Lonely Planet Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook

This short book is packed with information and is unusually comprehensive for a travel phrasebook. After lamenting the lack of good Persian-English dictionaries on the market, the back pages of this offer a large range of words with both phonetic guides and Persian script. I was thrilled to see, as an astronomer, that there were two and a half pages of astronomy phrases, including "Is that Orion? It's the other way in the Southern Hemisphere" and translations of the words for UFO, nebula, universe, and space exploration. That section alone made it worth the buy for me.

Aside from obvious fun stuff, though, the book has short (but clear) sections on pronunciation and grammar, and have many phrases that are critical when traveling in a foreign country. Although it's not the only book you'd buy if trying to learn Persian, it is by far the most you will get per dollar spent. Good job, Lonely Planet.

Although this is a mini-sized paperback that could easily fit into your shirt pocket, it's remarkably useful.

Each page typically has three columns: the leftmost is the English, the middle is the Farsi in romanized letters, and the right column is the Farsi in Arabic script. But it's not merely a phrasebook: there are paragraphs scattered throughout to relieve the monotony.

For example, there are many, many notes on culture and linguistic usage. Considering how much information this book contains, it's astonishing it's so small. If the pages were made bigger, it could conceivably serve serve as a freshman-level text!

Really after studying from this I was impressed by how handy I became in Farsi, although in all honesty this is likely ascribable neither to my perspicacity nor the boon of this volume, but simply to the fact that Farsi is Indo-European, and so much of its grammar and sensibilities are readily apprehended by a Westerner.

But this book was a major help. When I reflect on how little it cost me versus how much use I got out of it, Lonely Planet's "Farsi Phrasebook" may have been one of the most profitable purchases of my life.

An excellent little work, mainly through the obvious teamwork of author and editors in producing it to what must be a proven template by this publisher. I find I get endless and informative entertainment just by dipping into it. And you can do this on day one of learning Farsi, and just as enjoyably and profitably once your studies have advanced. Even the short dictionary section is very good. This is one Farsi language resource book that won't disappoint you.

A little bit of everything Persian. This would be a good suppliment to any language learning program and a "must have" for the person traveling to any of the Persian (Farsi) speaking countries. A very interesting compact book snd an excellent value.

this was invaluable for my last trip to Iran... small, easy to use.