A book review session for "Modern Spoken Persian in Contemporary Iranian Novels; An Analysis of Selected Novels of the 21st Century" was held on Monday (March 26, 2024) at the Ahl Qalam House, with the presence of author Katajina Vansala, Dr. Abbasali Vafaei, Dr. Mostafa Asi, and Dr. Somayeh Mashayek.

A book review session for the book “Modern Spoken Persian in Contemporary Iranian Novels; An Analysis of Selected Novels of the 21st Century” by Katarzyna Wansala was held on Monday (March 26, 1403) at Sarai Ahl Qalam with the presence of Abbasali Vafaei, Mostafa Asi, Somayeh Mashayek, and the author of the book. Katarzyna Wansala is an assistant professor in the Department of Iranology at the Institute of Oriental Studies at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and a Persian translator.

In the review session of the book “Modern Spoken Persian in Contemporary Iranian Novels”, it was discussed;
The great importance of colloquial language in modern Persian/In the field of linguistic research, our hands are empty
Katarzyna Wansala said: “During my first visit to Tehran, I realized the importance of colloquial language, because without learning it, it is impossible to communicate with Iranians at all. Unfortunately, there is no source for teaching colloquial language to foreigners interested in Iran.

According to the public relations report of the Iranian Book and Literature House, a review session of the book “Modern Spoken Persian in Contemporary Iranian Novels; An Analysis of Selected Novels of the 21st Century” by Katarzyna Wansala was held on Monday (March 26, 1403) at Saray Ahl Qalam with the presence of Abbasali Vafaei, Mostafa Asi, Somayeh Mashayek and the author of the book. Katarzyna Wansala is an assistant professor in the Department of Iranology at the Institute of Oriental Studies at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and a Persian translator.

At the beginning of the meeting, Somayeh Mashayek, the author of the book “Modern Spoken Persian in Contemporary Iranian Novels,” introduced the following: Katarzyna Wansala holds a PhD in Iranology with a focus on linguistics. With a research and student grant from the Polish government at the Persian Language Training Center of the Dehkhoda Institute in Tehran, she learned Persian language and literature and became a promoter of the Persian language. Her interests include contemporary Persian language and its developments, contemporary literature, and modern Persian poetry. Wansala defended her doctoral thesis on the topic of colloquial Persian in 2022 and then translated various articles on this topic.

According to what was announced at the meeting, in 2012, Wansala conducted research on the novel “Piano Cafe” by Farhad Jafari on the difference between written and spoken language. A year later, she conducted another research on the novel “I Turn Off the Lights” by Zoya Pirzad, examining how to create character in stories.

The book “Modern Spoken Persian in Contemporary Iranian Novels” examines the evolution of modern Persian colloquial language by focusing on five novels. The titles of these five novels are as follows: “In the Ruins of the Mughals” by Dariush Mehrjui, “City of Chaos” by Maryam Jafari, “Piano Cafe” by Farhad Jafari, “We Get Used to It” by Zoya Pirzad, and “Night Harmony of the Wood Orchestra” by Reza Ghasemi.

Encountering Colloquial Language at a Ride-On Park in Tehran

Katagina Vansala said at the meeting: “I have been dealing with the Persian language and doing research in this field for 20 years. During this time, I became so fascinated with the Persian language that I could not put it aside, and this interest has always been with me to this day.”

Expressing her happiness that her book has been noticed and criticized in Iran, she referred to her first visit to Iran, a visit that made her realize the importance of colloquial language. Vansala mentioned this: In 2006, after a year of learning Persian, I traveled to Iran believing that I could communicate in it. I entered Iran by land with two other Polish girls, and before we came to our senses, we found ourselves in the middle of a terminal in Tehran. It was as if people were speaking another language that we had never learned. It was there that I realized the great importance of colloquial Persian.

Vansala continued: After a few days, things slowly got better and I was able to communicate with people in colloquial Persian, but this issue occupied my mind so much that I was forced to search for articles and books about colloquial Persian. I tried to find a resource that would help me learn colloquial Persian, but I realized that there was no such resource at all. There was no book or article that would explain the differences between written and colloquial Persian to a foreigner interested in learning Persian.

This Iranologist also referred to his studies in Persian and said: While I was trying to learn colloquial Persian, I was also reading Persian novels. At the same time, I realized that colloquial language has also been included in books, novels, and written Persian. This made me more interested in learning colloquial language and became the starting point for my research in the field of colloquial language.

Paying attention to colloquial language is essential

Mostafa Asi also said at this meeting: Colloquial language has received so much attention that recently the Persian Language Academy, although it has a traditional approach, has entered this field and tried to organize it. This is while traditional institutions did not see colloquial language at all and did not pay the slightest attention to it.

He added: With developments such as the expansion of cyberspace, colloquial language has become more visible than before, because language is the most important communication tool in social networks.

Asi continued: This book is more important for us in a situation where there is not much attention to colloquial language. This book clearly refers to colloquial language and its differences from written language.

We are empty-handed in the field of linguistic studies

Abbasali Vafaei also said at this meeting: We are empty-handed in the field of linguistic studies. Apart from two researchers who conducted studies on colloquial grammar, no research has ever been conducted in this field.

He added: The lack of acceptance for such research is due to the variability of colloquial language and the many differences in this type of language, as well as the lack of prior research. I hope that with the publication of this book, researchers will be encouraged to continue research in this field so that we will no longer face a shortage of resources in the field of colloquial Persian.