Blog

July 27, 2014 | Persian

A New Language-Exchange Partner

ConversationExchange.com finally produced a native Persian speaker for me in New York!

One of my problems as a language learner is that I really like reading books about language and at times have trouble making myself go out in the world. I am reading some eight different books about Persian right now.…

July 30, 2014 | Persian

Doing Dari

I couldn't resist the 60 Pimsleur lessons available for Dari.

Persian has multiple dialects. I have been focusing on the one from Iran, often referred to as Farsi here in the U.S., but there are only 30 Pimsleur lessons for it.  For Dari, the Persian dialect spoken in Afghanistan…

September 12, 2014 | Persian

Persian Planning

I haven't been blogging, but I have definitely been studying.

A couple of days ago while walking through Central Park with my Pimsleur lessons, I was informed in Dari lesson 24, second level, that buzkashi is the national sport of Afghanistan. “It’s somewhat similar to polo, but is played with…

September 18, 2014 | Persian

Yep, I’m an Idiot

In which my technological oblivion kicks me in the ass.

Tonight after months of frustration at the lack of sound in Persian courses on Memrise, I went to the Memrise Madness group on Facebook and expressed my disappointment over my soundless learning experience. George Muresan, a dedicated language learner and…

November 21, 2014 | Persian

ACTFL Language Conference!

I've just arrived in downtown San Antonio, which is overrun with marauding gangs of foreign-language teachers.

Over the past two months, I have spent a ton of time on language, but hardly any time writing about language. Oops. Blogs don’t really work if you don’t write. So anyway, I am back. En Route to…

November 29, 2014 | Persian

Language Loot, ACTFL

Sure enough, there were books as far as the eye could see.

A week has now passed since my return from ACTFL, the annual U.S. language conference for teachers of foreign languages. It was well worth the trip to San Antonio, Texas, even though most people there seemed perplexed (since I…