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Learn Persian/Farsi

What are the best apps to learn Persian?

In this article we compare apps and learning software that you can use to learn Persian (also called Farsi). Duolingo and Babbel don't offer Persian courses, while Mondly and Rosetta Stone do.

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Overview of the Persian Language

Persian or Farsi is an Indo-European language, which means that it is much more similar to European languages than Arabic or Turkish, for example.

Persian has 70 million native speakers and around 100 million speakers in total — mostly in Iran and Tajikistan.

The language of Tajikistan is a dialect of Persian, so that Iranians and Tajiks can easily understand each other.

However, these two languages have different alphabets due to their history. The Persian script is based on the Arabic script, while Tajik uses a Cyrillic script (like Russian).

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After this introductory overview, let's now take a look at all the apps and learning software that can be used to learn Persian/Farsi.

A compact overview of all the Persian learning apps can be found below.


Mondly Persian App

Best Alternative to Duolingo or Babbel

The Mondly App lets you learn the Persian language in a playful way with a series of interactive exercises.

There are over 1000 lessons in total and 5000 Persian words spoken by native speakers in the vocabulary trainer.

You can freely choose which of the 40 topics you want to learn and in what order, including Persian grammar and verb conjugations.

In addition, there is a Persian conversation trainer (speech recognition) for the most common types of conversations in everyday life.

Mondly has around 45 million users worldwide. This language course has the advantage of having 41 source languages and 41 target languages.

Summary: Mondly is very similar to the Babbel and Duolingo apps and is just as good in terms of quality (Babbel does not have a Persian course).

Link: Mondly Persian App and Online Course


Persian Basic Course

From 17 Minute Languages

Systems: Online Access (PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS)

Suitable for: Beginners and Advanced Learners, Students, Professionals

Content: 1300 words (basic course), 5200 words (complete course), grammar, verb conjugations, exercises

Prices: USD 29,95 (Basic Course), USD 97 (Complete Course)

Overall Value:

The Persian Basic Course consists of a vocabulary trainer for the Farsi basics (1300 words) with native-speaker audio, as well as Persian grammar explanations and various exercises.

The vocabulary trainer works with a long-term memory method, in which the new vocabulary is checked at increasing intervals.

You can choose between text input, multiple choice or simply confirming whether you knew a word or not.

The exercises include text comprehension questions, filling in word gaps or just vocabulary lists where the English or Persian side is covered.

The basic course corresponds to the official language levels A1 and A2 (explanation of CEFR language levels).

The Complete Course contains:

  • Basic course for beginners (basic vocabulary with 1300 words)
  • Intermediate course (1800 more words)
  • Advanced course for experts (2100 words)
  • Additional specialized vocabulary
  • Covers the official CEFR language levels A1 to C2

Summary: Much cheaper and even better than the famous Rosetta Stone. There is a free demo version available and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Link: Persian Basic Course and Complete Course


Rosetta Stone: Persian

Most Famous Language Learning App

Systems: PC, Mac, Android, iOS Apps

Suitable for: Beginners, intermediate, experts, professionals, business

Content: Persian lessons with native speaker audio and speech recognition

Prices:
USD   36 (3 months)
USD 145 (12 months)
USD 299 (Lifetime access)
USD 349 (Lifetime access for 24 languages)

Overall Value:

How does Persian learning with Rosetta Stone work?

Rosetta Stone has a different approach to language learning than many other online courses or language apps such as Duolingo, Memrise and others.

The idea behind Rosetta Stone is to learn a language like you did as a child - by using pictures in combination with listening, speaking, and reading.

Each Rosetta Stone lesson includes the following exercises:

  • Pronounce the words or phrases correctly (speech recognition)
  • When reading or hearing a word, click on the correct picture
  • When looking at a picture, click on the correct word
  • Type in a spoken word correctly, etc.
A possible disadvantage of Rosetta Stone is that there are no grammar explanations or translations of the Persian vocabulary.

Instead, you are supposed to learn the Farsi grammar and the meaning of words from the context or recognize the meaning from the pictures.

Rosetta Stone Apps and Online Version:

The Rosetta Stone Persian learning software can be used online with a subscription for 3 or 12 months or with a Lifetime Access.

In addition to the online version, there are now also Rosetta Stone apps for iPhones and Android smartphones.

Summary: Time-tested method, but the lack of grammar explanations and translations may make Rosetta Stone not suitable for everyone.

Link: Rosetta Stone App and Online Course


Memrise Persian App

App with User-Generated Lessons

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Persian lessons and vocabulary trainer with native speaker audio, grammar

Prices: USD 8,99 (1 month), USD 60 (12 months), USD 110 (unlimited)

Overall Value:

With the Memrise App you can learn over 90 languages.

This includes even very small languages - however, in such cases the language courses are often limited to just a few lessons.

One special feature of the Memrise learning app is the large number of lessons created by users (native speakers).

However, the quality of these lessons varies greatly. For example, only the basic forms of verbs are usually taught, without the conjugations. Some languages also do not have an audio recording of the words at all.

Another good idea of the Memrise app are the user-generated tips and mnemonics for each word to help you memorize them.

Summary: User-generated lessons are a good idea. In practice, the quality of the lessons leaves a lot be desired.


