Persian Podcasts: The Best Ones for Learners, by Level (and How to Learn from Them)

The best Persian podcasts for learners are Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation (Leyla Shams, beginner to intermediate), Learn Persian with Podgap (hosts Mohsen and Hanieh, episodes labeled A1 to C1) and PersianPod101 (structured lessons for all levels). Once you can follow those, move on to podcasts made for Iranians, such as Ali Bandari’s چنل بی (Channel B).

Below you will find every podcast we could confirm is real and findable in podcast apps, grouped by level, with the host, what the episodes sound like, and whether transcripts exist. After the list comes the part most “best podcasts” pages skip: how to actually learn from a Persian podcast, a weekly listening plan, and the words you need to talk about listening in Persian.

Quick picks by level

Episode counts and membership details change often. Check each show’s page in your podcast app, and check current pricing on any paid plan before you subscribe.

Podcasts made for Persian learners

1. Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation

Created by Leyla Shams, an Iranian-American who started the podcast in 2010 as short, casual conversation lessons, this is the show most learners meet first. Its own description promises “conversational Persian in a fun and casual manner,” and it delivers: early lessons build everyday phrases, while later series go line by line through poems by Hafez, Khayyam and Simin Behbahani, retell Attar’s Conference of the Birds, use scenes from the film A Separation, and interview Iranian artists and writers. The archive now runs past 200 episodes.

Best for: beginners who want warm explanations in English and a feel for Iranian culture. Good to know: the podcast is free; fuller lesson materials sit behind a membership on the Chai and Conversation website.

2. Learn Persian with Podgap

Podgap is run by two native speakers, Mohsen and Hanieh, and has been publishing since 2019. Each episode title carries a level label, so you can pick by ability: recent episodes range from “Persian Conversation (A1): Going to the Supermarket” to “Persian Discussion (C1): The Economy.” There are recurring dialogue series (a couple called Bahram and Behnoush), vocabulary episodes, Persian food, and culture episodes about singers and traditions. The Persian is everyday, colloquial Tehran-style speech, which is exactly what most textbooks under-teach.

Best for: learners who already read the alphabet and want real spoken Persian at their level. Good to know: transcripts, glossaries and worksheets are offered through Podgap’s Patreon page, not in the free feed.

3. PersianPod101

PersianPod101 is part of Innovative Language, the company behind the “Pod101” series for many languages. Lessons are short audio and video units built around a dialogue, followed by vocabulary, grammar and culture notes, with early levels explained in English. A free podcast feed and a limited set of free lessons exist; the complete library, lesson notes, line-by-line audio and flashcards are in paid plans.

Best for: people who like a structured, course-like path from absolute beginner upward. Good to know: the free feed is a sampler. Decide whether you need the paid tools after a week of the free lessons.

4. Learn Persian with LinguaBoost

This short podcast shares selected lessons from LinguaBoost’s 30-lesson beginner course. Each episode teaches a small group of everyday phrases and asks you to say them aloud, with native-speaker audio. It is small (about a dozen episodes), but the speak-after-the-prompt format is useful on a commute.

5. Persian Made Easy

Miran Baluch Raesi narrates nine short English-language lessons based on his book Persian Made Easy, from greetings to singular and plural nouns and comparatives. It is a gentle first week of listening, not a full course.

6. Learn Farsi with Gazal

Gazal’s bite-size episodes each take one topic, such as colors, vegetables, transportation, daily routines, the Persian calendar, Nowruz and Chaharshanbe Suri. There are only around ten episodes, so treat it as a friendly side dish for beginners.

Podcasts made for Iranians (intermediate and advanced)

Learner podcasts slow down and explain. Native podcasts do neither, which is why they are the bridge to real fluency. Choose scripted, narrated shows first: a single narrator reading a prepared script is much easier to follow than a group chatting over each other.

چنل بی Channel B, by Ali Bandari

Ali Bandari (علی بندری) is one of the best-known names in Persian podcasting. Channel B, started in 2015, retells long-form magazine journalism in Persian: true stories about criminals, athletes, politicians and companies. Bandari speaks clearly and at a steady pace, and the storytelling keeps you listening even when you miss words.

بی‌پلاس BPlus, by Ali Bandari

The sister show of Channel B summarizes popular nonfiction books in Persian. A tip that works well: pick an episode about a book you have already read in English. You know the ideas, so your brain is free to notice the Persian.

فردوسی‌خوانی Ferdowsi-khâni, by Amir Khadem

Amir Khadem (امیر خادم) reads Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh in an informal, expressive way, skipping less essential verses and briefly explaining hard words. This is literary, classical Persian, so it suits advanced learners or anyone who wants to hear the epic aloud. Read our introduction to the Shahnameh first.

قصه‌های شاه پریون Fairy Tales from Greater Iran

Published by Pardis for Children and narrated by Yekta Khaghani, this short series tells beloved Iranian folktales with music. Children’s stories use simple sentences and repeat key phrases, so they are a comfortable first step into all-Persian audio. There are only a few episodes.

