SOME USEFUL PHRASES IN FARSI FIVE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD FARSI LEARN MORE ABOUT PERSIANS .مالس [sæˈlɒːm] /Salām./ AND THEIR LANGUAGE Hello. 1. Persian languages are spoken natively by 110 million people worldwide. The Iranian variety, also known as Farsi, is spoken by 60 million people in اسم شما چیست؟ [es me ʃoˈmɒː ʧist] Western and Central Asia, as well as the Middle /esm-e shomā chist/ East, with the highest concentrations of native What is your name? speakers in Iran. Thus Farsi is also known as Iranian .Persian حالتون چطوره؟ [ˈhɒːleˌtuːn ʧeˈtore] 2. Farsi (Iranian Persian) is a member of the /hāletūn chetore/ Southwestern branch of the Indo-Iranian branch How are you doing? of the Indo-European language Family, and shares many structural similarities to Tajiki (Tajiki من خوبم ممنون، شما چطوريد؟ [mæn χuːˈbæm mæmˈnuːn, ʃoˈmɒː ʧeˈtorid] Persian) and is mutually intelligible with Dari /man khūbam mamnun, shomā chetorid/ (Afghani Persian). I’m fine. And you? 3. If you overhear people speaking Farsi, but feel like you are listening to a French foreign film, don’t شما اهل کجا هستيد؟ [ʃoˈmɒː ˈæh•le koˈʤɒː hæˈstid] worry your ears are not playing tricks on you. /shomā ahle kojā hastid/ Due to a long historical relationship with France, Where are you from? Iranian Persian actually uses a lot of French loan words (such as ‘merci’ and ‘chauffeur’). In fact, for من از ایندیانا هستم. [mæn æz ˌindiˈɒnɒ hæˈstæm] many years, French was a second language in Iran! /man az Indiānā hastam/ 4. While many know that Persian is spoken in Iran, I’m from Indiana. Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, did you also know it was the official language of the Supreme Court in خونه تون قشنگه. [ˌχuːnæˈtuːn ˌɣæʃænˈge] India for 200 years? (But now it is English.) /khūna-tūn ghashange/ 5. If you have read works by famous 13th century You have a beautiful home. poet and theologian Rumi, those poems were originally written in Persian. دستشويی کجاست؟ [ˌdæstʃuˈjiː koˈʤɒːst] /dast-shuyi kojāst/ ABOUT US The Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region Where is the bathroom? (CeLCAR) at Indiana University develops materials for learning and teaching a wide variety of Central Asian خیلی ممنون. [χiˈli mæmˈnuːn] languages. /khili mamnūn/ For more information, go to www.iub.edu/~celcar. You have a beautiful home. 718 Eigenmann Hall, 1900 East 10th Street, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47406 خداحافظ. [χoˈdɒː hɒːˈfez] Phone: (812) 856-1230 Fax: (812) 856-1206 Center for Languages of the /khodā hāfez/ E-mail : [email protected] Good bye. Web site: http://www.indiana.edu/~celcar Central Asian Region (CeLCAR) WHO ARE THE PERSIANS AND languages in the Southwestern Iranian branch include Larestani, Kumzari, and Luri, which are WHAT IS PERSIAN CULTURE LIKE? WHERE DO THEY LIVE? all languages native to Iran. Like other Persian Persians are an Iranian cultures, Iranian Persians While Farsi, Dari, and Tajiki are all closely are mostly Muslims. ethnic group living in related to each other, most language experts Western and Central However, unlike Dari will agree that only Farsi and Dari are mutually and Tajiki speakers Asia. The Iranian intelligible to most native speakers. ethnic group is one who are largely Sunni of the most ancient Even though Farsi and Dari are mutually Muslims, most Persian people of the region, intelligible, there are still some marked speakers living in Iran and therefore its differences in pronunciation (for example Dari are Shi’ite Muslims. people and culture is considered more conservative in maintaining Shi’ite is the smaller of the two factions of greatly influenced the language and culture of vowel distinctions than Farsi). Further, some grammatical differences (such as the use of Islam, making up about the area. Persian is spoken by 60 million people, 10% of the overall Muslim population. They primarily in Iran, which means “land of the auxiliary verbs in certain tenses), and lexical differences exist (because the three languages are found mostly in Iran, Iraq, and Yemen. And Aryan’s.” However, if one includes other varieties like most Islamic cultures, Iranian Persians are of Persian, then that number nearly doubles have been heavily influenced by the languages a family and community oriented society that to 110 million speakers, mostly in Western of their surrounding follow traditional elderhood and patriarchal and Central Asia. Farsi Persian is an official neighbors). organizational structures. language of Iran, and Persian varieties are official However, all three, languages in Afghanistan (Dari) and Tajikistan Because of their extensively ancient history, Farsi, Dari, and Tajiki, it should be no surprise that Persians are well (Tajiki). do share some main known for their contributions to the arts, Iran shares land borders with Afghanistan, linguistic features, including architecture, literature, music, and Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and some of these include: applied arts. However, few would argue against Iraq, while having coastal land on the Persian SOV word order, the statement that they are best known for Gulf and Caspian Sea. agglutination, no their Persian carpets that have been elaborately grammatical gender, woven as a part of their culture for practical and null-subject. and decorative use for two thousand years. WHAT KIND OF LANGUAGE IS FARSI? Most Persian carpets are made from wool or cotton and feature specific Persian designs that Persian, also called Farsi, is part of the Indo- WHAT ALPHABET IS USED TO WRITE FARSI? have been passed down through centuries of Iranian branch of the Indo-European language Farsi, like Dari, is written using a Perso-Arabic generations. family. More specifically, Persian is part of the script, also known as the Shikasta Nastaʿlīq style Iranian cuisine is similar to other varieties of Southwestern branch of Indo-Iranian languages. of Arabic script. Language experts Persian cuisine and uses a lot of rice, beef, further divide Like Arabic, this alphabet is written right to left, vegetables, and fresh spices. Perhaps the most Persian into three uses diacritics, and letters can each have up to well-known dish is main varieties: Farsi four potential forms (initial, medial, final, and kebobs, speared meat (spoken in Iran), isolated); however, the Perso-Arabic alphabet marinated in spices includes additional letters not in the Arabic and roasted then Dari, (spoken in served over rice. Afghanistan), and alphabet to represent Persian sounds. Tajiki (spoken in Tajikistan). Other