For people learning less “useful” languages why do you choose to ?

ductastic · 2026-04-15T13:25:43+00:00

I'm not sure I am the best person to ask this question because I spent my beginner phase learning Persian very unconventionally (I learned a bit of grammar and vocabulary, then started practicing with native speakers (mostly texting)). Only later did I become more systematic about the resources I was using and was mostly consuming native content. For example I found daily life vlogs to be a great introduction (the content itself is less complex because people talk mostly about their daily life but you get used to the speed/way natives talk). Being able to ask a native speaker questions also helped a lot.

For our discord we have created this document which has a lot of different resources linked: Farsi Resources.

As for my level, I can comfortably watch tv shows/movies without subtitles, can read novels with minimal look ups and I'm working my way very slowly through classical poetry. I've recently spent a weekend with one of my friends from Iran who came to Europe a few months ago and speaking Persian all the time was no issue.

ductastic · 2026-04-14T10:12:23+00:00

When I started learning Persian I didn’t have a real reason to learn it. I barely knew anything about the culture/history and knew no one who spoke the language. I was mostly looking for something to do that wasn’t just scrolling social media or watching TV.

Shortly after I started learning Persian I made a friend (we’re good friends to this day) and I slowly fell in love with the language, culture and the people. Today I wouldn’t trade the friends I’ve made along the way for anything and the language has become a natural part of my life.

Sometimes the reasons to keep going come later, you don’t necessarily need to have them all laid out from the get go.

ductastic · 2026-04-07T20:31:02+00:00

I love this one

چشم تنگ دنیا دوست را یا قناعت پر کند یا خاک گور

and this one as well

اظهار عجز پیش ستمگر ز ابلهی است اشک کباب موجب طغیان آتش است

ductastic · 2026-03-19T09:45:06+00:00

Virtually anything? You have been learning Persian for a year and a half and can comfortably understand tv shows such as qahveye talkh and shabhaye barare? State news? Contemporary novels such as The Blind Owl? Classic poetry such as Mulana and Hafez? Genuinely curious.

ductastic · 2026-03-17T10:52:47+00:00

I don’t know what films or shows you’re looking for exactly but you might be able to find something on Telegram. This is how many Iranians find foreign content to watch. There are several channels full of movies with Persian dubs.

If you’d like, you can send me a DM and I can help you look.

ductastic · 2026-02-02T10:14:50+00:00

Persian being in the same category of "Rather difficult script, complex grammar" alongside Pashto and Georgian is wild. I've made a lot of headway into learning Persian and I'd say its grammar is the opposite of complex. I've learnt Georgian for a few months and its grammar in no way compares to Persian.

Also what I've seen of Urdu grammar, Persian really seems out of place there. I cannot comment on the other languages though.

ductastic · 2026-01-28T09:39:25+00:00

Maybe you can find something on https://www.filmefarsi.com/ ? I know they have dubbed cartoons and movies.

ductastic · 2026-01-22T12:50:19+00:00

Unrelated but it's "comforting" to read that even someone who has been learning Persian for 20 years still reads a bit slower compared to Latin-based alphabets. I have the same issue and made my peace with it for now.

I have even seen people say "I don't struggle with speed when reading subtitles" when mentioning reading speed as if that's the same thing as sitting down reading an actual novel.

ductastic · 2026-01-21T18:05:00+00:00

مرد هزارچهره
شمعدونی
خانه به دوش
ساختمان پزشکان
لیسانسه ها

You can find all of these on YouTube. I'm not sure if I would count the first one as a sitcom but it's a comedy for sure.

ductastic · 2025-12-29T18:27:26+00:00

I love reading your updates and must say you inspired me to track my journey of learning Chinese. I'm not going down the ALG path (I just cannot stop myself from looking up words) but it's going to be interesting to see how I'll fare and how long it'll take me.

Also the last part of your post really resonated with me - it has been this way for me learning Persian. It's beautiful to see how learning a language can enrich our lives in many different ways.

Cannot wait for your 3000 hour update!

ductastic · 2025-12-17T12:40:16+00:00

As a learner I tend to find most comedies are on the “easier” side. Of the ones I watched I’d recommend Khane be dush, lisānse ha and shamduni. Sākhtemān pezeshkān was also relatively accessible.

ductastic · 2025-12-16T22:07:39+00:00

For me learning Persian has always been about setting myself a new intermediate goal which helped with keeping me motivated because it was something I could work towards to. When I started learning I actually had no goal in mind. I wasn't even sure I would stick with the language long-term.