News: BBC Persian and Radio Farda

Both broadcasters publish Persian-language news audio. News Persian is formal and close to written Persian, with a lot of political vocabulary, so it is useful practice for reading-level grammar but very different from how people talk at home. Use it as one ingredient, not your main diet.

Spoken vs. written Persian: what you will hear

The biggest surprise for learners is that podcast hosts rarely talk the way textbooks write. Most conversation podcasts use colloquial Tehran Persian, which shortens many common words. If you know these patterns, half the “fast” speech suddenly makes sense. Our guide to spoken vs written Persian covers many more.

Listen to the spoken forms: می‌خوام Listen نمی‌دونم Listen خوبه Listen

The pattern behind most of these: ân and âm often become un and um (خانه to خونه), and “is” (است) shrinks to a final -e.

How to learn Persian from a podcast (not just listen)

Passive listening while you wash the dishes feels productive, but you mostly learn what you already know. Active listening is what moves you forward. Here is a five-step routine that works with any episode.

1. Listen once for the gist. No pausing, no transcript. Afterward, say in one sentence what the episode was about.
2. Listen again with the transcript. If the show has one, read along and underline the words you heard but didn’t understand. If it has none, use a learner show that does, or pick an episode on a topic you know well.
3. Look up five words, not fifty. Choose the ones that came up more than once. Add them to flashcards.
4. Shadow one minute. Play a short section, pause after each sentence, and repeat it aloud, copying the rhythm and intonation. This is the fastest way to make spoken forms like می‌خوام feel natural in your mouth.
5. Re-listen two days later. The same episode, without the transcript. You will be surprised how much clearer it sounds.

Writing down what you hear (dictation) is excellent practice once you know the alphabet. Our free online Persian keyboard lets you type in Persian script without installing anything.

Transcript tips

• Transcripts are written; audio is spoken. Some transcripts write the formal form (نمی‌دانم) while the speaker says نمی‌دونم. That gap is not a mistake; it is a free lesson in colloquial Persian.
• Vowels are not written. Persian script drops short vowels, so a transcript tells you the consonants and the audio tells you the vowels. Use both together.
• No transcript? Make one. Write down 30 seconds of speech yourself, then ask a teacher or a native speaker to check it. It is slow, but nothing trains your ear faster.
• Use speed controls with care. Most podcast apps let you slow audio to 0.75x. Use it on the second listen, then go back to normal speed.

A weekly Persian listening plan

Thirty minutes a day, one main episode per week, is enough to see real progress in a couple of months. Pick an episode at your level that is 10 to 20 minutes long.

For Saturday, our lists of Persian songs for learners and Iranian movies for listening practice give you variety.

Persian words for talking about podcasts

When you start telling Iranian friends what you listen to, these words come up constantly.

پادکست Listen قسمت Listen مجری Listen متن Listen

Three useful sentences:

• هر روز پادکست گوش می‌دم. (har ruz pâdkast gush midam, spoken) I listen to podcasts every day. Listen
• متن این قسمت کجاست؟ (matn-e in ghesmat kojâst?) Where is the transcript of this episode? Listen
• یعنی چی؟ (yani chi?, spoken) What does that mean? Listen

What podcasts can’t do on their own

Podcasts train your ear, but they don’t make you speak or read. Most learners who stall with podcasts are missing one of three things: the alphabet (so transcripts are useless), a speaking partner, or a structured path through grammar. Combine one podcast with free Persian lessons for beginners and some speaking practice, and listening becomes far more productive. If you are comparing study tools, our review of the best apps to learn Persian covers the app side. Not sure what level you are? Take the free Farsi level test and pick podcasts one step above it.

A book of everyday dialogues helps too, because you can read exactly the kind of Persian you hear on Podgap or Chai and Conversation. Farsi Conversations is built around the most common words and phrases Iranians use every day.

Common questions

What is the best podcast to learn Persian?

For most beginners, Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, because it explains in English and grows with you into poetry and culture. If you already know the basics and want spoken Persian at a clear level, Learn Persian with Podgap is the best fit, since every episode is labeled A1 to C1.

Are there Persian podcasts with transcripts?

Yes. Podgap offers transcripts, glossaries and worksheets through its Patreon, PersianPod101 includes lesson notes and transcripts in its paid plans, and Chai and Conversation has lesson materials on its website. Native podcasts for Iranians usually have no transcripts.

Can you learn Persian just by listening to podcasts?

Not completely. Podcasts build listening and vocabulary, but you also need the alphabet, some grammar and speaking practice. Use podcasts alongside lessons, as in the weekly plan above.

Are Persian podcasts in Farsi or Dari?

Almost all the podcasts in this guide use Iranian Persian (Farsi), most of them in the Tehran accent. Dari, spoken in Afghanistan, is the same language with differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. See Farsi vs Persian vs Dari vs Tajik for details.

How do you say “podcast” in Persian?

Persian uses the same word: پادکست (pâdkast). An episode is قسمت (ghesmat) or اپیزود (epizod), and the host is مجری (mojri).

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