Persian/Farsi/Dari/Tajiki

I'm 19, about to enter my second semester of college, and an air force recruiter contacted me, saying that Persian/Dari/Taijiki, Pashto and Urdu translators are currently easily employed by the government. I have a few questions about this:

1. How similar are Persian, Dari and Taijiki? If I learned Persian (the only one which I have access to classes) would I be able to understand the other two?

2. Has anyone ever made a living translating and interpreting speech and text? How is the work, what is your normal workday like, and how much do you get paid?

3. How hard is Persian to learn for an English speaker? What are some tips I should remember?

studied persian at soas university 3 years. I'm quite sleepy so first I must apologize for the sloppiness of my reply in advance.

yep those languages are in demand for military, security and intell services.  However. the language that is really needed, is Uzbek - different structure entirely. There are many persian speakers in USA most of which will understand persian to a level far in advance of any college course ie Tehangeles - collq for LA's Iranian crowd, few are in the services not surprising given the xenophobic employment policies.

1. Essentially the same language, certainly as far as you as a beginner would require. Not that anyone would understand you. When you leave the cities.

2. The level required for professional work is extremely high, having done it for 3 years I wouldn't claim to have that level. However ad-hoc translation of docs and recordings is always possible - there are many agencies offering this work. I don't do jobs like that not of any interest to me - probably pay ok....

3. Not very.  Most difficult part is the spoken style is very different to the written style, ie speech is collq and script is now.  Learn to master the use of ezafe it will make your spoken style more acceptable. You really need to visit and talk with natives, LA is the best place in USA. I am assuming as an USAFag getting into Iran is too hard - shame for you.

Verbs in persian are very regular.
As you advance you will find many complex words that are Arabic in origin, they are a pain to master esp if like me you did not have Arabic language skills.  Arabic is not essential, they are after all both different lang.families but it is helpful to have both. Also makes you job prospects far higher.

 I have piles of books etc, so I could get the names of the best ones I found, can you give me a list of books etc for the course

In addition this site is the best for materials

uztranslations or uz-translations its a blog you'll have to google for the correct url

If you're 19 and want to learn a totally new language to such a level that you can freely translate and fluently interpret it, then you're looking at a huge commitment (you're also already past the "prime" for learning languages, which will make it more difficult).

So I suggest you choose your language wisely. Persian might be the language in demand right now, but in ten years..?

>>2
uztranslations or uz-translations its a blog you'll have to google for the correct url

http://uz-translations.net/

You're welcome!

Uz translations is good, also search torrent sites
There's a Pimsleur out for Persian/Farsi, it's on TPB. Try and use the language as much as you can, watch TV in it, listen to music in it, read in it, converse in it.

Do you know any other languages?

>>3 thanks for confirming the url, couldn't recall if it was a .net or something else.


I thought I would list some books titles I own, in addition mant of these books are now scanned and online.

Teach Yourself Modern Persian - N. Farzad
This was one of my txt books. The book is a mess, filled with mistakes and poor examples, however, there is a corrected second edition which I am informed is greatly improved.  So if decide to get this book - get the second edition

There is a scanned version on uz-translations (first edition only)

Colloquial Persian - Leila Moshiri
Better than the above book, however it does not have the persian script for txt so it is a little pointless as you will need to learn the script (its real easy)

Again there is a scanned version

An Introduction to Persian - Thackston
Most US colleges use this book, unfortunately it is extremely obtuse to understand.  I found it was a good book to examine after working on the more user friendly texts.

I think this is scanned.... I'd be surprised if it isnt.

Teach Yourself Modern Persian - John Mace
(This book was the edition before N.Farzad) Never used it, but many people reckon it is far better for learning than the update...
Again probably scanned.

Colloquial Persian - The complete course for beginners - Adbi Rafiee
Good book, imo the best for starters. Simple examples, useful phrases. Well thought out structure.

Scanned copy is available.


Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook - lonely planet
I found this very useful, still do from time to time.


I have lots more books, but these are the ones at hand....

>>4
I thought the Pimsleur course was a waste of time, you barely learn anything from it. But that is dependent on what you are trying to gain.

I recommended uz-translations, because most of the content originates there before moving to torrents, they have a ongoing scanning project for unusual language books.

>>5
The Pimsleur course is semi useful. It goes slow, but since there's not as many resources for Farsi as for something like Spanish/French I'd recommend doing some Pimsleur lessons. Just to see if you like how they teach it.

I have a couple of Farsi things from TPB and demonoid.
>>4 here by the way

>>6
All the books listed also have audio tracks.

>>6
Nah, I don't recommend using Pimsleur. They have you associate phrases and words with the English equivalent. For learning a foreign language with the intent of fluency, and not for tourism, this is a very bad thing.

>>8
Well I recommend it, because it's a good system, albeit overpriced, which is why I pirate that shit

>>9

I listed a number of great resources for learning, most of which are already pirated. uz-translations has a huge number of things for persian most of which originate there first.

>>10
8============================================================D

http://www.youtube.com/user/Isyrio?feature=mhum