Teach Yourself Modern Persian/Farsi Complete Course

Rating:
Summary: The original was better for most independent learners
Review: Having started my study of Persian over 30 years ago with the original "Teach Yourself Modern Persian", by John Mace, first published in 1964 and reprinted numerous times since then, I was eager to compare this newly released book by Narguess Farzad with the original.

Unfortunately, while apparently more modern, the latest version will likely prove more difficult going for most people trying to learn Persian on their own. The original version featured a bit-by-bit approach, taking 36 pages to introduce the reader to the Arabic alphabet as used in Persian; this book merely provides two charts of the entire alphabet, one for tracing purposes, and then appends a bit over one page of exercises in combining the letters. After that, apparently, you're expected to have it down cold. The approach by Mace was certainly more user-friendly to readers with no background in the alphabet.

The book then proceeds at a quick pace; the vocabulary lists can be dauntingly long for learners, and transliteration is used sparingly, sometimes leaving any reader not fully accustomed to the Arabic script at a disadvantage in terms of proper pronunciation. In contrast, the original book by Mace included transliteration for all vocabulary items and example sentences. Farzad's order of presentation is a bit unusual; the present tense of verbs other than "to be" and "to have" is not presented until page 127, for example.

I am no longer as innocent of Persian as I was 30-odd years ago, but when I think back to my situation then as a total beginner, the original book by Mace strikes me as being much more suitable for someone working on his/her own to learn Persian. (It is still readily available through used-book channels.) I would thus recommend that people indeed looking for a "Teach Yourself" book for Persian get a copy of the original "Teach Yourself Modern Persian" by Mace, if possible, and then perhaps use the latest "Teach Yourself Modern Persian" by Farzad as a follow-up book to solidify the basics. Another useful book after getting the basics down is "An Introduction to Persian" by Wheeler Thackston, which would likely be fairly hard slogging for most true beginners.