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ooshan
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Quote ooshan Replybullet Topic: Looking for FSI Pashto
    Posted: 01 January 2008 at 11:22pm
Hi everyone,
 
Pashto is a fairly obscure language of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. I previously worked in Afghanistan for three years and developed basic Pashto speaking skills but am returning and would like to develop true fluency.
 
The problem seems to be that there is a clear lack of Pashto-language materials available. I have tracked down everything that is available but most is either too basic or not good quality (such as British material from the 1920s in Peshawar).
 
If anyone can obtain any FSI/DLI material for Pashto, it would be greatly appreciated. This is likely one of the few sources for Pashto training beyond the basics. I already have Rosetta Stone and other material but suspect that the FSI material is what I really need. Thanks.
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daristani
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Quote daristani Replybullet Posted: 02 January 2008 at 9:08am
Ooshan,

As far as I'm aware, FSI never produced a Pashto course; I assume that, given recent developments in Afghanistan, DLI now teaches it somehow, but whether they've developed any unique materials for it or whether these materials are available to the public, I don't know.

The most extensive materials for Pashto of which I'm aware were produced a number of years ago by the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC.  The textual materials (several hundred pages in all) are available to download as PDF forms by going to the ERIC site and searching for "Pashto".

The site is:  http://ww.eric.ed.gov/

There are basic and intermediate course materials, a reference grammar, a reader, a large vocabulary, a conversation book, etc.  (For some items, there are two items listed, of which only one is available; I think that, in each case, it's the later, revised (and thus presumably better) version of that particular item that you can download.

CAL never sold the audio materials for the course directly, but it was available from something called "Diplomatic Language Services" in Washington.  But Indiana University did have some of the audio (for the conversation book, I think) available to download on their language lab site.  I think it's no longer there, or is password-protected, but I think you can still download it from here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030830030657/languagelab.bh.indiana.edu/pashto.html

Finally, Indiana has recently produced some new material for Pashto that can be ordered from the following site:

http://www.indiana.edu/~celcar/

(I haven't seen these materials, and so don't know how thorough they are.  I suspect, from having seen an advance copy of one of the other language courses, that there's a lot of gimmickery and pictures, etc., but maybe not a tremendous amount of substance. But given the lack of up-to-date materials for Pashto, it's a bit of a case of making use of whatever you come across...)

In any event, do check out the ERIC materials in particularly, because they're VERY extensive.  Good luck, and stay safe.
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whatl2004
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Quote whatl2004 Replybullet Posted: 02 January 2008 at 10:47am
The DLI Pashto stuff (at least some of it) appears fairly often on ebay with other DLI Afghan/Pakistani material - I believe from the same guy that copies the FSI stuff that appears on this web site
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ooshan
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Quote ooshan Replybullet Posted: 03 January 2008 at 10:58pm
Many thanks to Daristani. I've heard some of the audio for the FSI materials and it turns out that they use the CAL book for their training.
 
The wayback archive link you posted didn't work but I found another dated link where it was possible to download most of the mp3s. This is all fantastic and many many thanks for your assistance. I will have plenty of Pashto to study for the next year.


Edited by ooshan - 03 January 2008 at 11:14pm
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ooshan
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Quote ooshan Replybullet Posted: 04 January 2008 at 12:05am
I forgot to mention these Pashto language exercises used by PCVs working in Pakistan in the 1960s. Someone else might be looking for Pashto material in the future so hopefully they'll find this one too.
 
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unzum
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Quote unzum Replybullet Posted: 19 February 2008 at 10:45am
Pashto headstart appears to be available to download from the Defense Language Insitute.
http://fieldsupport.lingnet.org/downloads.aspx
Select download type 'Headstart' and you'll find it. I don't actually know what it's like, as I attempted to download Dari but had to give up because the file was so huge.

I managed to get some info about Iraqi headstart (which I assume has a similar format to Pashto headstart). It's a multimedia program that lasts 10 days and uses a lot of computer animation and cutting edge stuff. On the Iraqi headstart page it said you needed to register with the program; e.g. fill in the fields, select a  username and log in, but it didn't tell me anything about whether it's only for military personnel.
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tanha
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Quote tanha Replybullet Posted: 19 April 2008 at 2:04am
Hello all,
I have been working on a pashto language and culture website.

The website is designed for English speaking people who wants to learn Pashto Language. The goal of this Website is to help you in acquiring a conversational ability in Afghan Pashto, and to provide you the information about the History, Language, and Culture of the people who speak this language

 

http://www.pashto.ca

 

 

Regards,

 

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banana2000
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Quote banana2000 Replybullet Posted: 12 June 2008 at 2:08pm
Originally posted by unzum

Pashto headstart appears to be available to download from the Defense Language Insitute.
http://fieldsupport.lingnet.org/downloads.aspx
Select download type 'Headstart' and you'll find it. I don't actually know what it's like, as I attempted to download Dari but had to give up because the file was so huge.

I managed to get some info about Iraqi headstart (which I assume has a similar format to Pashto headstart). It's a multimedia program that lasts 10 days and uses a lot of computer animation and cutting edge stuff. On the Iraqi headstart page it said you needed to register with the program; e.g. fill in the fields, select a  username and log in, but it didn't tell me anything about whether it's only for military personnel.
I also downloaded the Pashto headstart but couldn't install it, so I got in touch with the people at DLI and they sent me a DVD copy for free.
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workerbee
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Quote workerbee Replybullet Posted: 10 July 2008 at 9:08pm
With the DLI headstart programs that are sometimes downloadable, that have registrations, do you need to have a .mil email to use them? 
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banana2001
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Quote banana2001 Replybullet Posted: 08 August 2008 at 2:22pm
I did not need one.

(same poster as banana2000, couldn't remember my password so I re-registered :) )

Just a tip, check your local libraries. My library (the Bibliotheque Nationale in Montreal) has Rosetta Stone pashto, which I can borrow for free for 3 weeks at a time.
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