Testimonial by Ali Hassan

Everyone at ASPIRANTUM is so friendly and knowledgeable; I cannot recommend this program highly enough! I love how ASPIRANTUM uses the classics of Persian literature to teach the language in an engaging and immediately gratifying way. And the classes are just plain fun! The class was taken straight to the text, but the class was not overwhelming because the students received such great support from the teachers!

Ruben Nikoghosayn was an excellent instructor who taught me so much in the course on the Qabus Name. He is an incredibly engaging and active teacher. He was careful to point out aspects of the grammar and vocabulary of the text that greatly simplified the reading of this early classical Persian text.

I especially appreciated how he used his deep knowledge of Middle Persian to help explain grammar and vocabulary questions that arose in class. I have studied Persian for years, and this was the first time that I had an instructor who was able to use Middle Persian to help demystify the many little quirks of early classical Persian. I appreciated the discussions on the multiple uses of particles like ba, be, ta, and ra, which we now take for granted but which had many more functions in the early classical language.

Since taking this class, I can feel how I am more readily able to understand nuance in classical Persian text, which I had missed before. Thank you so much for offering this wonderful course; it has made a real difference in my Persian language abilities!