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Word Magnets

It started with the word magnets.  If you’re going to build a bridge from one language to another, you need bricks.  These are the perfect bricks.  Persian on one side, English translation and transliteration on the other.  A rosetta stone!  These magnets break down the language into parts and particles of speech, so you can really see how it works, from the bottom up.

Plus, you get to hold the word in your hand, and really bond with it.  Don’t be afraid of it, it’s smaller than you!  The word is your friend.  The word is your tool. 

Website

The magnets are a great game to get you started with Persian.  But we have found that in order to really grasp language you need FEEDBACK. 

But it turns out that in our fragmented world, it’s hard to find a person who can give you feedback and encouragement on your bold explorations into language.  Many of them won’t appreciate your creativity and impose their own rigid views on your brilliant poetry (as seen in this debate over sunlight). 

When you DO want actual grammar guidance, most of them are as clueless as you! 

We’re like wild birds raised in captivity.  No clue about how it works in the wilds of the other language.  And very insecure about this.  Is our language doomed on foreign shores?  They say it takes three generations for an immigrant population to lose their heritage language. 

But WAIT!  They said that BEFORE the internet was in play!  But we live in a wired age!  This fabulous invention can reconnect us with that language, make it vital and strong!  You’re no longer isolated!  You’re not stuck with your few family members who stubbornly refuse to discuss fun topics in Persian. 

You can now explore and express yourself with tons of opportunity for feedback.  The internet never sleeps!  There’s always someone out there who can respond.  Just as the internet has enabled many people to learn how to type in English, and to get better at expressing themselves in English, so it can be used for Persian.  Connecting all the isolated people to a larger pool, getting the Persian language to flow, even out here in an English desert.

This handy website has been pioneered for the express purpose of being a space to consciously make that happen.  We offer some direct language guidance, inspiration (we hope) and the FORUMS for you to express yourself (in both Persian and English).  Here you can post your sentences and phrases, ask questions, offer suggestions, riff on someone else’s post and so forth.  Eventually, as voices emerge in the forums, we will set it up so that you can also blog on the website.

Members

Membership is easy.  Just Register and then go ahead and post on the forums.  If you’re a beginner at Persian, don’t be shy!  It’s not like you grew up in Iran and got your language hammered into you from the start.  Nobody expects you to have a clue. 

Mistakes are OK! We’ve all got a lot of mistake making to catch up on!  The beauty of this process is that we make these mistakes in public, and leave the trail of it for other people to walk down and learn from.  Leverage your mistakes for the greater good of the language community!  Those who know the language well will be there to offer insight and helpful guidance.

OK, still too shy to make mistakes in public?  Well, you DON’T HAVE TO REVEAL YOUR IDENTITY!  You can make mistakes incognito!  Yay.  Explore language from the safety of your alter ego.

Also, a lot of things aren’t mistakes, but might be an innovative way to say something.  Sometimes we encounter language “experts” who don’t realize that they have some rigidity in thinking.  Thus, when you are offering a suggestion/correction/critique to someone, we encourage you to use the “extiAr dArid - اختيار داريد “ policy.

Not to put down our fabulous language expert members!  We totally need you!  Your vital duty, your very important task is to encourage the rest of us, setting fine examples with your many posts of insights, cool sentences, deep thoughts, stories, soundbites, lines of poetry and other musings.

Technical Issues

Currently, the site is English dominant, with a few phrases and words of Persian in it.  Over time, we hope it will become fully bilingual.  The site is English dominant because I’m only half Iranian (Mom is a WASP - White Anglo Saxon Protestant).  So, as I am building my own bridge to full bilingualism, I am starting on the English side of the bridge and working my way over.  As I do this, I need a lot of encouragement too!  Beginner that I am.  And help with translation!  Please feel free to use the comments space to help out with this.

The site may be English dominant, but it is fully Persian enabled.  To write in Persian on the site you need to:

1. Set up your computer to input Persian
2. Learn how to type in Persian
3. Get familiar with using the forums in Persian or English

If you have other technical issues/questions, please contact us and let us know what they are.

Beyond Language

This website started out as a language site, but in playing with words, we discovered that words are attached to ideas.  The process of playing with both opens up so many new vistas of possibility.  We thus want to use this space to play with, enjoy and expand on our culture.  Also, we want to tackle some of the big ecological/economic/political challenges taunting the world today.  We want to do it with style!  With the same playful, creative approach we take to language.  Open up the conversation to new directions.  Please, join in the fun! 

Donate to Make it Happen Faster

Do you like what this website is about?  Then help us out!  Buy magnets, or donate directly to our site!  We thank you, the Persian language thanks you, the next generation thanks you.