Let’s Learn Persian (A1): The Fun and Effective Way

• Listen to the Reed: Learn the Persian Alphabet with Rumi — the letters through 18 verses of Rumi’s Masnavi, across 12 live-recorded sessions. ~3 months at one session a week. For the poetry lover.
• The Persian Alphabet, Decoded: A Complete Course — a staged, fully decodable path: you never meet a word containing a letter you haven’t learned. ~1.5 months at one lesson a week. For the structured learner who values their time.

If you have prior knowledge of Persian, start with our free Placement Test to find the course that best matches your level. For a more personalized assessment, you can also book a private consultation with Dr. Leila Seyedghasem, who will help tailor your learning path to your goals and current skills.

Yes! The first lesson of each course is a live demo, no signup required. It’s a great way to experience our teaching style and see how effective our courses are before committing.

We’re so glad you enjoyed the free trial! Every core lesson in this course is built on the “Fārsi bīyāmuzīm!” textbook and crafted using a consistent, meticulous design process by our expert instructional designer — ensuring the same high quality and learning experience throughout.

Still curious? We’d be happy to unlock two more lessons for you to preview. Just fill out the short form below, and we’ll set up your free mini-course right away.

Our core Persian courses are based on the acclaimed five-volume textbook series, “Fārsi bīyāmuzīm!” (Let’s Learn Persian!), authored by distinguished professors from Tarbiat Modarres University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Tehran. The course’s methodology emphasizes:

1. Balanced Skills: Equal attention to listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
2. Modern Approaches: Utilizes cognitive, communicative, and active learning methods.
3. Dual Language Forms: Teaches both spoken and written Persian side-by-side.
4. Practical Application: Covers about 60 real-life conversational situations throughout the A1 and B2 level courses.
5. Cultural Immersion: Integrates lessons on Iranian culture, art, literature, and history.

To adapt the “Fārsi bīyāmuzīm!” textbook for an optimal online, self-study experience, we enhanced its content with several key features:

1. Interactive Exercises: Book exercises that required typing were converted into user-friendly online formats like drag-and-drop, word matching, and self-check quizzes (using accordions). This makes them accessible for students without a Farsi keyboard.
2. Enhanced Audio System: We completely reworked the book’s audio. We organized the files by exercise, separated them into distinct written (formal) and spoken (colloquial) tracks, and color-coded them for clarity, a feature not available with the original book.
3. Support for Self-Learners: To aid independent study, we’ve added learning objectives for each lesson, English translations for instructions and dialogues, targeted grammar explanations to supplement the book’s discovery-based method, and self-check answers for open-ended questions, hidden in collapsible sections.
4. Multimedia Enrichment: We created multi-sensory vocabulary lists with audio, images, and translations. We also added new, web-based exercises like image hotspots that are not possible in a physical book.
5. Adaptation of Content: Group exercises designed for a classroom setting were modified to be effective for individual learners.

No, you don’t need to know Persian typing for our current exercises — they’re designed for beginners. Typing isn’t required yet, but we may add optional activities later to help you learn it.

Absolutely! We offer a flat 15% group discount on all our courses and workshops — perfect for partners, families, classmates, or colleagues learning Persian together.

To enjoy this discount, simply use code GP15 at checkout.

We believe learning a new language is more fun and rewarding when shared with loved ones. Let us know how we can help your group embark on this exciting journey together!

If you’re representing an entire classroom, institution, or organization and would like to discuss an ongoing collaboration, please contact us directly for a personalized arrangement.

The time to complete a course varies, as our curriculum is designed for two complementary goals: foundational language mastery and rich cultural exploration.

🧭 For Core Language Courses (Let’s Learn Persian! A1, A2, B1-1, etc.)

Yes — these courses are carefully structured to provide everything needed to achieve the corresponding CEFR proficiency level, through what we call Active Learning Hours.

Note: All time estimates are based on focused, interactive study in our courses and assume consistent effort. Actual time to reach CEFR levels can vary widely depending on prior experience (e.g., familiarity with similar scripts or languages), daily practice habits, and exposure to Persian outside the course. We recommend supplementing with real-world conversation for best results.

Each “hour” in our courses represents true engagement — reading, listening, and practicing interactively — not the passive classroom time spent waiting, commuting, or reviewing instructions.
Think of it as a concentrated, high-impact experience, where every minute counts.

Because lessons are self-paced and repeatable, you can progress faster while maintaining long-term retention and confidence. Every activity is intentionally designed to maximize your exposure and strengthen real communication skills.

📚 For “Beyond the Core” & Literature Courses

These courses serve a different purpose. They use Content-Based Learning (CBL) — helping you apply your Persian to explore culture, history, and literature.

In these, your learning time depends on curiosity — many students spend far more than the core hours, diving into poetry, philosophy, and cultural context.

✅ Summary:
Our Active Hour model removes filler, focuses on interaction, and leverages multimedia tools unavailable in traditional classrooms.
While the total hours may look shorter, the depth of engagement per minute is significantly higher — a distinction supported by current language-learning research.

