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What is Englisi Farsi?
… retention is higher when reading physical books over eBooks.
The story of Englisi Farsi is much like my own: a mom wanted to teach Farsi to her kids but couldn’t find quality materials for beginners. So she made her own!
The name comes from the Farsi word for English: اِنگلیسی (Engleesee) and is a nod to their trademarked phrase: “Finglisi” to describe transliterated Farsi script for English learners.
The catalog of books and digital materials is huge now, hopefully with more in the works. If you’re able to drop a bit of cash on a large purchase, you can get a significant discount when you buy a set of 15 books through their website. eBooks and digital materials are much cheaper than physical books, though I recommend physical copies if you can swing it. Setting aside the AAP recommendations around screen time, studies have shown retention is higher when reading physical books over eBooks.
About the Englisi Farsi Books
… they include the transliterations and vowels for every word…
Englisi Farsi makes word-builder books. Each shares common Farsi (Persian) vocabulary words for a theme: vehicles, fruits, and so on. Their Farsi alphabet book (اَلِفبایِ فارسی) is organized using the corresponding phonetic English letters, starting with ‘a’ sounds آ and اَ and ending with ‘z’ sounds ظ ,ز ,ذ ,ض. These books are wonderful for browsing with kids, talking about the pictures, and practicing the words.
Englisi Farsi books are also a nice reference to have around for kids (or yourself) asking “how do I say that again?” because they include the transliterations and vowel diacritics for every word, just like I do! No need to scour the internet or call up Mamanjoon to ask how to pronounce a word. It is so unusual to find the vowels marked or transliterations included in Farsi books, so these are rare gems!
Refer to the user guide in each Englisi Farsi book to help you pronounce each transliterated word. Something I especially appreciate is that some of the books are also available with audio through Apple Books!
Not Just Books: Farsi Learning Worksheets and More
These materials are accurate, high-quality, and adorable. Perfect for a Farsi language class!
Besides the word-building books, the Englisi Farsi website has a collection of preschool-age worksheets for tracing the Farsi alphabet, counting in Farsi, and more. The cost is pretty low considering the amount of time she must have spent creating them (and the expertise needed to do so)! It’s very hard to find high quality Farsi/Persian workbooks (and beware mass-produced and probably Google-translated workbooks and dictionaries from companies who sell them on Amazon in every language imaginable). These materials are accurate, high-quality, and adorable. Perfect for a Farsi language class! Be aware that their website defaults to AUD so the price will look inflated – once you enter your shipping info, the cart total will update to USD (or whatever your local currency is).
But wait.. there’s more. And it’s free!
Best Free Resources from the Englisi Farsi Website
Be sure to check all the free materials on their website! It’s so generous of them to share so many downloadables for nothing more than your email address. I can personally attest that they do not spam you with a ton of emails either. Here’s a list of my favorite resources that I honestly can’t believe are 100% free from Englisi Farsi!
- Persian Nursery Rhymes Printable Booklet
- My family has been reciting these nursery rhymes to my kid pretty much since she was born, but I had trouble remembering without being able to see them written down (I’m a very visual learner). I found this collection of transliterated rhymes helpful to learn them myself so I could understand and join the fun! For the Farsi script alongside transliterations and translations, check out the کِتاب (ketãb – book).
- Favorite Persian Words & Phrases
- Some of our favorite words made the list too! This is a great list to get you started with the writing activities in my next post.
- Farsi Alphabet Flashcards (Black and White) or Full Color
- This free download includes the Farsi alphabet and numbers 1-10, and is a great resource to use with the Alefbaye Farsi (اَلِفبایِ فارسی – Álefbãyeh Fãrsee) learning activities in my previous post! You could print them on thick cardstock or laminate them (with pouches like these or just plain clear packing tape) to be more durable.
Based in Australia, you can get Englisi Farsi books worldwide pretty much wherever books are sold online. Check out my list on Bookshop.org, shop Amazon, or visit Englisi Farsi directly for discounted sets of books. At the time of publishing this post, the best deal is on 15 book sets.
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What are your favorite Farsi learning resources?
I hope these suggestions help bring some joy into your playtime, with the added benefit of learning Farsi together as a family! Do you have any Farsi learning resources you’d like to share with my readers? Music, books, or websites you think are stellar? Send me an email (maia@littlefarsibooks.com) or contact me with this form!