What's the minimum number of words you need to know to be fluent in Persian?

The country has a lot of dialects, are there some words that everyone uses throughout the country?

How do you build a vocabulary? It's best to start with the basics and an understanding of grammar and how to build words out of parts, the prefixes, suffixes, verb stems and so forth. After you are versed in this you can start to build up vocabulary. Sometimes a new word will be a whole new concept, sometimes it's just another way to say something that you already have a word for, a variation on a theme. As with music, variations on a theme are what add interest to a song and make it refreshing.

Your best friend is the dictionary. How to use it. One dictionary is not enough. The more dictionaries you consult, the better, as each one will explain things slightly differently.

You need to look up words as you encounter them. Some might say that in order to expand your vocabulary you should just get lists of words and try to memorize them. This is possible, but it won't work that well with your brain. The brain tries to map out associations between words so that meaning becomes relational. It's best, therefore to, as mentioned, start with a good grasp of grammar, and then pursue words in related groups, thematic units.

Oh, and don't forget Arabic influence. A special study of and understanding of this will amplify your ability to pick up Persian vocabulary.

We will be providing some thematic units on this website, and eventually in book form that focus on ways to learn groups of words in a contemporary, relevant manner. And, as you can see from the right column, we are already grouping words into themes in our Magnet kits.