Our Farsi Specialists Cover Professional Training Program in Iran

Zhuldyz Sultanova, an Assistant of the Chair of Oriental Languages of ASU, and Ralina Yusupova, a staff member of the Center of Farsi & Iran Studies, have been to Tehran, where they have covered a professional retraining program in Iran’s history, geography, and culture.

The courses have included a scientific and a cultural part. The scientific one implied attending lectures in such disciplines as History of Farsi & Iranian Languages, Archaeology, Arts & Architecture, History of Pre-Islamic Iran, History of Islamic Iran, Modern History of Iran, History of Persian Culture & Civilization, Modern Geography of Iran, and Historical Geography of Iran & Persian Gulf. The trainees have truly felt the ancient history of the Persian Empire; they have watched archeological artefacts and learnt the structure and specific features of ancient languages.

Meetings with reps of Iran’s publishing houses have taken place, too. Issues of translation of artistic literature from and into both Russian and Farsi have been under special consideration, as well as promotion of the Persian literature. Besides, the trainees have been to the University of Tehran, where they have taken part in the roundtable talk “Studies of Iran in Russia & Caucasian Region”. The discussion concerned the role of Farsi in mutual educational, research, and cultural relations between peoples of Iran, Russia, and Armenia.

As for the cultural part on the training agenda, the trainees could visit Iran’s major museums and research centers: the Museum of the Holy Defense founded in commemoration of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, the Museum of Ancient Iran, and the National Library. They also visited the ancient city of Susa in Khuzestan Province, where they saw magnificent ancient memorials such as the Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat, the Tomb of Daniel, the Apadana Hall in the Palace of Darius the Great, the local ancient hydrotechnical constructions, the bazaar, the Bridge in Dezful, etc. Besides, they have been to the University of Guilan, where a seminar concerning research and cultural links between Iran and Russian (with Guilan Province as a good example of that) has taken place. Astrakhan State University has been in close cooperation with the University of Guilan for a long time: students of both universities cover short-term academic mobility programs on an annual basis.

Both Zhuldyz and Ralina would like to thank management of ASU for their support in joining this retraining program; they are sure that it will definitely contribute to their further careers.

Russian original information and photo source: the Department of Foreign Languages of ASU

Photos by Zhuldyz Sultanova and Ralina Yusupova