Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we go over vocabulary associated with the most important Persian holiday, Nowruz. We'll learn about the haft seen table, and the items associated with the haft seen table. In addition, we'll learn a few different ways to wish people a happy Nowruz holiday, including 'aidé shomā mobārak' and 'nowruz mobārak'. Also, check out our Complete Guide to Living Your Best Now...

In this lesson, we continue our study of Ahmad Shamlou's poem, Rāz. We learn the words and phrases in the second half of the poem.

In this lesson, we go over the first half of Ahmad Shamlou's poem, Rāz.

In this lesson, we introduce the iconic Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou, and talk about his poem ‘Raz’ or راز, meaning ‘the secret’. Shamlou was born in 1925 in Rasht, and he died in 2000, after a few years of health problems. He went through a few revolutions, he was put in jail and he was a journalist for a while. He wrote about politics and was part of the Toudeh party. And so he did live through a...

John Ghazvinian joins us to talk about his new book, America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present, a comprehensive new survey of the bilateral relationship, based on years of archival research in both Iran and the United States, which he has been working on since 2008. For the past many decades, the relationship between the United States and Iran has been very hostile and toxic, defined by cou...

Yara Elmjouie is a Webby Award-wnning, James Beard-nominated video producer, journalist, and host at AJ+. He's also a great voice in the Iranian American community, creating engaging videos explaining current conditions in Iran, and documenting the experiences of Iranian Americans. He was born in Los Gatos, California, but grew up visiting Iran often. By the time he got to high school and college,...

Azadeh Shams is a toy designer living in Milan, Italy. She specializes in creating toys for children bilingual in both Persian and English. She has also become an internationally known expert on raising bilingual children, frequently appearing on the massively popular Man o To network. I became familiar with her work on Instagram, where she frequently posts videos on how to raise bilingual childre...

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we learn the common terms for body. The word for 'body' in Persian is badan . In this unit of Chai and Conversation, we are learning several vocabulary words related to a certain theme at once. Listen to the lesson for many different words associated with bodies. Many common words we cover in the lesson are in the list below. Also, here is the Head, Shoulder's Knees...

This Persian (Farsi) lesson is all about the wonderful words of sports- or varzesh in Persian. Varzesh literally means physical exercise, but it's the word used for sports as well. Many of the words for different sports in the Persian language come directly from the western word, but some of them are different. The most common sport in Iran (and in many, many parts of the world) is soccer, which i...

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we learn the common terms for members of a family. Family in Persian is khānevādé . In this unit of Chai and Conversation, we are learning several vocabulary words related to a certain theme at once. Listen to the lesson for many different words associated with families. Listen to the lesson for many words related to this topic.

In this Persian / Farsi lesson, we go over vocabulary needed to talk about the home. In Persian, house is called 'khooné' (in written Persian, it's khāné). Different rooms in the house include:  room - otāgh bedroom - otāgh khāb bathroom - dast shoowee or toowālet dining room - āshpaz khooné living room - sālon.  We also go over vocabulary for common parts of a house, like doors, windows, ceilings...

Tehran Von Ghasri is a half African American, half Iranian comedian who reads and speaks Farsi fluently. Originally, I wanted to interview Tehran to ask him about being raised in a half Iranian family and how his father managed to keep him interested in the Persian language and culture. However, our interview took place a couple weeks after the Black Lives Matter movement erupted in the United Sta...

In this lesson, Leyla and her husband Chris go over how to talk about emotions in the Persian language. This lesson is part of the vocabulary sprint series, so they go over several vocabulary words around the theme of feelings and emotions. In Farsi, emotions are called ehsāsat. We learn a few of the common emotions, such as being happy, sad, calm, depressed, nervous, etc. In addition, we learn th...

This Raising Neem-Roonis interview features Shabnam Rezaei, cofounder of Big Bad Boo, an animation studio featuring cartoons with multicultural themes and diverse languages. Shabnam is the mother of two Neem-Rooni daughters, and the only one of our interviewees that managed to keep her children speaking fluent Persian despite growing up in New York City and having a non-Iranian father. Listen to f...

