[Class ambience]

S: I see picture beautiful. T: Oh, you mean, “I see a beautiful picture.” S: Yes, beautiful picture. T: What’s your favorite fruit? S: I love apple. T: Hmm…you mean apples, right? S: Yes apples. T: What do you do in your free time? S: I’m listening to music. I’m drinking coffee. T: You mean now or always?

میخوام بگم موسیقی گوش میدم، قهوه میخورم....

Always: S T: So, you say “I listen to music, I drink coffee.” T: What did you do on the weekend? S: Teacher, went to park and ate kebab. T: Uh-huh. Who did that? S: Teacher, I. T: So, I… S: I went to park and ate kebab.

اگه زبان آموز هستید حتما باید براتون پیش اومده باشه که بخاطر اشتباهات کوچیک و تکراری کلافه شده باشین. ولی واقعا به نظرتون چرا این اتفاق میوفته؟ چی میشه که هر چقدر هم حواسمون رو جمع می کنیم یه سری از اشتباهات رو هی تکرار می کنیم؟ تقصیر کیه واقعا؟ زبان آموز؟ استاد؟ کتاب؟ آموزشگاه؟ یا...؟ از همین اول خیالتون رو راحت کنم که نه تقصیر زبان آموزه و نه هیچ کدوم این موارد. ولی اگه دوست دارین بدونین تقصیر کیه و چرا این اتفاق میفته با من همراه بشین. قول میدم هم سورپرایز بشین و هم اینکه با نکاتی که یاد می گیرین دیگه این اشتباهات رو کمتر تکرار کنین.

Do you ever wish there was only one language in the whole world so you wouldn’t have to learn a foreign language? Or perhaps, all languages had similar structures so learning would be easier? I’m Edith, your host and together with my colleagues we’re going to tell you about something that might surprise you and at the same time relieve you from the stress of errors and common mistakes of English. So, follow through. I promise you’re gonna love it. Imagine you hear a Frenchman or say, a Chinese or an Indian guy speak English? In most cases you can quickly figure out from their accent where they are from. But have you wondered why? I believe you already know the answer; their mother tongue! Right, the effect and influence of our mother tongue is so great that it can affect the way we learn or speak a foreign language. Each language has its own characteristics in terms of structure, pronunciation and the like and we tend to carry those characteristics to the new language we are trying to learn or speak. In other words, we speak a language with the structure of another language. Now, if the two languages are way too different, what we say may either sound funny or we’ll end up being misunderstood. But let’s not forget that languages do have similarities too. All that remains, is how we make use of them to our own benefit.

حتما تا حالا پیش اومده براتون که از لهجه کسی متوجه بشین اهل کجاست. مثال یه هندی رو درنظر بگیرین که انگلیسی صحبت میکنه. در برخورد اول حس می کنین داره هندی صحبت میکنه ولی وقتی خوب گوش میدین، متوجه میشین انگلیسیه. گفتیم دلیلش اینه که زبان مادری تاثیر بسیار زیادی در نحوه یادگیری و صحبت کردن به یه زبان دیگه داره. چرا؟ چون ساختار زبان مادری رو ناخودآگاه با خودمون به یه زبان دیگه می بریم. حالا اگه زبان مادری و زبان خارجی با هم خیلی متفاوت باشن، که خیلی وقتها همینطوره، زبان خارجی رو با ساختار زبان مادری صحبت می کنیم که خب یا خنده داره یا اینکه باعث سوءتفاهم میشه. البته یادمون باشه که زبانهای مختلف شباهتهای زیادی هم میتونن داشته باشن. تنها چیزی که میمونه اینه که چطور این شباهت و تفاوتها رو به نفع خودمون استفاده کنیم.

So, the languages we are discussing here are English and Persian or Farsi and we wanna see how comparing these two can help us learn and speak them better. We will address some of the most common areas of difference between the two which are mostly responsible for the errors and mistakes Iranian learners of English make.

زبانهایی که امروز مقایسه می کنیم فارسی و انگلیسی هستند و قراره به چند مورد از رایج ترین اشتباهاتی اشاره کنیم که زبان آموزان فارسی زبان به خاطر تفاوت این دو زبان مرتکب میشن.

Now, let’s begin with intonation: Alireza, as an experienced teacher, what are some of the most common mistakes our learners make when learning English? A: Well, I once heard someone saying that Farsi is a musical language, which I kind of agree. In Farsi the intonation we have, especially when asking questions, has a lot of rise and fall and is very different from that of English. E: Yeah right. Can you make some examples? A: Sure. For instance, take the following in Farsi: میای بریم سینما؟ Now, when this same sentence is said in English by a Persian speaker it may sound like: “will you go to cinema with me?” [Farsi intonation] which is wrong and it may sound funny for a native listener. E: So, what is the correct intonation in English? A: You see, depending on the type of question, there are two types of intonation; rising and falling. If you wanna ask a yes/no question, your intonation is rising and if the question is Wh-word, then the intonation should be falling. In farsi, almost all questions are asked with a rising intonation. Now, let’s make some more examples: For yes/no Q: Did you see Jack? [rising intonation] دیدی؟ جکو For wh-Q: Where did you see him? [falling intonation] دیدیش؟ کجا E: Hmm…interesting! I guess it’s mainly because in Farsi the structure of y/n question and the declarative sentence is the same, and the only difference is the intonation. A: Yeah, right.

