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What is this man doing?
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dodging a flame thrower;
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dancing in Jerry Bruckheimer's "Swan Lake";
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taking off with his rocket propelled back pack
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sacrificing himself by throwing his body on the fire to put it out and save
all those
people behind him;
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leaping over fire in an ancient pre-new years purification rite.
For Answer Click Here.
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 Proper Care and Feeding for Your Heritage Language |
Did you know that in America, an immigrant population loses its heritage language
(the language of its country of origin) within three generations?
We can see this happening in the Iranian community. Among the second
and third generation the use of spoken Persian (a.k.a. Farsi)
is limited to joking, small talk and pleasantries.
Professional level and intellectual
conversations shift to English. As for written
Persian, many second generation Iranians have given
up on it. Some go so far as to say
“it looks Chinese to me”. The others rarely read or write it.
The
problem is, of course, that English is all around
you, and Persian is not. Thus ajabanzabAn is committed to making products that make the
Persian language more ubiquitous (ever-present) and interactive
in Persian and American homes. Our first products are the double sided Persian-English
Magnetic Word Play kits, but many more cool games, books and toys are being developed. Check
back at this site for updates! How Persian-English Word Magnets can help you bond with your heritage language.
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Traditionally,
word magnets have been used in the English speaking
community for fun. The idea is that you just slap
them on the refrigerator and leave them there.
Day after day, you pause a moment or two
in front of the words, make a sentence or phrase as the muse strikes, and generally bond with language. With our
word magnets, this fun bonding experience is now available to the
Iranian community, and anyone who wants to learn Persian.
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At first
you
may feel uncomfortable with Persian script. Luckily,
these magnets have the English translation
and transliteration
right
there
on the back. After turning the magnet over enough
times, you will find that you have learned
the word
and no longer need
to turn
it over.
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According to the literature on phonics,
it takes about 38 encounters
with
a new word before you learn to recognize it on
sight. This may seem like a lot, but just think:
with the words on the refrigerator,
you will achieve this number of encounters quickly
and painlessly, during your normal process of
getting
snacks. In short, while you
are
hanging out in the kitchen, having random fun
with a bunch of word magnets, you are engaged
in a process that will help you
to achieve one of the most important goals of
literacy: Subconscious Word Recognition. Poor readers transform into fluent readers once their
brains are able to recognize words as a whole,
on a subconscious level, without having to analyze
them. There is actually a section
of the brain devoted to this. Once you become
fluent, that part of your brain will glow while
you read. It’s really cool.
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Do you suffer from "Assimilation Anxiety"?
- Useful Links about Heritage Languages
What about other languages spoken by the People of Iran?
- Check out the Armenian Alphabet! Note that "Armenian and Persian are both Indo-European languages, but on separate main branches.
Armenian is the single language
on its own branch and is
quite different from other I-E languages.
However, the Armenians and Persians are geographically
close so Armenian has a lot
of Persian loan words. Many
Armenians, I believe, actually live
in Iran." - Dr. Linda Godson, Portland University.
- Check out the Kurdish Alphabet!
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