FarsiMonde’s Alphabet Teaching Method

Years ago, alphabet teaching methods were strict and easy to follow for teachers but not learner-friendly. Students had to learn the Persian letters one by one in alphabetical order. Fortunately, language teaching methods have improved in the last few decades. FarsiMonde tutors also attempt to remain updated and develop the best Farsi teaching methods.

In our introductory book, first, you will learn easy words, Persian sentence structure, and basic Farsi grammar to get familiar with the language and sounds. From lesson five, you will start learning how to write the words you have learned in the previous lessons. In the Farsi script, letters connect each other to form a syllable. So, learning the written form of words is better than learning the separate letters. Therefore, we teach you how to write the whole word first, then the letters. The order of introducing letters is based on their frequency in Farsi words and their occurrence in words taught in the book. We also tried to avoid teaching similar sounds, like “t” and “d,” or similar written shapes, like “پ” and “ب,” in one lesson.

Persian Alphabet has 32 letters, but it does not mean that you will learn only 32 shapes. Unlike the Latin Alphabet, Farsi does not have upper and lower cases. But in the Farsi script, it is important to know how letters change when they connect. Some letters like “r” or “d” do not link to any letter after, so they usually have one written form. Other letters may have 2 to 4 different forms based on where in a word they are and whether they connect to other letters. Moreover, all the Persian vowels are counted as one, called Alef. While watching the videos, pay full attention to these important notes.

FarsiMonde’s Transcription Protocol

In FarsiMonde, we use transcription for Farsi expressions and proverbs since some Farsi learners are not keen on learning the alphabet. Moreover, transcription can help Farsi learners with pronunciation. FarsiMonde’s transcription protocol is easy to follow because it is based on the Latin alphabet combined with some simplified IPA symbols. We recommend checking our phonetic page before watching the videos.

How to Watch the Videos?

Each video starts with a couple of new words. If you already speak Farsi and know basic words, you can skip the first two minutes of the videos. If not, we suggest pausing the video to practice and repeat the words before going to the writing part. In the second part of each video, you will see the written form of the new words twice, handwritten and printed. You’d better pause after each word and practice copying the word. You can learn the letters separately at the end of each video. After completing each session, you can go to blow the each page to practice and read more notes about Persian alphabet.

In our videos and exercises, we used illustrations[1] and signs to avoid using English as much as possible. So even those Farsi learners who do not speak English can profit from this free alphabet course. Moreover, FarsiMonde’s tutors can speak languages other than English: Azeri, Turkish, French, and German. If you know people who do not speak English but are interested in Learning Farsi, do not hesitate to introduce us to them.

And if you still need help with reading and writing in Farsi after the videos and test, you can always count on our online Persian courses.

[1] By Bahâre Zargarân

Good luck with learning the Persian alphabet!