Tajiki: An Elementary Textbook is an introductory textbook for learning the Central Asian language Tajiki--the language spoken in Tajikistan (as the official language), Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan and western China. Tajiki technically is one of three dialects of Persian but has been influenced by Arabic and Turkish. Though once written in Arabic script, it has been written with the Cyrllic alphabet since around the 1940s (coinciding with the country's occupation by the USSR). It is considered a strategic language by the U.S. government.
This textbook was created with a large grant from the Department of Education by Indiana University's well-respected Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (or, CeLCAR) and includes the latest pedagogical thinking as well as authentic audio and video materials. Tajiki is one of four languages--Uzbek (Uzbekistan), Pashto (Afghanistan and Pakistan), and Uyghur (western China) are the others--for which CeLCAR is creating introductory textbooks. An agreement to publish all books, contingent upon peer review, is in the works.
The textbook is broken into two volumes and each volume and is accompanied by: (1) 1 CD-ROM that includes authentic audio and video materials to accompany the text (keyed by chapter) and of extra exercises (keyed by chapter) all in Flash format; (2) an extensive glossary; (3) maps of the world with countries written in Tajiki; and
(4) four-color illustrations and photographs throughout.