The Pashto Project

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The Pashto Project

The lessonsContact usFAQ
Navigate to the next section

Learn basic English
or help someone learn!

These free lessons grew out of an English tutor’s frustration at only being able to help one immigrant family at a time, when basic English skills could help so many — particularly the suddenly-isolated wives and family members of English-speaking visa recipients. This is the result — please share it!

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A Resource For
Afghan Immigrants

Simple but effective

It’s just Pashto words and phrases and English translations — no complicated conversations or scenes, no grammar lessons. So you can use it while you’re doing something else.

Download the sound files onto your device

At the beginning, English is all about memorization. And memorization requires repetition… Take these lessons with you on your phone, and you can listen to them whenever you have a free moment. Check out the lessons here.

Totally free

This project was started by a volunteer wanting to help new immigrants. There’s no catch, no ads, and you do not need to include personal information. So spread the word to all the Afghan immigrants you know!

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Who We Are

This website was originally created by a volunteer English tutor wanting to leverage her effort and help many families at one time. After becoming the #1 result on Google, it is now hosted by nonprofit Parsemus Foundation.

Before we found professional translation, we did a version in regional Kandahari Pashto thanks to a second-generation speaker at the University of California, Berkeley. We’re posting it here for reference because some Kandahari Pashto speakers may prefer it! It contains some minor errors and regional words; please refer to the professionally translated Central/Standard Pashto version when in doubt.

Concept, lesson design, and American English voice:

Elaine L., volunteer tutor for Refugee & Immigrant Transitions, Oakland, CA

Central/Standard Pashto translation and voice:

Malalai Moska Wardak, translator, available on UpWork.com

Regional Kandahari Pashto translation and voice:

Zora T., University of California, Berkeley

Sound editing:

Pavel Kirpikau, Vilnius, Lithuania, available on UpWork.com