Bluebird Persian App

Persian Lessons and Exercises

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Persian lessons and exercises with voice output and speech recognition

Prices: USD 9.99 (1 month), USD 100 (12 months), USD 200 (unlimited), USD 400 (163 languages)

Overall Value:

The Bluebird App offers 146 source languages and 163 target languages and dialects, including Persian.

The Persian language course in this app includes the following:

  • Daily video lessons at three difficulty levels.
  • Basic Persian vocabulary on several dozen topics
  • Common Persian verbs with conjugations
  • Analysis of your pronunciation (with speech recognition)
  • Tests: listening comprehension, filling in word gaps, quizzes
For Persian, there are about 500 video lessons, each 5 to 60 minutes long. For languages with other scripts, the words can also be displayed trans­lite­rated in the Western script.

The Bluebird App does not have grammar lessons. Instead, you are suppo­sed to understand the grammar "implicitly" from the examples, same as in Rosetta Stone.

Summary: The video lessons and the interface require some getting used to, but the exercises are quite varied. Especially for smaller languages, this app is an acceptable alternative.


Ling Persian App

Gamified Language Learning

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Persian lessons and exercises

Prices: USD 8.99 (1 month), USD 42 (12 months),
USD 110 (unlimited)

Overall Value:

The Master Ling App offers language lessons for 52 languages and is quite similar to famous apps like Duolingo, Babbel or Mondly.

This Persian learning app is based on "gamified learning", which means learning a foreign language in a playful way. There are mini-games, experience points, levels, quizzes and exercises.

Grammar explanations are not included and the vocabulary is limited to only 1000 Persian words and phrases. Each Farsi word and phrase has recorded native speaker audio and pictures.

Unfortunately, the translations are also often inaccurate or wrong, for which the app even has an error reporting button.

This app also has an entry test to determine your Persian proficiency level.

Summary: Good ideas, but rather poor implementation and not enough vocabulary to justify this price.


Drops Persian App

Alternative to Babbel and Duolingo

Systems: Android App, iPhone App, Online-Version (PC and Mac)

Content: Persian lessons and exercises with native-speaker audio

Prices: USD 13.30 (1 month), USD 72 (12 months), USD 164 (unlimited)

Overall Value:

The Language Drops App is most notable for having 47 target languages and 40 source languages, similar to Mondly.

You can learn about 3000 Persian words and phrases with this app. However, there are hardly any exercises, except for introducing a new word and matching the word to a picture.

You can choose from which topics you want to learn new Farsi words and at what skill level you want to learn (whether you know the language somewhat).

If you want to try the app for free for two weeks you have to provide your payment information and then cancel it.

The "deal" you get when you sign up for the free trial is more than 3 times as expensive as when you click "Get Premium" on the website (USD 38 per month instead of USD 13.30 per month).

Summary: No variety, no grammar and only 3000 words. Does not justify the higher price, even though you get access to all languages.


Simya Persian App

Not really recommended

Systems: Android App, iPhone App

Content: Vocabulary trainer for Persian learning

Prices: USD 9,99 (1000 words), USD 59 (1000 words in 50 languages)

Overall Value:

The Simya App for Android and iOS is purely a vocabulary trainer for 50 languages, including Persian.

The free version contains 300 words and has very frequent "ad breaks". The paid version (without ads) also contains only 1000 words and phrases.

All the words have native speaker audio and you can use the app offline too.

Persian/Farsi grammar and verb conjugations are not included in this app.

Summary: Not really worth it, as there are much better alternatives like Mondly, Rosetta Stone or even Duolingo.


Pimsleur Persian App

Beginner Course for a Premium Price

Systems: PC and Mac (incl. Mobile App)

Suitabe for: Beginners, students, travel vocabulary

Content: Persian vocabulary, lessons with native-speaker audio and voice recognition

Price: USD 120 (Beginner course download)

Overall Value:

The Pimsleur App is very similar to Rosetta Stone (Rosetta Stone does not have a Persian course) in that it does not give grammar explanations, verb conjugation tables, etc.

Instead, the Pimsleur method is supposed to let you learn the Persian/Farsi language intuitively, just like your native language - by combining pictures, reading and speaking (speech recognition).

This Persian learning course for PCs and Macs also includes a mobile app for Android and iOS systems.

Summary: The most expensive Persian basics course, even though it is unlikely that learning with it is much better than with the cheaper apps.


Overview of the Persian/Farsi Learning Apps:

Learning App Subscrip-
tion?
Price Systems Value
17 Minutes
(Basics)
No
$29
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
17 Minutes
(Complete)
No
$97
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Mondly
No
$99
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Mondly
Yes
(1 month)
$10
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Mondly
Yes
(12 months)
$48
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rosetta Stone
No
$299
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rosetta Stone
Yes
(3 months)
$36
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Rosetta Stone
Yes
(12 months)
$145
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Bluebird
Yes
(1 month)
$10
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Bluebird
Yes
(12 months)
$100
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Memrise
Yes
(1 month)
$9
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Memrise
Yes
(12 months)
$60
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Memrise
No
$110
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Master Ling
No
$110
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Master Ling
Yes
(1 month)
$9
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Master Ling
Yes
(12 months)
$42
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Drops
No
$164
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Drops
Yes
(1 month)
$13
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Drops
Yes
(12 months)
$72
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
Simya
(1 language)
No
$10
Android, iOS
Simya
(50 languages)
No
$59
Android, iOS
Pimsleur
(Basics)
No
$120
PC, Mac, Android, iOS
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