like Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait and elsewhere. It is derived from the language of the ancient Persian people. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.

Persian and its varieties have official-language status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. According to CIA World Factbook, based on old data, there are approximately 62 million native speakers of Persian in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and about the same number of people in other parts of the world speak Persian. UNESCO was asked to select Persian as one of its languages in 2006.

Persian has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the Islamic world as well as the Western. It has had an influence on certain neighboring languages, particularly the Turkic languages of Central Asia, Caucasus, and Anatolia. It has had a lesser influence on Arabic and other languages of Mesopotamia.

For five centuries prior to the British colonization, Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent; it took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts in India and became the "official language" under the Mughal emperors. Only in 1843 did the subcontinent begin conducting business in English. Evidence of Persian's historical influence in the region can be seen in the extent of its influence on the languages of Hindustani (resulting in Urdu), Marathi, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Gujarati, as well as the popularity that Persian literature still enjoys in the region. Additionally, a small population of Persian speakers (mostly of the Dari and Tajik dialects) can be found in the urban and western highlands of Pakistan.

Link

Visit "Persian Language" on Wikipedia.

License

GNU Free Documentation License

Rosetta Stone Farsi Level 1 With over 3500 real-life images and phrases in 92 lessons, Farsi Level 1, Personal Edition provides up to 250 hours of mastery instruction in Listening Comprehension, Reading, Speaking, and Writing. Systematic structure teaches vocabulary and grammar naturally, without lists and drills. Previews, exercises and tests accompany every lesson with automated tutorials throughout the program. Level 1, Personal Edition provides instruction in such categories as People and Talking; Directions; Food, Eating and Drinking; Family Relationships; Telling Time; Numbers to One Hundred; Clothing and Dress; Vehicles, Furniture and Instruments; Shapes, Colors and Location; And Much More. Farsi Level 1, Personal Edition comes complete with an illustrated User's Guide and a Curriculum Text book.

Comments

Rosetta Stone has made a name for itself selling proprietary software that allows people to quickly and easily learn languages interactively.

You may have seen them selling their wares in the airport or on TV.

Software License

Rosetta Stone is proprietary software.

View specific license for your country.

Not to be confused with the Free Software GPL Rosetta Stone Library.

Summary

Certainly one of the top multi-lingual news resources available on the web, the BBC has a steady flow of fresh news in Persian/Farsi. This site is for students of the intermediate to advanced levels and beyond. It is a great way to keep up with the latest happening in the Persian world while practicing your Persian.

With the BBC you also have the added benefit of being able to look at the news in your native language, which can help you understand and figure out parts of the news that you might not be able to grasp without some help.

They also have frequent news recordings in Persian, so you can practice listening skills while you catch up on the latest news.

From Website

The BBC exists to enrich people’s lives with great programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. Its vision is to be the most creative, trusted organisation in the world.

It provides a wide range of distinctive programmes and services for everyone, free of commercial interests and political bias. They include television, radio, national, local, childrens’, educational, language and other services for key interest groups.

Visit BBC Persian.

Subscribe

Subscribe to BBC News in Persian.

Summary

Though not directed at Persian/Farsi language students specifically, this podcast contains cultural and linguistic information that may be interesting to those learning the language.

From Website

A podcast about the country of Iran. Persian and proud!

I am a second generation Iranian and I cherish Iranian culture. My mother is Iranian and my father is a Jewish American.

Visit the Iran Podcast.

Subscribe

Subscribe to The Iran Podcast.
Subscribe to The Iran Podcast via iTunes.

Summary

This is the longest-standing and most resource-rich website for learning Persian online with free lessons. It amounts to a whole online course in the Persian or Farsi language.

It is an outstanding resource for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners, and contains massive amounts of links throughout the lessons!

From Website

Easy Persian is a totally Free source for you if you are looking for comprehensive Online lessons to learn Persian or Farsi as spoken in Iran. It also helps you write in Farsi with step by step instructions. Please note that the Farsi in Iran, mostly the spoken language, is a bit different from the the Farsi in Tajikestan and the Dari language currently spoken in Afghanistan. Yet, they are very similar and very much understandable.

In addition to Free Lessons, this site provides you with some Persian music with English translation, introduces great contemporary poets of Iran such as Nima, Ahmad Shamlu, Sohrab Sepehri, Forough Farrokhzad, and Fereydoon Moshiri with brief notes on their works in English, and presents their poems with English translation. You may also enjoy the free Persian chat room now!

The Links page will also give you all you have been looking for; such as
Free Farsi Word processing programs, Windows, Software, and Persian dictionary to use online or to download
Online Farsi Language Learning and Poetry Resources and Calligraphy Lessons
Daily news about Iran broadcasted by different online radios, newspapers, and TVs
Persian name with English meaning
Daily weather forcast in different cities of Iran
And many other valuable pages that will take you months to find.
You have probably had the unpleasant experience of spending some time with people who are speaking a language that you don't understand. They spend hours talking and having fun together but you might find it even boring if you asked them to translate their conversations.
Each language has it's own structure, complexity, images, ambiguity, simile, metaphor, as well as many other kinds of figure of speech, and more important the local color that make it difficult to render into another language. That is to say, no translations can fully replace the original message. That's why I have created this site!

In creating this site, I have tried hard to choose the best applicable way, which starts from the very scratch and takes you to the very advanced level. It goes beyond memorizing some single expressions.
Although lack of enough resources and facilities have imposed breathtaking impasse on me for many times, my deep and pure love has been my biggest support to let me believe in my success. That's why I have tried my best not to let the quality of the lessons be overshadowed by these factors.

During these lessons you'll experience four basic skills in learning Persian: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. You'll learn how to write, read and speak Persian from the very beginning. Although the explanations and hints of the lessons are comprehensive enough to let you learn the words correctly, some very short recorded sounds are inserted in appropriate places to help you correct your pronunciations through listening, if necessary. These all can be satisfactory enough to help you get your career in gear even if you know nothing at all about Persian language.
Just try it once and you'll find yourself addicted!!

Visit EasyPersian.com