In this conversation with Adib Khorram, young adult fiction writer, we get to hear about the experiences of growing up as a neem-Rooni. Adib was raised in Kansas City, Missouri by an Iranian father and American mother. He didn't grow up speaking the language, but grew up infused in the culture, which he learned to appreciate after going off to college. He had some great insight and wisdom to share...

In this Raising Neem-Roonis interview, we talk to the most well known Iranian-American comedian, Maz Jobrani. Maz is the father of two half Iranian, half Indian children, ages 9 and 11. He gives advice for those with young children, and shares experiences of people he's met at comedy shows that successfully have held on to their Persian language skills. He also talks about the importance of cultur...

In this vocabulary sprint lesson, Leyla and her husband Chris go over Persian/ Farsi vocabulary associated with food. Food is an important topic of conversation in Persian culture, as Iranians have a rich history of gathering and celebrating food. In this lesson, we go over different important dishes in Persian culture, such as ghormé sabzi, fesenjoon, and kabob . In addition, we learn the words f...

In this second Raising Neem-Roonis interview, we talk to Arash Karami, contributor to Al-Monitor and commentator on Iranian politics. We talk about the challenges of passing on the Persian language and culture to the next generation. You can find Arash on Twitter at @thekarami, where he consistently posts about current Iranian politics, and plenty of dad jokes as well. For more interviews, and les...

Raising Neem-Roonis is our podcast series about the joys and challenges of raising half Iranian children, specifically when it comes to passing along language and culture. Our first interview the series is with actress turned cookbook author Naz Deravian, author of the fantastic cookbook Bottom of the Pot . In addition to her fantastic recipes, her book is full of anecdotes and examples of incorpo...

In this Persian/ Farsi lesson, Leyla and her husband Chris go over different vocabulary associated with the topic of transportation, which we are referring to as 'coming and going'- raft ō āmad. We discuss different modes of transportation including:  Bicycle - docharkhé Car - māsheen Bus - otoboos Taxi - tāxee Metro - metrõ Airplane - havāpaymā Motorcycle - motorcyclet We also go over the vocabul...

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we go over common vocabulary words for the time and date. This includes the words for the seasons, and the words for the days of the week. The days of the week in Persian are:      Monday doshambé دوشَنبه Tuesday seshambé سِهشَنبه Wednesday chārshambé   چِهار شَنبِه Thursday panjshambé پَنج شَنبِه Friday jom'é   جُمعِه Saturday shambé   شَنبِه Sunday yekshambé یِک ش...

 In this lesson, we go over the following lines of the poem:    chon āghebaté kāré jahān neestee hast چون عاقِبَتِ کارِ جَهان نیستی اَست Since the end of the affairs of the world is nothingness engār ké neestee, chō hastee, khosh bāsh اِنگار کِه نیستی، چو هَستی خوش باش suppose that you are not,  but while you are, be happy After you've listened to this lesson, we would love to see videos of you re...

In this second part of the Persian language/Farsi lesson on Khayām's Khosh Bash we go over the following section of the poem, along with all the vocabulary and phrases associated with the words learned: خیام اگر ز باده مستی خوش باشبا ماهرخی اگر نشستی خوش باش khayām, agar zé bādé mastee, khosh bāshbā māh rokhee agar neshastee, khosh bāsh   Edward Fitzgerald translation: Khayyam, if you are drunk wi...

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we go over the most common colors in the Persian language, as well as some incidental vocabulary associated with the colors. This is a vocabulary sprint, meaning you can listen to it no matter what level you are in the Persian language. These lessons are meant to provide you with a group of common vocabulary quickly. The most common colors in the Persian language in...

This is a vocabulary sprint, which means you can listen to the lesson no matter where you are in the learning process. It's just a way to get a number of vocabulary words in your tool belt. In this Persian/Farsi lesson, we learn the words for different animals. We'll first go over animals covered in the book 'Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, which you can see translated into Persian in this...