Here are four ways to start learning Farsi, of Persian, which is the predominant language in Iran:

1.  A good general and handy source is the  Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook, available for $8.00 from the Lonely Planet web site.  It  contains sections on pronounciation and grammer, and contains many phrases for special situations, e.g. going out, ordering a meal, at the post office...etc.  It also contains small English-Farsi and Farsi-English dictionaries.  The only drawback is that it packs a lot of information into a small layout, and for old eyes like mine some parts (especially the Farsi script)  is too small to read.

2. From Amazon  you can obtain a sort of game book called
                    "Your First 100 Words in Persian"  
Not all these these word are highly useful, but many are.  It is especially good for learning to recognize and write Farsi script.

3.  Also from Amazon you can obtain Pimsleur's  "Basic Persian", an introductory audio course of 10 lessons on five CD's.  Cost is about $17.  Each lesson is about 25 minutes long.  It is basically a "Farsi as a second language" course, empasizing learning to say properly and understand basic phrases.  There is lots of reinforcement, and if you follow the course diligently you will have a good start toward being understood.

4.  There is a free online course along with other material at http://www.easypersian.com/.  There are over 100 lessons.  The first few are very short, empasizing letters and sounds.  That is far as I  have gone.

If you find other useful sources let me know by email.

Sam

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