Kaveh Hoda is a physician, musician and host of the medical podcast House of Pod in San Francisco. His expertise is in gastroenterology, hepatology and, according to him, making fun of medical grifters. He cohosts the humor adjacent medical podcast, the House of Pod, which is how I first learned ...

Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation

Growing Up Irooni- House of Pod's Kaveh Hoda on being Iranian in Medicine

My name is Leyla Shams, host of the Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation podcast. Today’s interview is with Mohammad Ali, better known as Persian poetics on both Instagram and twitter. He went viral just a few months ago on a twitter thread where he talked about the bestselling poetry book in...

Growing Up Irooni- Persian Poetics, Growing Up in Detroit and Discovering the Love of Poetry

In this lesson, we go over the first half of Ahmad Shamlou&#39;s poem, Rāz. Here is the Persian script and English transliteration of this section: با من رازی بودکه به کوه گفتمبا من رازی بودکه به چاه گفتمتو راه درازبه اسب سیاه گفتمبیکس و تنهابه سنگای راه گفتم <strong>bā man rāzee bood,</strong><stron...

Ahmad Shamlou - Raz, Part 2

In this lesson, we introduce the iconic Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou, and talk about his poem ‘Raz’ or راز, meaning ‘the secret’. Shamlou was born in 1925 in Rasht, and he died in 2000, after a few years of health problems. He went through a few revolutions, he was put in jail and he was a journali...

Ahmad Shamlou - Raz, Part 1 with Tehran von Ghasri

John Ghazvinian joins us to talk about his new book, America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present, a comprehensive new survey of the bilateral relationship, based on years of archival research in both Iran and the United States, which he has been working on since 2008. For the past many decad...

Growing Up Irooni- John Ghazvinian on America and Iran: A History, 1720 to the Present

Yara Elmjouie is a Webby Award-wnning, James Beard-nominated video producer, journalist, and host at AJ+. He&#39;s also a great voice in the Iranian American community, creating engaging videos explaining current conditions in Iran, and documenting the experiences of Iranian Americans. He was born in...

Growing Up Irooni- Yara Elmjouie

Leyla Shams: First, I want to ask you to tell me a little bit about your background. Where were you born and where what is your language background?

Raising Neem-Roonis Interview with Azadeh Shams

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we learn the common terms for body. The word for 'body' in Persian is badan. In this unit of Chai and Conversation, we are learning several vocabulary words related to a certain theme at once. Listen to the lesson for many different words associated with bodies. Many common words we cover in the lesson are in the list below.

Lesson 87: Parts of the Body (Vocabulary Sprint)

This Persian (Farsi) lesson is all about the wonderful words of sports- or varzesh in Persian. Varzesh literally means physical exercise, but it's the word used for sports as well. Many of the words for different sports in the Persian language come directly from the western word, but some of them are different. The most common sport in Iran (and in many, many parts of the world) is soccer, which in Persian is footbāl. The sport we know of as 'football' in the United States is called footbāl āmrikāyee (American football) in Persian.

Lesson 86: Sports (Vocabulary Sprint)

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we learn the common terms for members of a family. Family in Persian is khānevādé. In this unit of Chai and Conversation, we are learning several vocabulary words related to a certain theme at once. Listen to the lesson for many different words associated with families. Many common words are in the list below. Listen to the lesson for many other words related to this topic. father pedar

Lesson 85: Family (Vocabulary Sprint)

In this Persian / Farsi lesson, we go over vocabulary needed to talk about the home. In Persian, house is called 'khooné' (in written Persian, it's khāné). Different rooms in the house include:

Lesson 84: House / Home (Vocabulary Sprint)

Tehran Von Ghasri is a half African American, half Iranian comedian who reads and speaks Farsi fluently. Originally, I wanted to interview Tehran to ask him about being raised in a half Iranian family and how his father managed to keep him interested in the Persian language and culture. However, our interview took place a couple weeks after the Black Lives Matter movement erupted in the United States and all over the world following the death of Geroge Floyd.

Growing Up Neem-Rooni- An Interview with Tehran von Ghasri

In this lesson, Leyla and her husband Chris go over how to talk about emotions in the Persian language. This lesson is part of the vocabulary sprint series, so they go over several vocabulary words around the theme of feelings and emotions.

Lesson 83: Emotion (Vocabulary Sprint)

This Raising Neem-Roonis interview features Shabnam Rezaei, cofounder of Big Bad Boo, an animation studio featuring cartoons with multicultural themes and diverse languages. Shabnam is the mother of two Neem-Rooni daughters, and the only one of our interviewees that managed to keep her children speaking fluent Persian despite growing up in New York City and having a non-Iranian father. Listen to find ot how she did it!

Raising Neem-Roonis- An Interview with Shabnam Rezaei

In this conversation with Adib Khorram, young adult fiction writer, we get to hear about the experiences of growing up as a neem-Rooni. Adib was raised in Kansas City, Missouri by an Iranian father and American mother. He didn't grow up speaking the language, but grew up infused in the culture, which he learned to appreciate after going off to college. He had some great insight and wisdom to share about passing on Iranian language and culture to the next generation.

Growing Up Neem-Rooni- An Interview with Adib Khorram

Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation teaches you conversational Persian in a fun and casual manner in weekly lessons of about 15-20 minutes each. Check out our website chaiandconversation.com for more information.