A Bit of Texas in Tajikistan

I'm a student studying abroad in Tajikistan to learn Persian for about 2 months. Here are some of my thoughts, photos, and adventures!

[carolineintajikistan]

Hey Caroline. How's it going? My girlfriend is looking at studying Persian over there, but we need to get her a student visa. DO you know if the Ped institute sort them out? P.s. have you seen anywhere teaching Spanish? She is a teacher and would also like to work there.

Hello!

Thank you so much for messaging, but I’m afraid I had very little experience with the Ped Institute itself. We mainly knew of it as a landmark to orient ourselves around while exploring the city.

I did a quick internet search and found these two resources with info about getting student visas though! (X) (X)From conversations with my classmates though, it sounds like getting a student or even a worker visa to Tajikistan is fairly easy. One of my classmates literally went to Tajikistan on a worker’s visa without a set plan (the first time he went), and he taught people English for about a semester.

As for people learning Spanish, I’m not sure if that interest is there. Most of the people in Tajikistan know at least 2-3 languages (typically Tajik, Uzbek, and Russian) and many want to learn English before Spanish. If your girlfriend brushes up on her English grammar, she could probably teach that!

[carolineintajikistan]

Hello! I am really interested in learning the Tajiki language (and possibly Farsi also)! I haven't been able to find any teachers, classes, or tutors... Do you have any tips for learning the language?

Hello!

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I have no idea why tumblr didn’t actually tell me that I got this message until I went down and read through my inboxes XD

ANYWAYS, it might be hard to learn specifically Tajik because it’s a pretty specific dialect of Persian. If schools have Persian language programs, it will most likely be in Farsi. HOWEVER, Tajik and Farsi are very similar, they mainly vary in the way things are pronounced and written language, So if you know your school has Farsi, you can take those classes to learn basic grammar and start learning vocabulary. After getting a grasp of how the language basically works, you can shift over to Tajik using resources online.

I don’t know too many resources, but one that I know has at least a LITTLE bit of Tajik is Memrise. I used to use Memrise a lot to learn vocabulary outside of class.

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!

[carolineintajikistan]

Is there a level of formal Persian study needed to participate in your program? How many Iran-Americans participate?

Hello!

Sorry for taking so long to reply, this summer I've been busy traveling across the North American continent. But I'm back!For the American Councils program, they ask for at least 2 years (or equivalent) of study before coming to the program. As for Iran-Americans, there was one student from my summer who was Iran-American. She's a Near-East Studies grad student, and she enjoyed her experience very much.

One thing I must clarify before you apply to the program is that Tajikistan is very different from Iran. Of course, you probably know that, but when I talked to my Iran-American friend about some of the dialect differences between Tajik and Farsi, she was incredibly weirded out.

If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to email the program at ([email protected]) and the website is here.

[khorpushtak]

[fuckyeahthestans]

TAJIKISTAN. Iskanderkul (Lake Alexander, named after Alexander The Great). © 2005-2013 Damon Lynch 

[fuckyeahthestans]

Tajik eagle dance. Learn more about the dance here. 

[mountainish]

Tajikistan (by Eifeelgood)

[fuckyeahthestans]

Fann mountains, Tajikistan. 

© T.Voekler on http://commons.wikimedia.org

[dispirits]

Zeravshan gorge, Tajikistan. November 2002. By Dmitry Beliakov.

[fuckyeahthestans]

Desert near Zumudg village, Tajikistan. 

© Matthieu Paley

[chingizhobbes]

Young women in Gorno-Badakhshan region, Tajikistan, cover their faces from the elements. Gorno-Badakhshan is an autonomous region in the mountainous eastern part of Tajikistan inhabited by Pamiri people, who are often incorrectly referred to as ethnic Tajiks. In fact, Pamiris speak a number of different Eastern Iranian languages and are culturally distinct from their Persian speaking neighbors.

[nprglobalhealth]

Learning How to Cough Around Drug-Resistant TB

Medecins Sans Frontiers counselor, Rano Safarova, tries to teach a group of children near Vose, Tajikistan, how to stop the spread of tuberculosis in their homes. Several members of this extended family have active TB including the 66-year-old grandmother, who’s the matriarch of the clan.  The youngest victim in the family is a 4-year-old boy, who’s been left partially paralyzed and unable to speak from TB meningitis.

The grandmother refuses to accept that TB spreads through the air. She insists that the 4-year-old got it from swimming in a cold river.

“I have several concerns with this family,” says MSF nurse Tina Martin during a visit to the family’s cluster of mud-walled houses in southern Tajikistan. “Mostly I’m concerned with the level of education, the lack of understanding of what TB is and how it’s transmitted. This is highly concerning. This is a very close family. They live together, eat together, sleep together. And as TB is airborne transmission the family is reinfecting each other over and over.” 

MSF is working to try to improve TB treatment for children in the Central Asian nation, particularly children infected with drug-resistant strains of the bacteria.

Photos:  Jason Beaubien, NPR

[westeastsouthnorth]

Varzob, Tajikistan

[nomadic-alternative]

Dushanbe, Tajikistan — Tajik national heroes on the Writers’ Union building in Dushanbe: Omar Khayaam, Saadi, Firdausi, Avicena… .   They are the same as the national heroes of Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.  National borders are recent and artificial in this part of the world.  And this is not to mention that the borders are just plain odd.  My friend Larry, who’s been to more countries than anyone I know and who spends a lot of time looking at maps, explained it like this:

Parts of Tajikistan are north, south, east and west of Kyrgyzstan

Parts of Tajikistan are north, south, east and west of Uzbekistan

Parts of Uzbekistan are north, south, east and west of Tajikistan

Parts of Uzbekistan are north, south, east and west of Kyrgyzstan

Parts of Kyrgyzstan are north, south, east and west of Uzbekistan

Parts of Kyrgyzstan are north, south, east and west of Tajikistan

“If you go,” says Larry, “don’t forget your multiple-entry visas and a good compass.”

[suzanicentralasia-blog]

Kulob style. Displayed in Dushanbe, Tajikistan 2010

[carolineintajikistan]

Hello!

Hello! :D

I didn't expect to get an ask for my Tajikistan tumblr. How are you and how can I help you?

[carolineintajikistan]

Hi Caroline! This is a long-shot but I found your blog looking for farsi speakers in Tajikistan... I'll be there for about 5 months starting in January '13 b/c of my husband's work and I am trying to find a good tutor (I'm a Persian student, about high-intermediate). If you have any recommendations for a tutor I could contact around Dushanbe, it would really help! Thanks so much for your help with this random request! Catherine

Hi Catherine!

Well, looking through tumblr isn't the best solution because it turns out that there aren't many Tajiks on tumblr. I found maybe one during the summer, but she was from Khojand.

ANYWAYS, I would recommend the office where my program was held at Dushanbe! The American Councils office is located at 86 Tolstoy Street which is near the Ped Institut (if you as a local for where Ped Institut is, they should be able to direct you to it relatively easily). At the office, there are 3-4 teachers who work there who have fantastic knowledge of Persian as well as Tajik, Russian, and even Dari. I'm not entirely sure if they would want to tutor privately, but there's no harm asking!

When you go there, I would particularly recommend Khurshed (I'm not sure about his last name XP) and Faridun Kamoliddinov. They are both wonderful teachers.

As for other people, I did have a peer tutor/conversation partner, but she wasn't particularly reliable because she was also a student.

Good luck with moving in, and I hope you have a wonderful time in Tajikistan! :D If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a message!

-Caroline