Does anyone have a good suggestion for a Persian/Farsi to English (and vice versa) dictionary for a beginner or language learner? I'm working on an article on resources for learning Persian / Farsi and I've found a lot of good resources for everything except a dictionary. Plus a good dictionary would really help with the word of the week feature in my newsletter.

Thanks,

Julie

have you tried babel fish or any other translation services?

also, try amazon for a dictionary or search online with google

Well, there are a number of dictionaries out there, but I know from experience with foreign languages I actually know more than a few words of, that if you don't have a good dictionary, you end up with things like "rotate correct" when you want "turn right." Or you can't even find the words you want. And popularity is not necessarily a good sign. For instance, the most popular Hebrew-English/English-Hebrew dictionaries are horrible, but they are small and relatively cheap, so everyone has one, if nothing else for when they don't want to drag their large good dictionary along (or because it is all they can afford.) I don't know enough Persian to be able to tell, but a lot of Arabic dictionaries use roots, not the words as you see them, which requires a knowlege of grammer I'll probably never gain in Persian.

Most of the usual online translation sites don't support Persian - wonder if that is a cause or a symptom of the current lack of understanding between the US and Iran?

Julie

Julie
Babylon has good dictionary Persian/Farsi to English and inverse but you must write in Farsi words or see result in this way
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Babak -

Thanks for the suggestions. Babylon looks like a good start, and I'll have to look at the other ones some more.

You'll have to tell me how I did when I publish my article on basic Farsi phrases in a couple of weeks... I found some really good resources, but I'm surprised that there isn't more. You'd think more English-speakers would want to learn... Then again, I'm surprised that more Americans aren't interested in learning foreign languages!

Julie

Julie
I guess for Americans, learning foreign language isn't vital but for us learning English is so useful. English language open a wide area for me when I travel to abroad, communicate with foreign experts and read articles about my work and also see satellite TVs and movies, and could connect to such attractive site and see other culture and opinions.
I agree with you that learning another language is so useful for you (American) either.

Persian words got from Arabic with 4 more words, P, CH, J (in French) and G (as gear). In pronunciation no any difference between T and Tah, Z and Zat and so on. Iranian pronounce some words different from Arabs.
I heard that in some part of US you can find Persian classroom but guess mostly in California.
Still don't get how much you like to know Persian language but in any way you like it's my honor to be at your service.

Babak -

I think I mentioned before I'm trying to learn Arabic because there is so much Arabic literature and culure I'd like to read untranslated. I'm not Muslim, but I'd like to read the Koran in Arabic, because I think it is an important book and you can't really understand it unless you read it in the original language. I really think learning languages is very useful in understanding people.

But my primary interest in learning / learning about Persian is that the article that gets the most traffic on the Middle Eastern Culture site most months is one on basic words and phrases in Persian by a former editor. There's not much there - 8 phrases, but I'm supposed to overwrite it with my own content. I've actually got my version almost completed. But at any rate, I'm surprised by the interest, but if people are coming to me looking for information on the Persian language, I think it's important that they find it.

Actually, I'd probably really enjoy being able to read Persian, I really like Persian art, so it's likely that I'd enjoy being able to read untranslated literature. Arabic is enough of a challenge for me at the moment.

Julie

Julie
Yeah Arabic is more useful I think, I'm interest to learn Arabic too and when want to read Koran more follow its Arabic word and think could better understanding in this way hence think you chose best way.