!سلام هرکسی

In a follow up to the headline and pictures I posted last week, Soheil sent me the following cartoon which was published in the reformist Iranian newspaper Tabnak. Translation and vocab are below as usual.

The Iranian official is saying: "The friendly match (soccer) between Iran and America was secured/set"
The billboard in the background says: "Honesty of Football"

The cartoon is a clear tongue and cheek jab at the Revolutionary Guards who posted derisive billboards around Tehran about the style of "American honesty" while Rouhani and Iran's foreign ministers were in the midst of discussions.

Vocabulary:
بازی - match/game
دوستانه - friendly
قطعی شده - was secured
صداقت - honesty
فوتبال - Football

!سلام بچه ها

I apologize, I know I've been absent for sometime and many important things have occurred in Iran!

Today I thought I'd upload the images from some billboards placed around Tehran by the Revolutionary Guards in response to initial talks between Iran and the United States. The Guards clearly want to demonstrate their lack of desire for any rapprochement between the two countries....

Before I post the actual sign pictures, I want to include this headline from BBC Farsi. 

وزارت خارجه ایران نصب تابلوهای ضدآمریکایی در سطح شهر تهران را غیرقانونی خواند

BBC's headline states that Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared the billboards erected around Tehran illegal. Here are some useful vocab from the headline.

وزرات - Ministry

خارجه - Foreign

وزرات خارجه ایران - Iranian Foreign Ministry

غیرقانونی - illegal

Now, onto the pictures.... I can understand why the Foreign Ministry asked that they be removed. Having pictures like these around cities would certainly make diplomacy more difficult.

  

News Post August 6, 2012

!سلام
A lot happened in Iran over the past weekend, so I thought I'd share some headlines from a handful of Persian newspapers and websites.

The most prominent event, of course, was the inauguration of new president Hasan Rowhani.

BBC Farsi published an article with this headline:

روحانی: رويكرد اصلی دولت زمينه سازی برای مشاركت مردم است

Vocabulary:

رويكرد - approach
اصلی - main
دولت - government
زمينه - background
سازی - of
مشاركت - participation
مردم - people

***Translation:

The other significant occurrence, which received less attention in the Western media, was Rowhani's proposal of cabinet members. Tabnak described Rowhani's cabinet proposals with the following headline from this article:

 

 کابینه پیشنهادی کابینه 50-50 است 

Vocabulary:

کابینه - cabinet
پیشنهادی - proposed

Translation: The proposed cabinet is the 50-50 cabinet

The article describes Rowhani's proposed cabinet as an even split of conservatives/principalists and reformers. The move was seen as a bit disappointing by reformists with high hopes following Rowhani's election.

 

Star Spangled Banner in Farsi

!سلام بچه ها


Recently, I've been listening to some Iranian songs to get more accustomed to hearing quickly spoken Persian. I've also been translating some of the lyrics and uploading them here. As an exercise in translating English to Persian, we thought it'd be cool to translate America's national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

The translation isn't exact because of the nature of the language used in the anthem, but it's pretty close:

بگو آیا می توانی با نور سحر ببینی
ما چه با غُروُر خواندیم در نور آخر گُرگ و میش؟
 
نَوارهای پهن و ستاره های روشن چه چیزی را
از میان جنگ خطرناک روی دیوار تماشا کردیم
که داشتند با افتخار پرواز می کردند؟
 
و نور قرمز موشک ها انفجار بمب ها در هوا
از میان شب اثبات کرد که پرچممان هنوز آنجا بود

بگو آیا آن پرچم پر ستاره هنوز پرواز می کند
بر فراز کشور آزادی و خانه شُجاعان؟

Useful Vocabulary:

 غُروُر - Pride
نور - Light
گُرگ و میش - Twilight (This literally means Wolf and Sheep. It's a very Persian way of saying a mixing of dark and light)
نَوار - Stripe
پهن - Broad  
ستاره - Stars
روشن - Bright 
از میان - Through, amongst 
جنگ - Fight, war 
خطرناک - Dangerous, perilous
افتخار - Honor
موشک - Missile
انفجار - Explosion, burst
بمب - Bomb
اثبات - Proof
پرچم - Flag
آزادی - Freedom
شُجاعان - Braves

Persian Comparative

Using the comparative in Persian is really quite simple! The notes in this post outline how to form comparative sentences, and also provide a few additional vocab words. I apologize if some of the light ink is hard to read!

 

 

 

Conditional Sentence Practice

A month ago I uploaded some notes that provide a high level overview of the rules and structures for conditional sentences in Persian. Here are some additional examples I wrote for practice.

 

 

Ahmadinejad Interview

One more thing I'd like to post today in addition to the song Ye Dokhtar and it's lyrics. Last week, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an interview in Iran where he reflected on his time in office. Soheil found a section that he thought encapsulated the interview, not to mention Ahmadinejad's attitude, very well.

رئیس‌ جمهور یادآور شد: ما تنها دولتی هستیم که به راحتی در تمام اجتماعات مردم وارد می‌شویم و این کار را بدون هیچ دغدغه‌ای انجام می‌دهیم. من خیلی راحت وسط مردم می‌روم ‌و مثل ماهی که وارد اقیانوس می‌شود، کیف می‌کنم. همه را دوست داریم و نمی‌توانیم دوست نداشته باشیم و من فکر می‌کنم ‌این فرهنگ دوباره در کشور ما احیا شده است. این فرهنگ در میان ما ایرانیان وجود داشته و خانواده‌ها در میان خود مسائل را حل می‌کردند و نمی‌گذاشتند کسی زمین بخورد اما در حال حاضر فاصله افتاده و باید این موضوع به صورت کامل احیا شود

Basic Translation:

The president noted: We are the only government that easily enters entire communities of people, and we do this work without any concern. I am very comfortable going in the middle of people (amongst the people), and like a fish entering the ocean this pleases me. We love all, and we are unable not to love (double negatives are allowed in Persian), and I think this culture has been resurrected/restored again in our country. This culture has existed between we Iranians, and families solved issues among themselves, and they didn't allow people to fall, but distance has fallen (between families) in present times and we should restore this issue to full form.


After reading this interview, I was reminded of a Persian word Soheil taught me: پر رو
The transliteration of this word is por roo. Por means full, and roo refers to the Persian word for face. It essentially means full of oneself, cocky, arrogant, etc. I'm sure after reading that excerpt you can understand why the word came to mind!