Speak Lesson 52 | Navigating 'Tā'arof' in Different Social Situations
Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation
Chai & Conversation
4.9 • 548 Ratings
🗓️ 9 March 2016
⏱️ 16 minutes
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Summary
In this lesson, we continue our discussion of the Persian concept of 'tārof'- we learn different situation in which 'tārof' comes into play, and how to successfully navigate through these situations. These situations include being paid a compliment, making a financial transaction at a store, interacting with guests and hosts, and much more.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, Lesson 52. |
| 0:08.5 | Hello and welcome to Lesson 52 of Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation. |
| 0:14.8 | We're so glad you've joined us. |
| 0:18.9 | Welcome back to Chai and Conversation. |
| 0:21.8 | So last week, we started talking about the concept of Tahrou in a host and guest situation. |
| 0:27.1 | We explained that Tadof is a code of etiquette that helps us navigate through social situations. |
| 0:32.4 | Matt, after we recorded the lesson, you were telling me about running into Tahrouf at your mother-in-law's house |
| 0:37.4 | and being particularly flustered about it at the beginning of your relationship with Luton. |
| 0:42.5 | Right. Every time we would eat, for instance, she'd insist on filling my plate. Amounts I really |
| 0:47.9 | couldn't eat. I would assure her that I love the food, which I always did, but I would honestly |
| 0:53.4 | be full and couldn't |
| 0:54.3 | eat anymore. I could tell it would be rude not to eat what she'd put on my plate, |
| 0:59.0 | so I'd be way overstuffed in the end. |
| 1:01.0 | Well, this is definitely a common form of Tahrouf. A host will always fill your plate, |
| 1:07.0 | even if you insist you've had enough, because this is the way of showing love and kindness. So basically, you have a tricky role as a guest. On the one hand, you have to insist that you can't eat food, that you're full, because as we said in the last lesson, you're trying to show that you're there to see the host, not to be given anything. But you also have to make sure that the host knows you really appreciate the |
| 1:28.2 | food that's been given to you without encouraging them to give you more than you can eat. So you have to |
| 1:33.5 | toe this line. So try something like this. We of course know chelimamun, which means thank you very |
| 1:42.6 | much. And Zahmatt Nakhish, we learned in the last lesson, means don't go through the trouble. So let's repeat this one more time together. Khaili ma'amun. Which means thank you. Zahmatna kish. Zahmetna kish. Which means don't go through the trouble. Now, since you're talking to your mother-in-law, you'll probably use the formal version of this, |
| 2:04.6 | which is Zahmat-Nakishin. |
| 2:06.6 | Zahmat-Nakishin. |
| 2:08.6 | And finally, Sidam means I'm full. |
| 2:11.6 | Siram. |
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