Walden in Farsi

Walden in Farsi

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 234 , Segment 5

Episode: Disney and Gender, Restaurant Calories, Walden in Farsi

Feb 18, 2016
24:05 mins

Guest: Alireza Taghdarreh, First to Translate Walden into Farsi and a Self-Taught Iranian Scholar of Thoreau Remember reading Walden in high school or college, by Henry David Thoreau? It’s a reflection on living simply and in-tune with nature, but it’s not a simple read. Thoreau’s sentences and paragraphs are long and complex. The metaphors and double meanings and sarcasm can trip you up. So, just imagine reading it if English were not your first language. And if there was a revolution in your country and the universities closed down as you were graduating from high school, without an option for formal education, learning English meant watching American Westerns and reading anything you could get your hands on. That’s the story of Alireza Taghdarreh from Tehran who, after teaching himself to speak English fluently, has spent the last decade doing the first translation of Walden into his native Farsi. Last year, Taghdarreh finally journeyed to the place itself - Walden in Massachusetts.

Other Segments

Other Segments

International Law

Guest: Eric Jensen, JD, Professor of International Law at BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School World Powers – including the US and Russia – agreed to work toward a ceasefire while meeting in Munich late last week, but there appear to be some significant hang-ups over the details.

Guest: Eric Jensen, JD, Professor of International Law at BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School World Powers – including the US and Russia – agreed to work toward a ceasefire while meeting in Munich late last week, but there appear to be some significant hang-ups over the details.

Disney and Gender

Guest: Carmen Fought, PhD, Professor of Linguistics at Pitzer College Disney’s princesses have come a long way since Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Ariel and Belle and Mulan and Merida and Anna and Elsa are so much more capable and independent than the damsels-in-distress of the classic Disney animation era. Much better role models for girls, many of us would agree. But, a couple of linguists have been analyzing Disney’s catalogue to get beyond the basic storyline of these princess films and they’ve discovered that while most of them feature strong heroines, men do 50 percent, of not more, of the talking and, in some cases, as much as 90 percent. The gender gap in both roles and dialogue is striking, when you start looking at the numbers.

Guest: Carmen Fought, PhD, Professor of Linguistics at Pitzer College Disney’s princesses have come a long way since Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Ariel and Belle and Mulan and Merida and Anna and Elsa are so much more capable and independent than the damsels-in-distress of the classic Disney animation era. Much better role models for girls, many of us would agree. But, a couple of linguists have been analyzing Disney’s catalogue to get beyond the basic storyline of these princess films and they’ve discovered that while most of them feature strong heroines, men do 50 percent, of not more, of the talking and, in some cases, as much as 90 percent. The gender gap in both roles and dialogue is striking, when you start looking at the numbers.

Apple Seed

Guest: Sam Payne, host of “The Apple Seed” on BYUradio Tellers and stories on BYUradio. Sam Payne sings an original composition.

Guest: Sam Payne, host of “The Apple Seed” on BYUradio Tellers and stories on BYUradio. Sam Payne sings an original composition.

Restaurant Calories

Guest: Susan Roberts, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University

Guest: Susan Roberts, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts University

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