Society in Tajikistan for Assistance and Research

STAR Publications

The Official Beginners’            Guide to Tajiki

Tajik–English        Dictionary

The Official Beginners’ Guide to Tajiki

Endorsed by the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmanov, this textbook has been written for English-speakers learning Tajiki. It evolved out of lessons prepared by the Tajik author during his teaching of Tajiki to foreign diplomats and professionals in various fields.   The lessons had thus been repeatedly revised and their effectiveness demonstrated even before the lessons were brought together in a more systematic fashion. The key language-learning principles underlying the lessons are as follows:

a topic-based, lexical conversational approach towards language learning; recycling of language information to facilitate language acquisition; exposure to language forms prior to explanation of those forms to provide opportunities for inductive learning; a step-by-step exposure to grammatical forms, based upon their difficulty and relative frequency of use; use of authentic language material: an emphasis on the spoken language, as well as description of the literary language. a balance between literal translation and sociolinguistically equivalent expression has been attempted when both Tajiki and English are given.

Each lesson contains the following sections:

a short commentary in English on the subject around which the lesson has been prepared; a key vocabulary list on the lesson’s theme; dialogues, focussed around the theme of the lesson; a grammar section, introducing one or more points of grammar; exercises, providing opportunities for controlled practice of the new vocabulary and grammar presented in the lesson; many lessons also include proverbs and short texts followed by discussion questions, providing opportunities for freer language practice; a quiz, including some items designed to encourage thinking about how to ask and answer questions, and others to promote free language practice.

The appendices contain lists of useful information, examples of formal and informal letters, invitations, recommendations, speeches for congratulations and condolences, and some sample Tajiki jokes and poems.   Following these, there is a section explaining the most important aspects of grammar, using simple language and tables.   Lastly, at the end of the book there is also a comprehensive Tajiki-English dictionary of all the vocabulary used in the book - this contains over 4500 definitions.

Summary of Contents, showing main themes and grammar points of each chapter
Lesson	Theme	Grammar
1	Introduction	Tajiki Alphabet - Transcription - Stress
2	Forms of address Getting Acquainted	Personal Pronouns - The Inflectional Suffix "Izofat" Possessive Determiners - Pronominal Suffixes - The Copula "is"
3	Family	Present-Future Tense - Simple Questions - The Conjunction "and"
4	Education - Professions	More Present-Future Tense - Plural Forms of Nouns "is" and "there is"
5	House - Courtyard - Garden	Prepositions - The Direct Object Marker "-ro" Question Particles - Imperatives
6	House - Courtyard - Garden (Continued)	Indefinite Nouns - Infinitives Present-Future Tense - Simple Past Tense
7	Time - Seasons - Weather	Numbers
8	Countries - Nationalities - Languages	Descriptive Past - Comparatives and Superlatives Derivational Suffixes
9	Parts of the Body	Compound Verbs - Active and Passive Verbs Absolute Future Tense
10	The City - The Street	The Past Participle - Present Continuous Tense - Modal Verbs
11	Market	More Derivational Suffixes
12	At the Shop	Narrative Past Tense - Past Perfect Tense
13	At the Restaurant, Cafe, and Tea-House	More Compound Verbs - More Pronouns
14	In the Hotel	Conjunctions - "Fundamental" and "Causal" Verbs
15	At the Office - On the Telephone	Exclamations and Words of Emotion
16	Free Time - Visiting as a Guest	Complex Sentences - Subordinate Clauses of Time The Past Continuous Tense
17	At the Doctor's - Folk Medicine	Subordinate Clauses of Cause, Purpose, and Condition
18	Animals	Subordinate Clauses of Quantity and Degree, and Concession
19	Holidays - Celebrations - Ceremonies	Subordinate Clauses of Location - Multiple Complex Sentences
20	Law - Politics - International Relations	Verbal adverb - Direct and Indirect Speech
21	Tourism - Nature	Word Construction - Descriptive Use of Present-Future Tense
Appendices	Cities and Regions of Tajikistan
	The Most Common Tajiki Names
	Model Official Letters, Informal Letters, Congratulations, Invitations, Announcements, Condolences, and Recommendations
	Tajiki Jokes and Poetry Selections
A Brief Introduction to Tajiki Grammar
Tajiki - English Dictionary

About the authors
Dr Azim Baizoyev holds a BA, MA and PhD in oriental languages.  He teaches in the Tajik State University’s Department of Iranian Philology and has been teaching Tajiki, Farsi and Russian as foreign languages since 1993 to the international staff of various embassies and foreign organisations working in Dushanbe.  He has published numerous books and articles, including two textbooks for Tajiki-speakers learning Farsi.	Dr John Hayward gained a degree in natural sciences and a PhD in genetics from Cambridge University, England, before going on to train as a teacher of English as a foreign language, in which field he holds the RSA/Cambridge CTEFLA and an MA in TESOL from Azusa Pacific University, California.  He has taught English as a foreign language in Tajikistan since 1995 and is now director of STAR’s English language school.
Buy online: http://www.amazon.com/Beginners-Guide-Tajiki-Azim-Baizoyev/ dp/0415315980/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/103-6975434-8240653

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The Standard Tajik-English Dictionary was published by STAR Publications in 2000.
With 624 pages it is fairly comprehensive and the best Tajik-English dictionary available.

The authors Randall & Rochelle Olson have lived and worked in Tajikistan for many years.
The other contributors were: Yusuf Amakiof, Jamila Ghabuloeva, Zuhra Halimova,
Shamsiddin Karimov, Habib Mirzoev and Dilrabo Osimova

 

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