That’s an excellent question. The flood of free resources can be overwhelming, and while tools like YouTube, apps, and podcasts are fantastic supplements, they often provide a fragmented learning experience. You might learn a word here and a grammar rule there, but it’s very difficult to build a solid, comprehensive foundation.

The “right choice” depends on your learning goals. Our courses are designed to solve the exact problem of fragmentation. Here’s how Joy of Persian is different:

1. A Structured, Academic Path: Instead of random videos, our courses (like Let’s Learn Persian! A1 & A2) provide a structured, step-by-step curriculum.This is a complete learning experience designed for deep comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and practical exercises—a clear path from one level to the next.
2. Unmatched Expertise: Our courses are developed by Dr. Leila Seyedghasem, our co-founder with over 9+ years of online university teaching experience. She is a recipient of prestigious honors, including the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Award and Iran’s Book of the Year Award. You aren’t learning from a hobbyist; you are learning from a distinguished, professional educator who has taught at the university level.
3. Authentic Audio (Dual-Audio, Never AI): Immerse yourself in real Persian from day one with professionally recorded native voices—never AI. Our unique dual-audio system lets you practice both 🔵Formal Persian (news, speeches) and 🔴Spoken Persian (everyday talk) side by side, helping you master natural pronunciation and listening skills.
4. A Feature for Every Step of Your Journey: Our platform is built on proven instructional design principles to give you the right tools at the right time. As you progress, you unlock new features specific to your learning stage:
   • • Tier 1: Core Experience: All courses are built on a core foundation of expert-led curriculum, authentic human audio, interactive exercises (based on text, audio, and quizzes), and flexible self-paced learning, backed by a free preview and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
     • Tier 2: Foundation Essentials: Our foundational language courses add essential tools, including a clear roadmap and our unique side-by-side audio tracks to help you master both Formal and Spoken Persian.
     • Tier 3: Advanced Study Tools: Advanced literature and thematic courses unlock powerful academic tools, such as synchronized audio & text, in-depth reading guides with built-in definitions, and rich visual/historical archives.

   For more details see: here.

5. Beyond Language—Into Literature: Most apps stop at basic vocabulary. We are one of the few platforms that take you from learning the language to truly appreciating the culture. We offer in-depth courses on literary masterpieces like Sa’di’s Golestan and the Rubaiyat of Khayyam, taught with the same academic rigor.
6. A Clear Path to Mastery: We offer different ways to learn based on your needs:
   • Async Courses: Perfect for self-paced, structured learning.
   • Live Workshops: For those who want to combine the async course material with live, interactive “flipped classroom” sessions led directly by Dr. Seyedghasem.
   • 1-on-1 Classes: For a fully personalized, guided experience.

This course is the right choice for you if:

• You feel overwhelmed by scattered resources and crave a clear, structured, A-to-Z learning program.
• You value learning from a highly qualified, award-winning university instructor.
• Your goal isn’t just to “learn some Farsi” but to build a deep, lasting connection with Persian language, culture, and classical literature.
• You want a complete system of lessons, exercises, and comprehension tasks, not just isolated videos.

We invite you to explore our free demos (No Signup Required) to get a feel for our teaching style. We believe you’ll immediately see the depth and quality that set our formal courses apart.

No — the courses are in Persian script from the first lesson. Our blog articles do use full transliteration, since they’re written for a general audience: the blog meets you where you are, the courses pull you forward.

The reasoning is simple. Given both a Latin spelling and the script, the eye takes the easier path every time — you read the Latin, and the script stays decoration. The longer that lasts, the longer it takes for real reading to become automatic. And reading is what unlocks everything else, from a menu in Tehran to a page of Hafez.

So instead of a crutch, you get support:

• Native audio, never AI. Every course is recorded by native speakers — so you learn a word by hearing it, not by spelling it out in Latin letters.
• Formal and Spoken side by side. In our core language courses, the dialogues and selected exercises carry two recordings of the same line: 🔵 Formal Persian, the register you’ll read, and 🔴 Spoken Persian, the register you’ll actually hear. Textbooks teach the first and leave you stranded on the second.
• Multi-sensory flashcards that connect the sound of a word straight to the shape of it, with no Latin step in between.
• In the literature courses, the audio runs synchronized with the text, so your eye stays on the Persian line while you hear it read.
• A free demo lesson, no signup, in every course — so you can see exactly what a page looks like before you decide.

And if you can’t read the script yet, you shouldn’t start here. Start with the script: our Persian alphabet courses cover all 32 letters in full, and the first lesson of each is free to try. Either one gets you ready for A1.

Not at all. Our team, servers, and learning platforms are based in Istanbul. Everything is 100% accessible worldwide, ensuring you experience no interruptions while learning.

Absolutely! Our courses are designed to be flexible. They are perfect for self-study to keep your Farsi sharp between classes, or as a structured resource to review with your tutor.