Learn to Speak Persian

Persian (also known as Farsi) is the official language of Iran and is spoken by more than 70 million people worldwide, including by large minority groups in the United States and Canada as well as in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. As a longstanding medium for literary and scientific contributions in both the Islamic and Western worlds, Persian has had a strong influence on neighboring languages like Turkic, Urdu, Hindi and, to a lesser extent, Arabic. Because of its prevalent influence on other Asian languages, as well as the large population that speaks Persian across a wide geographic range, Persian is a useful language that has practical applications in today's world.

Persian is an Indo-Iranian language along with Pashto and Kurdish. Persian is written using a modified version of the Arabic alphabet and is read from right to left. For native English speakers, hang-ups in learning the language usually revolve around the non-Latin alphabet in which letters change shape depending on whether they occur at the beginning, middle or end of a word and that the placement of stress in the world is very important in conveying meaning. However, many claim that Persian is far simpler to learn than the other major Middle Eastern language of Arabic, making it a good choice for those who want to get proficiency in the language relatively quickly.

There are many different ways to learn Persian. While not all local community colleges or language learning centers offer the language, there are other choices for those interested in studying Persian. One option is to find or hire a private tutor. If there is a group of you wanting to learn the language together you can possibly find a tutor that will offer a group rate. Programs like Rosetta Stone can also help students learn not only the basics of grammar and vocabulary, but also help with pronunciation. Of course, the best and fastest way to learn any language is through total immersion. Just a few weeks spent speaking Persian every day and interacting in the language can be worth more than a year in the classroom.