Farsi Persian, the official language of Iran, is spoken across the Middle East and Central Asia by a worldwide community of over 60 million people. Farsis linguistic and literary legacy is over 2,500 years old, and continues to play a central role in Near Eastern politics, business and culture. Persian is the dominant language of Irans international business world and a critical language to understanding the intricacies of Middle Eastern literary, historical and cultural trends. Equally suited to both new students and heritage speakers, Beginners Persian with Online Audio includes 10 carefully-paced and practical lessons with dialogues, vocabulary, and expressions; a guide to reading and writing Persian; exercises for each lesson with answer key; Persian-English and English-Persian glossaries; an alphabet and pronunciation guide; and online MP3 audio files for free download featuring pronunciation by native speakers.