Romani

I was born and raised in Iran. I hold a bachelor's degree from Feizol Eslam University and tourism diploma degree from Fani Herfei University. I have been working as a teacher for 10 years. My mother tongue is Gazi, a derivative of ancient Persian, one of the many endangered languages of Iran. Observing how Gazi is slowly vanishing and becoming more aware of the fate of so many Iranian languages and varieties,  motivated me to get involved in the documentation of Zargari language together with Ioana Aminian from VLACH. At the moment, I am learning Zargari and Azeri Turkish and planning to get my MA in linguistics focusing on Zargari as a main topic.

Within VLACH, my collaboration involves the translation of interviews and questionnaires from English into Farsi, transcription and translation of fieldwork data on Zargari Language, fieldwork assistance and assistance in the communication between community members and the VLACH team.

I am an ethnic Zargar, living in the Zargar village in Qasvin province, north of Iran. I studied psychology at the Payam Noor University of Qazvin and am currently a teacher at the primary school in Zargar village. For the past 20 years, I have been carrying out documentation and language maintenance work for my mother tongue, the Zargari/Romano language. Moreover, I acted on various occasions as a community consultant in research projects about Zargari language. At the moment I am collaborating with Ioana Aminian from VLACH Commission for the documentation of my native language in an effort to realize the first in-depth documentation of our language, language contact and history of migration. 

Within VLACH, my collaboration involves answering questions of the different questionnaires carried out by Ioana Aminian, assistance in the transcription and translation of fieldwork data on Zargari Language, fieldwork assistance and assistance in the recruitment of further interview partners as well as in the overall project organisation.