Learn to Speak Pashto

Pashto, also known as Afghani, is the official language of Afghanistan and spoken by about 15% of the population of Pakistan. Today it is spoken by approximately 38 million Pashto speakers worldwide. As the language used by the Afghan government and education system, Pashto has become an increasingly important strategic language in the United States in recent years. With a war being waged within the borders of Afghanistan and a strong U.S. military presence within the country, those knowing or willing to learn Pashto open doors of possibility for diplomacy, translation or military operations.

Pashto is grouped as part of the Iranian language group along with widely spoken Persian and Kurdish. However, the language also has an ancient legacy of borrowing vocabulary from neighboring languages, such as Persian, Sanskrit, Greek and Arabic. In modern times, the language has adopted many English words as well. Pashto is written using a modernized version of the Arabic script, which reads from right to left. However, Pashto has several letters which do not appear in any other Arabic script, including the pronunciations of many consonants in the language. Pashto also has a complex verb system, which can often trip up native English speakers when learning the language.

While you may not find Pashto being offered at your local community college, there are several ways to learn this increasingly popular and profitable language. First look for any local courses taught in the language. If you happen to be enrolled in any sort of military college or program, it is also likely that you will be able to find courses taught in the language. If you are a civilian and you cannot find any local courses taught in Pashto, another good way to learn the language is by investing in a program like Rosetta Stone, which will not only help you learn basic grammar and vocabulary, but will also help you with proper pronunciation. Of course, total immersion is the best way to learn Pashto (or any language for that matter), as spending several weeks speaking a language on a daily basis can be more valuable than more than a year in the classroom. However, as many of the areas in the world where this language is spoken on a daily basis are currently in war zones, this may prove to be difficult, purchasing Rosetta Stone or other instructional materials is probably your best bet.