Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi

Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi is a linguist and a literary translator. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics with a focus on psycholinguistics from the University of Ottawa in Canada in 2012. Prior to that, she had received another Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics with a focus on translation from Tehran Azad University in 2004.

At the University of Chicago, she teaches Persian language and culture at all proficiency levels as well as Media Persian and Persian Literary Translation. Before joining the University of Chicago, she taught Persian language and linguistics as well as Persian literature and translation at McGill University (2006-2021), the University of Oxford (2014-2015), the University of Chicago (summer 2008), and Tehran Azad University (1997-2004).

Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi’s research focuses on teaching and learning Persian as a second language, as well as Persian literary translation. She is interested in applying the theoretical concepts of linguistics and applied linguistics in her teaching of the Persian language to facilitate the acquisition of the language for second language learners of Persian. To that end, she has published four textbooks for Persian learners, namely The Routledge Introductory Persian Course (coauthor, Routledge, 1st edition 2010 and 2nd edition 2020) and The Routledge Intermediate Persian Course (coauthor, Routledge, 1st edition 2012 and 2nd edition 2023), The Routledge Advanced Persian Course (author, Routledge, 2020), and What the Persian Media Says (author, Routledge, 2015). In order to make available the research conducted in the field of teaching and learning Persian as a second language to scholars and students, she edited a volume, entitled The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian (2020) that encompasses theoretical and practical concepts of Persian language teaching and learning. Hence, it is useful both to the instructors and to the students of Persian language. She has also co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics (2018), to which she has contributed two chapters, one on the history of teaching Persian as a second language, and the other on Persian psycholinguistics. Her latest co-edited volume is The Art of Teaching Persian Literature: From Theory to Practice (Brill 2024), to which she has contributed a chapter on the domain analysis of a Persian literary translation course.

Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi has a passion for languages and how they work. Being a multilingual herself, she always finds it intriguing to compare and contrast the structure and the lexicon of two or more languages. To that end, she has published a book on how Persian speakers process compound verbs in Persian, namely Processing Compound Verbs in Persian: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Complex Predicates (Leiden University Press, 2014), and a book on the practice of translation, namely Translation Metacognitive Strategies (VDM Verlag, 2009), and she co-edited a volume on translating Persian literature into English, entitled The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation (2022).

In the practice of translation, she has done some translation for several legal offices and the court in Canada, but when it comes to translating a book, she believes in collaborative translation where a source language native speaker works closely with a target language native speaker. Therefore, she has co-translated several books to date, including a historical book called The Thousand Families: Commentary on Leading Political Figures of Nineteenth Century Iran by Ali Shabani (with Patricia Higgins, Peter Lang, 2018), several novels, namely Hafez in Love: A Novel (Hafez-e Nashenide-Pand) by Iraj Pezeshkzad (with Patricia Higgins, Syracuse University Press, 2021), Island of Bewilderment: A Novel of Modern Iran (Jazire-ye Sargardani) by Simin Daneshvar (with Patricia Higgins, Syracuse University Press, 2022), The Bewildered Cameleer: A Novel of Modern Iran (Sareban Sargardan) by Simin Daneshvar (with Patricia Higgins, Syracuse University Press, 2023), and finally a poetry collection, entitled The Eight Books: A Complete English Translation (Hasht Ketab) by Sohrab Sepehri (with Prashant Keshavmurthy, Brill, 2021). Her forthcoming translation is Fariba Vafi’s Dreaming of Tibet (with Patricia Higgins).

In addition, she has contributed book chapters to edited volumes as well as articles to peer-reviewed journals, such as the Literary Text Research, Iranian Studies, and Iran Namag, and she has been guest-editor of two Special Issues of Iran Namag, a peer-reviewed quarterly of Iranian Studies, published by the University of Toronto, namely Iran Namag: Iraj Pezeshkzad Special Issue. University of Toronto. Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2024, and Iran Namag: Sohrab Sepehri Special Issue. University of Toronto. Volume 7, Number 3, Fall 2024.

