TEHRAN – The director of Iran’s Sadi Foundation, Gholamali Haddad-Adel, said on Tuesday that the foundation was established to promote the Persian language in the world and to teach Persian to non-Iranians and Iranian expatriates living in other countries.

Teaching the Persian language has been the major goal of the foundation since its establishment, he said during the press conference held by the foundation in Tehran to commemorate the third anniversary of its establishment.

“Sadi Foundation is structured like similar international foundations founded to promote other language in the world,” he said, adding that the experience and knowledge of 24 countries have been used in the operation of the Sadi Foundation.

He later elaborated on different activities of the foundation over the past two years and said that several educational packages, CDs and books have been compiled by the foundation so far.

“The packages contain educational books for those who want to learn Persian, and complementary books such as Persian stories for those who have learned some Persian and need to practice more”.

The bilingual book “The Water Urn“ written by Iranian teen’s author Hushang Moradi Kermani and translated into English by U.S. translator Caroline Croskery is the first book published by the foundation, he added.

He continued that books compiled for Iranians residing in foreign countries are different from the ones compiled for foreigners who want to learn Persian.

The director also said that he believes Iranians residing in foreign countries are interested in learning Persian and the foundation is responsible for making it possible for them.

In addition, Mohammadreza Darbandi, the deputy director of international affairs, also said that several Persian scholars and teachers have so far been dispatched to different countries from Iran, however, foreign graduate students of Persian language are also cooperating in promoting the Persian language.

According to Haddad-Adel, the foundation hosted 100 students of Persian language from different countries in its first year of establishment and that number doubled in the second year.

“Moreover, we are expecting even more students this year to attend the Persian courses in the country,” he added.

He also stressed that the foundation only helps promote Persian and is not a venue to conduct research on the Persian poet Sadi.

Photo: Sadi Foundation Director Gholamali Haddad-Adel holds a copy of Iranian teen’s author Hushang Moradi Kermani’s “The Water Urn” during a press conference that the foundation held in Tehran on May 19, 2015 to commemorate the third anniversary of its establishment.

RM/YAW
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