Rezai: We say “Salâm.” So “Salâm” in Persian language means “hello.” Salâm. I am Hassan Rezai Baghbidi from Iran.

Interviewer: OK. In which part of Iran do you come from?

Rezai: I came from Tehran. As you know, Tehran is the capital of Iran. I live in Tehran and I'm a professor of the University of Tehran.

Interviewer: I heard that in these days Iran is experiencing a rapid urbanization. Do you think so?

Rezai: Yes, of course. That's right. It's experiencing a rapid urbanization. As you know Tehran is a very crowded city; it is also a very advanced city and there are many good universities in Tehran, and as you know the best one is the University of Tehran which is very famous around the world.

Interviewer: OK. So, how about the media, especially in the big cities like Tehran, such as TVs, radios and newspapers?

Rezai: Yes, of course. There are many different types of newspapers; also there are many different types of magazines and different TV stations, different radio stations. And some of the people also use satellites; they watch satellite programs.

Interviewer: I made a brief research on Iran and. . . the Internet says that its official language is Persian. Then how about the English language in Iran?

Rezai: As you said, the official language of Iran, the national language of Iran, is Persian, or in American English Per-GIAN. Or Farsi. . . or Farsi. It has different names. It is usually called Persian in English, but it is called Farsi by the people of Iran themselves; they call it Farsi. It is the official language of Iran, but there are many other different languages spoken in Iran. English in not spoken in Iran, but almost. . . I can say about seventy percent of educated people can understand English to some extent and some of the educated people can speak it very fluently. But it is not one of the national languages of Iran. It is not spoken in any village or in any city. It is only a language of education; the students study this language at school from the secondary school and they also study it at university. So educated people can understand it to different, in fact, to some extent. Some of the people can understand it a little, but some of the people can understand it very well.

Interviewer: From your story, it seems that the situation of English language is very similar to that of Japan because in Japan English is mostly for education. So, you taught in Iran, then you came to Japan. So you have taught in at least two countries. And do you find any differences between Iranian students and Japanese students?

Rezai: You mean as far as English is concerned? In general? University students? The difference between the university students. OK. First of all, I should say that in Iran there are two types of universities. Some of the universities are governmental universities and some of the universities are private universities. Most of the students are willing to enter governmental universities because the quality of education is higher and they are also free: they do not have to pay anything. So they have to participate in a very difficult examination in order to enter governmental universities. But if they are not able to do so, they can also go to private universities where they have to pay some money. But, you know, I have been teaching here for two years and I used to teach in the University of Tehran for about six years. If I want to compare the university students of Iran with the university students of Japan, I have to say that—this is my impression; I don’t know whether it is correct or not—but my impression is that the Iranian university students are very active in the class. But unfortunately in Japan the university students are not so active in the class, at least in foreign language classes. You know, in Iran in foreign language classes the students are very active. When the professor asks them a question, they raise up their hands and they answer the question very clearly and very loudly. And they participate in all the discussions and they talk a lot in the class—they discuss with the professor a lot; they talk with the professor a lot; they talk with themselves a lot—they participate in all kinds of class activities. But I’m sorry to say that here, at least as far as my own students are concerned, they are very silent in the class. They do not speak in the class at all; they do not even answer the questions of the professors. You have to choose one of them. When you ask your question, nobody will answer you, nobody will raise up his or her hands; you have to choose one of them to answer your question. And that is, I think, a weak point of the Japanese university students. They have to be more active, I think. This is what I can say.