Persian
Language Coordinator: Ghazzal Dabiri
Instruction of Persian at Columbia University
Persian language is taught at Columbia University at the Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. The overall goal of the program is to train students to gain fluency in all practical aspects of the language. The primary goal is to train students in the five following areas: reading, writing, listening, speaking, and culture. In order to meet these goals, students will be provided with the following knowledge, skills, and capabilities:
Elementary
(1) A foundation in Persian grammar. Students will be able to read simple to moderately complex Persian prose. They will be able to write simple to moderately complex Persian prose compositions and to read and comprehend items dealing with basic personal and social needs in short passages. Students can grasp the overall meaning and facts from connected texts and derive meaning from contextualized materials. (2) Fundamentals of Persian conversation. Students will be introduced to a variety of real-life situations through Persian conversation and dialogues. They will develop listening comprehension and speaking skills and hold simple conversations on the following topics: greetings, introducing oneself using the formal/polite language and colloquial/informal language language, family relationships, friends, telling time, university work, weather, and holidays. (3) Cultural aspect of the language. Develop an awareness of some aspects of Persian life and cultures and know basic courtesy formulas and forms of address.
Intermediate
(1) A solid, and comprehensive foundation in Persian grammar. Students will be able to read moderately complex to complex Persian prose and they will be expected to complete a variety of written assignments, including translations, answering questions, and analyzing complex grammatical structures. Students will also be expected to write moderately complex Persian prose compositions in which they will be able to coherently and clearly express their ideas and give full descriptions. Students will be able to read and comprehend short excerpts from classical and modern Persian texts. Students will grasp the overall meaning and facts from such texts and derive meaning from contextualized materials. (2) Persian conversation. Students will be able to carry conversations based on a variety of real-life situations through Persian dialogues. In addition, students will converse in Persian in relation to the reading materials introduced in the texts. Students will continue to enhance their listening comprehension and speaking skills.
Advanced
(1) Thorough familiarity with complex grammatical structures of classical Persian and highly nuanced aspects of the modern language. Students will be able to read complex classical and modern prose texts and poems from a wide variety of disciplines. The readings in the class will emphasize grammatical structures unique to classical and modern Persian (2) Persian conversation. During the course, students will converse in Persian in relation to the reading material introduced in the texts. Students will be expected to further develop listening comprehension and speaking skills, and initiate and carry complex conversations.