#goftogu

Last week, I took a trip to a Philadelphia Moroccan restaurant, Marrakesh, with the Penn Persian Society. Most of the members grew up in Iran and speak fluent Persian, so this event was a great way to practice my Persian-speaking skills. While we were eating our food, I took the time to have a goftogu with one of the other members who grew up in Iran, Sana. Attempting to use as much Persian as possible, I talked to Sana about why she chose to come to the US for college. There were times I did not know specific words in Persian, and Sana helped me by teaching me new words. Through the conversation, I learned a lot about the Iranian education system; specifically, I found out that students that place highly in a national science olympiad competition do not have to take the national concours exam to receive a spot to go to an Iranian university. I really enjoyed the experience because I could see how happy these Persians were to share their language with me. As Sana and I spoke, many other people at the table would chime in and teach me new words as well. This experience did not challenge any preconceptions or stereotypes for me, but reinforced the welcoming attitude of Persian people when sharing their culture. This was very different from other language experiences I have had; for example, when I try to practice my French in France, the people always switch to English and do not want to speak to me in French.

This Thanksgiving break, I had the pleasure of spending time with my cousin and uncle who were visiting from Iran. My uncle does not know English, so I have never really had the chance to talk to him. Using my new Persian skills (with help from my cousin who helped me with new vocabulary), I was able to tell him what things I was planning on baking for Thanksgiving, and ask him which desserts he would like. I had a lot of fun because I have spent a lot of time around my uncle throughout the years, but we have never had a way to communicate until now. Something that surprised me was that a lot of words are the same in both English and Persian. For example, the words “tart,” and “pie” were the same in both languages. 

I don’t think this experience challenged any stereotypes, but I did find it very interesting that the two languages have so much similar vocabulary. I also noticed that even when I made mistakes, my uncle was able to understand exactly what I was trying to say. Also, when I would pronounce an English word in a Persian accent, a lot of times my uncle knew exactly what I was talking about, even though he does not know English. This experience showed me that English and Persian have a lot of similar words, and that Persian-speaking people have a very flexible understanding of their language and can adapt it to understand people speaking other languages. 

-Julia K