Other than teaching and research, Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi serves as reviewer for various academic journals, including International Journal of Iranian Studies, International Journal of Applied Linguistics, Sage Open Journal, Frontiers in Psychology, International Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, and LINGUA. In addition, she served as President of the American Association of Teachers of Persian from 2018 to 2020. In her free time, she likes to spend time with family and friends, in person and on social media, listen to Persian classical music, read Persian novels and poetry, and paint. She also likes to go for walks and enjoy nature and architecture.

• Elementary Persian (PERS 10101, 10102, & 10103)
• Intermediate Persian (PERS 20101, 20102, & 20103)
• Media Persian (PERS 20500)
• Persian Literary Translation (PERS 20502)

• "A Persian Literary Translation Course: A Domain Analysis Survey," in Franklin D. Lewis, Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (eds.), The Art of Teaching Persian Literature: From Theory to Practice. Leiden: Brill. (2024)
• “Sohrab Sepehri, a Universal Poet: An Introduction to His Life and Works, in Iran Namag: Sohrab Sepehri Special Issue. University of Toronto. Volume 7, Number 3, Fall 2024.
• “Iraj Pezeshkzad and His Hafez: A Note on Hafez in Love,” in Iran Namag: Iraj Pezeshkzad Special Issue. University of Toronto. Volume 7, Number 2, Summer 2024.
•  "A Linguistic Perspective on Persian Literary Translation," in Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi, Patricia Higgins, and Michelle Quay (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation. London and New York: Routledge. (2022)
• “A Cultural Linguistic Survey of Nuances in Translation,” in Alireza Korangy and Farzad Sharifian (eds.). Persian Linguistics in Cultural Contexts. Routledge Studies in Linguistics. London and New York: Routledge. (2020)
•  "Second Language Morphology: Case of Idiomatic Expressions," in Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian. London and New York: Routledge. (2020)
• "Psycholinguistics," in Anousha Sedighi and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2018)
• "Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages" in Anousha Sedighi and Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Persian Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (coauthor) (2018)
• “Heritage Learners’ versus Second Language Learners’ Source of Errors in Advanced Level Writing: case of a Persian media course,” Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies. Routledge. Vol. 51(4). (2018)
• “Compound Verb Processing in Second Language Speakers of Persian”. Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies. Routledge, 41(1): 137-158. (2016)
•  “Morphological Priming of Multi-morphemic Persian Words in Mental Lexicon”. The 2nd Workshop on Persian Language and Computer. Tehran University. 29-38. (2006)
• “Control in Persian (2)”. Literary Text Research. Allameh Tabatabayee University, College of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages. Tehran, Iran. Volume 9, Issue 26, Winter 2006, Pages 70-108.
•  “Control in Persian (1)”. Literary Text Research. Allameh Tabatabayee University, College of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages. Tehran, Iran. Volume 9, Issue 24, Summer 2005, Pages 105-126.

• "Literary Translation in Persian Language Courses", Research talk presented at the Literature in Persian Language Pedagogy Webinar, University of Toronto-University of Chicago (March 16, 2024)
• "ABC or BCA: What to Teach First: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Teaching Persian as a Second Language", Research talk presented at the Persian Language Pedagogy: New Trends and Innovations Webinar, University of Toronto-University of Chicago (December 2, 2023)
• Invited speaker as keynote speaker at the Workshop on Persian Literary Translation, Beyond Sharia: The Role of Sufism in Shaping Islam, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. (July 2023)
• Invited speaker in the roundtable, ‘The Philosophy and Practice of Literary Translation’, at the Post-Millennial MENAWA (Middle East, North Africa, and Western Asia New): Approaches to Literature, Translation and Creative Expression, Lancaster University, June 21, 2022
• “Book Launch: The Routledge Handbook of Second language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Persian (2020)”, Organized by Institute of Islamic Studies Library, McGill University, January 15, 2021
•  “Social and Pedagogical Aspects of Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages”, Panel organizer and moderator, McGill University, October 30, 2020
• “Persian Language Pedagogy: Challenges, Obstacles, and Innovative Responses”, Panel co-organizer and panelist, University of North Carolina, October 15, 2020