FSI Persian Language Material
What is the FSI Spoken Persian course?
FSI Spoken Persian is designed to give beginners a basic grounding in the language. It consists of 12 units which start by presenting new language in the form of dialogs. This is followed by explanations of any new grammar, structures or vocabulary, after which the new language is reinforced through drills.
The course is supposed to be accompanied by audio, but unfortunately, the recordings are not available at this time. At present, only the text from the course is available for study, although if the recordings are found, I will upload them to my site to go with the text.
How was FSI Spoken Persian originally used?
The FSI Spoken Persian course was originally designed to give US diplomatic staff a grounding in the language before being sent to postings in areas where Persian is spoken.
Students would have spent a certain amount of time studying the lessons alone, and they would also have attended classes, where an instructor would have been able to check their understanding and progress as well as answering any questions they had.
They would also have been encouraged to use Persian as much as possible, both in and out of class. This meant that, even after a relatively short period of time, they were able to obtain a functional level of Persian before being sent abroad.
How can you use FSI Spoken Persian?
Unfortunately, in its current form without the audio recordings, this course will be of limited value to most students.
Perhaps if you have another coursebook and already have some knowledge of the language, the texts from this free spoken Persian course may provide some extra language input that may aid your studies.
In the future, if the recordings for this course become available, I will upload them to the site. If and when that happens, this course will be of much more use to anyone hoping to learn spoken Persian.
Taking it further?
However good your study materials, you’ll never be able to master Persian if you don’t practice. This means that once you start studying the language, you need to take what you learn and try it out in the real world.
Look for Persian speakers to talk to and take every opportunity to use your Persian. Above all, try to make speaking Persian a part of your daily life, because when you do, you will see how quickly you begin making progress in this fascinating and ancient language.