Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi

I teach Persian language and culture at all proficiency levels as well as media Persian. Before joining the University of Chicago, I taught Persian language and linguistics as well as Persian literature and translation at McGill University (2006-2021), the University of Oxford (2014-2015), the University of Chicago (summer 2008), and Tehran Azad University (1997-2004). My research focuses on teaching and learning Persian as a second language, as well as Persian literary translation. I am interested in applying the theoretical concepts of linguistics and applied linguistics in my teaching of the Persian language to facilitate the acquisition of the language for second language learners of Persian. To that end, I have published four textbooks for Persian learners, namely The Routledge Introductory Persian Course (coauthor, Routledge, 1st edition 2010 and 2nd edition 2020) and The Routledge Intermediate Persian Course (coauthor, Routledge, 1st edition 2012 and 2nd edition Forthcoming), The Routledge Advanced Persian Course (author, Routledge, 2020), and What the Persian Media Says (author, Routledge, 2015). In order to make available the research conducted in the field of teaching and learning Persian as a second language to scholars and students, I edited a volume, entitled The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian (2020) that encompasses theoretical and practical concepts of Persian language teaching and learning. Hence, it is useful both to the instructors and to the students of Persian language. I have also co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics (2018), to which I have contributed two chapters, one on the history of teaching Persian as a second language, and the other on Persian psycholinguistics.

I have a passion for languages and how they work. Being a multilingual myself, I always find it intriguing to compare and contrast the structure and the lexicon of two or more languages. To that end, I have published a book on how Persian speakers process compound verbs in Persian, namely Processing Compound Verbs in Persian: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Complex Predicates (Leiden and University of Chicago Press, 2014), and a book on the practice of translation, namely Translation Metacognitive Strategies (VDM Verlag, 2009), and currently I am co-editing a volume on translating Persian literature into English, entitled The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation (2022). In the practice of translation, I have done some translation for several legal offices and the court in Canada, but when it comes to translating a book, I believe in collaborative translation where a source language native speaker works closely with a target language native speaker. Therefore, I have co-translated four books to date, including a historical book called The Thousand Families: Commentary on Leading Political Figures of Nineteenth Century Iran by Ali Shabani (with Patricia Higgins, Peter Lang, 2018), two novels, namely Hafez in Love: A Novel (Hafez-e Nashenide-Pand) by Iraj Pezeshkzad (with Patricia Higgins, Syracuse University Press, 2021) and Island of Bewilderment (Jazire-ye Sargardani) by Simin Daneshvar (with Patricia Higgins, Syracuse University Press, 2022), and finally a poetry collection, entitled The Eight Books: A Complete English Translation (Hasht Ketab) by Sohrab Sepehri (with Prashant Keshavmurthy, Brill, 2021).

Other than teaching and research, I serve as reviewer for various academic journals, including International Journal of Iranian Studies, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Sage Open Journal, Frontiers in Psychology, International Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, and LINGUA. In addition, I had the honor to serve as President of the American Association of Teachers of Persian from 2018 to 2020. In my free time, I like to spend time with family and friends, in person and on social media, listen to Persian classical music, read Persian novels and poetry, and paint. I also like to go for walks and enjoy nature and architecture.

BOOKS 

1. The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation. Shabani-Jadidi, Michelle Quay and Patricia Higgins. Routledge. (2022) 

2. Island of Bewilderment: a Novel of Modern Iran (Jazire-ye Sargardani), by Simin Daneshvar, translated from Persian by Patricia Higgins and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. Syracuse University Press. (2022) 

3. The Eight Books: A Complete English Translation of Sohrab Sepehri’s Hasht Ketab, translated from Persian by Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and Prashant Keshavmurthy. Brill. (2021) 

4. Hafez in Love: A Novel (Hafez-e Nashenide-Pand), by Iraj Pezeshkzad, translated fro Persian. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and Patricia Higgins. Syracuse University Press. (2021) 

5. The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group. (editor) (2020) 

6. The Routledge Advanced Persian Course: Farsi Shirin Ast III. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. London and New York: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group. (2020) 

7. The Routledge Introductory Persian Course: Farsi Shirin Ast I, Second Edition. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and Dominic Brookshaw. London and New York: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group. (2020) 

8. The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics. Anousha Sedighi and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. Oxford University Press. (2018) 

9. The Thousand Families: Commentary on Leading Political Figures of Nineteenth Century Iran, by Ali Shabani, translated from Persian. Patricia Higgins and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. From Antiquity to Modernity: Studies on Middle Eastern Society Series. Peter Lang Publishing Inc. NY.  (2018) 

10. What the Persian Media Says. A Course book. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. London and New York: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group. (2015) 

11. Processing Compound Verbs in Persian: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Complex Predicates. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. Iranian Studies Series of Leiden University Press and the University of Chicago Press. (2014) 

12. The Routledge Intermediate Persian Course: Farsi Shirin Ast II. Dominic Brookshaw and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. London and New York: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group. (2012) 

13. The Routledge Introductory Persian Course: Farsi Shirin Ast I, Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi and Dominic Brookshaw. London and New York: Routledge. Taylor and Francis Group. (coauthor) (2010) 

14. Translation Metacognitive Strategies. Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi. VDM. Verlag. Germany. (2009) 

 BOOK CHAPTERS 

 • "A Linguistic Perspective on Persian Literary Translation," in Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi, Michelle Quay, and Patricia Higgins (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation. London and New York: Routledge. (2022) 

 • “A Cultural Linguistic Survey of Nuances in Translation,” in Alireza Korangy and Farzad Sharifian (eds.). Persian Linguistics in Cultural Contexts. Routledge Studies in Linguistics. London and New York: Routledge. (2020) 

 • "Second Language Morphology: Case of Idiomatic Expressions," in Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian. London and New York: Routledge. (2020) 

• "Psycholinguistics," in Anousha Sedighi and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2018) 

 • "Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages" in Anousha Sedighi and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (coauthor) (2018) 

• “Book Launch: The Routledge Handbook of Second language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian (2020)”, Organized by Institute of Islamic Studies Library, McGill University, January 15, 2021

• “Social and Pedagogical Aspects of Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages”, Panel organizer and moderator, McGill University, October 30, 2020

• “Persian Language Pedagogy: Challenges, Obstacles, and Innovative Responses”, Panel co-organizer and panelist, University of North Carolina, October 15, 2020

2021-Present

Elementary Persian (PERS 10101, 10102, & 10103), University of Chicago

Intermediate Persian (PERS 20101, 20102, & 20103), University of Chicago

Media Persian (PERS 30103), University of Chicago

2006-2021

Introductory Persian (ISLA 541-D1-D2), McGill University
Lower Intermediate Persian (ISLA 542-D1-D2), McGill University
Upper Intermediate Persian 1 (ISLA 642/ISLA 543), McGill University
Upper Intermediate Persian 2 (ISLA 643/ISLA 544), McGill University
Advanced Persian 1 (ISLA 644/ISLA 545), McGill University
Persian Literature (ISLA 610), McGill University

2014-2015
Persian with Islamic Studies/History, University of Oxford
Persian with Islamic Art/Archaeology, University of Oxford
Persian as an Additional Language, University of Oxford
Persian with an Additional Language, University of Oxford