Student Feedback for Partoo

"Very impressive tutoring skills and system of teaching Farsi!"

- Larry from Harpers Ferry, WV

I was most favorably impressed with my tutor's desire that our first meeting be at a fine local Persian restaurant so we could begin with some cultural immersion in both the food and the language. She patiently assessed my commitment to learning the language. She was very patient with my clumsy Farsi skills that I learned previously by using the Pimsleur "Farsi Persian I" course on my own.

She observed that audio courses help students "get an ear" for Farsi, but without live differentiated feedback from a native-speaker, coupled with learning the basics of written Farsi, most variations of word endings and tenses remain confusing to audio-only learners. Although the audio assisted me with many word/phrase pronunciations, many of the words and phrases I learned are arcane to today's native Farsi speakers, but some were spot on.

We began our first lesson after lunch in her private office nearby with 6 basic letters of the Persian alphabet along with basic accent marks and their sound-changing meanings. We then built basic words from these few basic letters (water, father, gave, baby). I next learned how to write and pronounce the letters & accents that we combined to make very simple sentences. I never expected I would learn to read and write Farsi (Big Bonus!), because I thought it was too complex for me, but now I have confidence I can learn it from my new tutor.

This is only a hobby for me now. I believe anyone could benefit from learning another language and another culture. I think you can only truly understand a culture if you know their language. I love Persian food, which is why I started to learn the language. I have known several Persian-American friends and coworkers, and believe them all to be good people and hardworking Americans.

I look forward to a greater understanding of the Persian language and culture that these lessons will bring me. Since Farsi skills are greatly "in-demand" by the U.S. Government, having another job skill for the future is always a good thing as well!