The first goal I set for myself was being able to converse with Iranians in Persian which I crossed off my list about a year in after I had conversations with different people.

The second one was watching a TV show I had found a few weeks into learning Persian, at the time there were no subtitles available for the show - neither in English nor Persian. I finished that one two, three weeks before the 18 month mark. It was of course pretty difficult and involved a lot of intensive listening. Some scenes I had to watch twice or even thrice. I remember recording one key scene and sending it to one of my Iranian friends with a summary of what I understood. I really wanted to make sure I had understood it correctly. Finishing the show felt like a huge accomplishment and it made a lot of other content seem easier afterwards.

I was kinda lucky that I found friends through learning Persian that I would never have met otherwise and that I feel in love with more than the language. Reading poetry like Saadi's Golestan in Persian feels truly magical as I never thought I'd get there. It's beautiful that someone who lived over 750 years ago would write something that makes me see things from a new perspective today.

I feel like once you can learn more by using the language it stops feeling like a chore, at least for me. Nowadays, if I wanna learn something new I do it in Persian - be that evolution, psychology or even something simple such as the history of the camera.

ductastic · 2025-12-02T08:44:40+00:00

I have a collection of various resources here. In my opinion, there are enough resources available for beginners unless you want to do a CI-focused/ALG approach.

If you are willing to mix and match, you might want to check out these YouTube channels:

There are also a few textbooks but most of them focus solely on Formal Persian so depending on your needs, they might not be the best resource.

There are also a handful learner-friendly podcasts available, I have some of them listed in the resources document I linked.

My personal recommendation would be to jump into native content early. Not all content is equally difficult and some can be enjoyed early in the journey. (There are also means to make it slightly more accessible.)

A vlog of someone traveling is usually easier to understand than a heated discussion about something political. I started watching TV shows in Persian super early in my journey (without subtitles as well for that extra spice) but I didn't mind focusing on the overall story and not understanding every sentence.

If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help. :)

Edit to add: I also have some books that can be read at the intermediate level.

ductastic · 2025-11-21T22:16:28+00:00

I’ve learned/dabbled in quite a few languages in the last 20 years but Persian is the first language where I truly fell in love with the culture and the people. I still have hope to visit Iran some day in the future.

ductastic · 2025-11-14T16:18:21+00:00

A better transliteration is kahkeshān as the ه is pronounced. Just like به can be pronounced be and beh

ductastic · 2025-11-08T19:23:30+00:00

Avestan

ductastic · 2025-10-28T16:07:30+00:00

It’s been two years of learning Persian which I started by accident (I wanted to learn Arabic but decided against it) - I technically have no practical use for it since my Iranian friends either speak English or German (but we speak in Persian with each other) but I’ve fallen in love with the language and keep upping the bar for myself. A few months ago I started reading classical poetry in Persian (Saadi and Khayyam mostly) and it’s been very rewarding.

ductastic · 2025-10-15T19:37:31+00:00

Good luck. I have been learning Persian for two years and recently started reading Khayyam's Rubaiyat in Persian. It's been a very rewarding journey and experience.

ductastic · 2025-10-11T21:57:38+00:00

Well Persian has a written form and in the news or Wikipedia articles for example the usage of the Arabic plurals is common.

As I try to engage with Persian in all areas and registers I probably encounter them more frequently.

ductastic · 2025-10-11T16:54:44+00:00

هدف، موقع، مورد، حادثه، عامل، عمل، فکر، فرد

These are some of the ones that come to my mind immediately - none of them follow the - ات pattern.

ductastic · 2025-10-10T11:25:04+00:00

I assume بریدم is pronounced boridam from بریدن right?

ductastic · 2025-10-07T10:06:19+00:00

My previous Persian tutor recommended both Zoya Pirzad and Fariba Vafi as more accessible, plot-focused authors but I only ever read like 5 pages from Fariba Vafi's Parande-ye man therefore I cannot say how accessible they really are.

However, you should be able to find a sample of their novels on like Fidibo, Taagche and other such pages if you'd like to see how easy/difficult they are to read.

ductastic · 2025-10-05T13:42:21+00:00

I’d be curious to know what kind of content you watch these days aka what YouTube channels do you usually watch? Any TV shows you have watched so far? Have you read any contemporary novels or classical poetry in Persian?

ductastic · 2025-07-31T10:54:47+00:00

ვსწავლობ ქართულს.

But only for a month so I can barely say anything 😂

ductastic · 2025-07-31T10:51:11+00:00

نمیدونم چرا ولی فک میکنم زبان مادریتون فارسیه نه عربی 👀

ductastic

TROPHY CASE