خب، یکی از مواردی که بهش بر می خوریم لحن یا intonation هست. در زبان فارسی، مخصوصا زمان پرسیدن سوال، لحن ما خیلی بالا و پایین میشه. در حالیکه در انگلیسی مشخصه که چه نوع جمله یا سوالی چه نوع intonation داره. مثال میگیم: جکو دیدی؟ کجا دیدیش؟ این دو تا سوال از نظر ساختاری متفاوت ولی از نظر intonation تقریبا شبیه همن در حالیکه اگه همین جملات رو به انگلیسی بگیم متفاوتند. برای question no/yes باید intonation به سمت بالا و برای word-Wh باید به سمت پایین باشه. مثال: Did you see Jack? [rising] و Where did you see him? [falling] یه نکته دیگه هم اینه که در فارسی ساختار جمله خبری و question no/yes یکیه و فقط با intonation مشخص میشه کدوم جمله و کدوم سواله. مثال جکو دیدی. )جمله ست( و جکو دیدی؟ )سواله(

E: Ok. Now, another major area of difference between Farsi and English is the word order. Zhubin, how are Farsi and English different in this regard? Z: Well, one of the first things we learn is that the word order of a sentence in English is SVO; in other words, Subject+verb+object. For instance, “she ate the cake.” In Farsi however, the word order is SOV, meaning sub.+obj.+verb. for example: .خورد را کیک او Now, another very important point here is that in Farsi verbs are inflected; میشن صرف افعال فارسی زبان در یعنی , and you can have a sentence without an obvious subject. You can simply say: .خورد را کیک This can sometimes cause learners to make sentences without a subject, like: “ate the cake!” Which is wrong. E: Exactly, especially in elementary levels this mistake is very common and it shows the student is thinking in Persian and speaking English. You have to keep reminding them of the subject. یه تفاوت عمده دیگه در فارسی و انگلیسی ترتیب کلمات جمله ست. در انگلیسی به صورت فاعل، فعل و مفعول هست و در فارسی فاعل، مفعول و فعل! مثل نمونه هایی که گفته شد. و اینکه یادمون نره که در فارسی افعال صرف میشن و خود فعل فاعل رو نشون میده در حالیکه در انگلیسی اینطور نیست و جمله حتما حتما باید فاعل داشته باشه. اگه مثال برای "کیک خوردم" بگید cake ate مشخص نیست که چه کسی کیک رو خورد. پس جمله تون اشتباهه.

Z: Right. And one more problem related to word order is adjective + noun in English, which is right the opposite in Persian. A nice day vs. خوب روز E: Oh, right, right. This is very often confused. So, remember the way we put words together to make a sentence is different in English and Persian.

یه تفاوت دیگه از نظر ترتیب کلمات هم در مورد اسم و صفت هست که در انگلیسی درست برعکس فارسیه. در انگلیسی میگیم day nice a در حالیکه در فارسی میگیم یه روز خوب.

E: Now, what about verb tenses? Do we have the same tenses and are they used in the same way? A: There are fewer tenses in Farsi than in English and they definitely are not used in the same way. Take the present simple and progressive in English, for instance. The simple form goes like “She lives here.” And the progressive is “she’s living here.” Now, for both of these in Farsi we say: ".میکند زندگی اینجا او E: This is mostly true about formal Persian. But there is one point that can help learners choose the correct form. In colloquial Persian, the sentence goes like: .میکند ی زندگ اینجا دارد او In other words, you add the verb “dashtan” to make it progressive. A: You are absolutely right. So, this can sometimes confuse students as to which form to use.

از موارد دیگه ای که ممکنه چالش یادگیری انگلیسی را ، خصوصا برای زبان آموز فارسی زبان بیشترکنه اینکه که فارسی غیر رسمی و محاوره ای با فارسی رسمی خیلی فرق داره . این تفاوت وقتی زبان آموز به فارسی فکر میکنه و به انگلیسی صحبت میکنه بیشتربه چشم میاد. مثلا در حال ساده و استمراری در زبان فارسی رسمی به یه شکل استفاده میشه و فقط در فارسی محاوره ایه که متفاوته. مثلا جمله ی : او اینجا زندگی می کند در فارسی میتونه هم ساده باشه و هم استمراری در حالیکه فرم انگلیسی این دو زمان با هم فرق داره میکنه. حال ساده رو به صورت she lives here و حال استمراری رو به صورت She’s living here بکار می بریم. ولی در فارسی محاوره اون اینجا زندگی میکنه استفادهمیشه یعنی از داره استفاده می کنیم .

E: Right. Another tense which seems really problematic for Iranian learners of English is the present perfect. In other words, to distinguish between simple past and present perfect. A: Oh, yeah. That’s a big one! Z: Absolutely. It takes such a long time and so much effort for them to use these two correctly. E: Exactly. But there is one little point knowing which can ease the learning very much. You see, in spoken Farsi, just a little sound and sometimes the intonation shows which is which. While in English they are structured differently. In English we say: Did you write a letter? to refer to past simple and “ have you written a letter.” for present perfect. The structure for both in Farsi is: نامه نوشتی .The only difference here is the intonation and focus. For simple past we say: نامه نوشتی؟ having the stress on "نامه" and for present perfect we say: نامه نوشتی with the stress on نوشتی which in fact means: ن