The Persian minor introduces students to the language, peoples, cultures, histories of the Persian-speaking world. The minor develops a student's command of reading, writing, speaking, and comprehension in the Persian language and may complement the student's intended major study.
Students minoring in Persian must satisfy the lower division prerequisite requirements. Students may also take a language proficiency exam to waive the elementary and intermediate language courses. Please meet with the undergraduate major advisor to discuss course options or plan for study abroad.
Declaring the Minor
Students may declare the Persian minor as soon as they begin their study at UC Berkeley. Please find the minor declaration form in the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures department or email the undergraduate major advisor. Students must declare the minor no later than the semester before their Expected Graduation Term (EGT). Please see the L&S minor guidelines page for more information.
Other Majors and Minors offered by Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC) Department
The Persian minor program requires five upper-division courses in Persian literature and culture.
General Guidelines
All minors must be declared before the first day of classes in your Expected Graduation Term (EGT). For summer graduates, minors must be declared prior to the first day of Summer Session A.
All upper-division courses must be taken for a letter grade.
A minimum of three of the upper-division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.
A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required in the upper-division courses to fulfill the minor requirements.
Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.
No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which the student plans to graduate. If students cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, they should see a College of Letters & Science adviser.
All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Introduction to Persian language, covering basics of the language skills in all aspects of reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking with emphasis on culture and communicative methods. Elementary Modern Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Prerequisite for Persian 1B, or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Introduction to Persian language, covering basics of the language skills in all aspects of reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking with emphasis on culture and communicative methods. Elementary Modern Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 1A, or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Summer 2017, Summer 2016 10 Week Session, Summer 2015 8 Week Session
This course is equivalent to a full year of elementary Persian. It will train students in the four language skills: speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing. Emphasis will be placed on the functional usage of the language. Intensive Elementary Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for 10 after taking 1A-1B.
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 20 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Designed for heritage students who possess oral skills (speaking/comprehension, though limited) but need to improve their writing and reading abilities, and expand their knowledge of Persian grammar and syntax. Completion of 11A-11B will prepare the student to take Persian 20A, Intermediate Persian. Reading and Composition for Persian Speaking Students: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Rudimentary knowledge of spoken Persian and consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of recitation per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Spring 2019, Spring 2018
Designed for heritage students who possess oral skills (speaking/comprehension, though limited) but need to improve their writing and reading abilities, and expand their knowledge of Persian grammar and syntax. Completion of 11A-11B will prepare the student to take Persian 20A, Intermediate Persian. Reading and Composition for Persian-Speaking Students: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 11A or the consent of the instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of recitation per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Summer 2017 8 Week Session, Summer 2007 10 Week Session, Summer 2007 8 Week Session
A year or more of advanced level Persian with emphasis on advanced grammar and vocabulary build up. Newspaper clippings, film reviews and cultural awareness through introduction of literature will be covered. Intensive Intermediate Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 1A-1B or Persian 10 or equivalent
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 20 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
The sequence begins in the fall. This course emphasizes reading of simple literary texts, expository writing and composition, formal conversation, grammar, and syntax. It involves intensive vocabulary building in preparation for advanced reading and comprehension of standard literary texts. Intermediate Modern Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 1A-1B or Persian 11A-11B or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of recitation per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
The sequence begins in the fall. This course emphasizes reading of simple literary texts, expository writing and composition, formal conversation, grammar, and syntax. It involves intensive vocabulary building in preparation for advanced reading and comprehension of standard literary texts. Intermediate Modern Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 20A or the consent of the instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 5 hours of recitation per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Summer 1997 10 Week Session, Summer 1995 10 Week Session
This course is designed to promote advanced literacy skills in students with different levels of spoken Persian but little or no reading and writing skills in the language. This course will prepare students to take advanced literature courses in the Persian language. Persian Reading and Composition: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Knowledge of spoken Persian and consent of instructor
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for 50 after taking 106A-106B.
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 20 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Emphasis on intensive vocabulary building, comprehensive grammar review, reading and analysis of short literary texts of various genres from classical and modern periods, and reading newspaper clips and other original sources in Persian media. Advanced Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 20A-20B or equivalent, or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Emphasis on intensive vocabulary building, comprehensive grammar review, reading and analysis of short literary texts of various genres from classical and modern periods, and reading newspaper clips and other original sources in Persian media.
Terms offered: Spring 2021, Fall 2013, Fall 2012
Readings in both prose and poetry, drawn chiefly from classical and modern Persian literature, designed to increase reading skills and vocabulary and to provide a transition to the study of more challenging literary texts. Readings in Persian Literature: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 100A-100B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with instructor consent.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2014, Spring 2013, Spring 2012
Readings in both prose and poetry, drawn chiefly from classical and modern Persian literature, designed to increase reading skills and vocabulary and to provide a transition to the study of more challenging literary texts. Readings in Persian Literature: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 101A or the consent of the instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit with instructor consent.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2019, Fall 2016
Systematic study of representative selections from all periods of classical Persian literature, with attention to the historical and intellectual context. Readings in Classical Persian Prose: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A or 101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2008, Spring 2006
Systematic study of representative selections from all periods of classical Persian literature, with attention to the historical and intellectual context. Readings in Classical Persian Prose: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A or 101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Systematic study of poems belonging to all genres of classical Persian poetry, with consideration of questions of prosody, rhetoric, and style. Classical Persian Poetry: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A or 101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2020, Spring 2018
Systematic study of poems belonging to all genres of classical Persian poetry, with consideration of questions of prosody, rhetoric, and style. Classical Persian Poetry: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A or 101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2013, Summer 1996 10 Week Session
This course will deal with significant works of Persian prose and poetry from the beginning of the 19th century down to the present. Complete works or extracts from them will be read in the original as a preliminary to their analysis in terms of literary and stylistic development, as well as the changing role of literature in society. The works of the 19th century and the period of the Constitutional Revolution (1905-1911). Contemporary Persian Literature: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A or 101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2017, Spring 2013
This course will deal with significant works of Persian prose and poetry from the beginning of the 19th century down to the present. Complete works or extracts from them will be read in the original as a preliminary to their analysis in terms of literary and stylistic development, as well as the changing role of literature in society. The literature of the rest of the 20th century. Contemporary Persian Literature: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A or 101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2018, Fall 2015, Spring 2010
This course deals with modern/contemporary critical theory, literary history, aesthetics and philosophy, and various theories of literary and cultural criticism in Persian. It concentrates on selected modern analytical, discursive, and expository texts in Persian. The course explores, from an inter- and multi-disciplinary perspective, how different movements, genres, and rhetorical aspects of modern/contemporary literature and culture have been perceived, historically contextualized, and critically positioned within the larger intellectual and scholarly domain in Persian. All texts will be read in the original Persian. Modern Analytical Prose in Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 101A-101B or consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Prior to 2007
A year or more of advanced level Persian with emphasis on advanced grammar and vocabulary build up. Newspaper clippings, film reviews and cultural awareness through introduction of literature will be covered. Intensive Intermediate Persian: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Persian 1A-1B or Persian 10 or equivalent
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 20 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: Persian/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
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