Learn where Persian is spoken
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| Michael: Where is Persian spoken? |
| Negar: And how many varieties of Persian are there? |
| Michael: At PersianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Emma Emami is meeting another college student, Shahin Shirazi, for the first time. Upon hearing her speak Persian, Shahin Shirazi asks, |
| "Where did you learn Persian?" |
| Shahin Shirazi: فارسی رو کجا یاد گرفتی؟ (faarsi ro kojaa yaad gerefti?) |
| Dialogue |
| Shahin Shirazi: فارسی رو کجا یاد گرفتی؟ (faarsi ro kojaa yaad gerefti?) |
| Emma Emami: تو ایران. (too iraan.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Shahin Shirazi: فارسی رو کجا یاد گرفتی؟ (faarsi ro kojaa yaad gerefti?) |
| Michael: "Where did you learn Persian?" |
| Emma Emami: تو ایران. (too iraan.) |
| Michael: "In Iran." |
Lesson focus |
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| Michael: In this conversation, we hear Shahin Shirazi say, |
| Negar: فارسی رو کجا یاد گرفتی؟ (faarsi ro kojaa yaad gerefti?) |
| Michael: "Where did you learn Persian?" Emma Emami responds, |
| Negar: تو ایران (too iraan.) |
| Michael: "In Iran." |
| Michael: Just like we heard in the dialogue, you may know that Persian is spoken in Iran. However, you may be surprised at just how widespread the language is, spoken by more than 70 million native speakers. |
| Although Persian is usually classified as a Western Iranian language, it's also spoken as an official language in Iran, |
| Negar: ایران. (iraan), |
| Michael: Afghanistan |
| Negar: افغانستان (afghaanestaan), |
| Michael: Tajikistan |
| Negar: تاجیکستان (taajikestaan), |
| Michael: and by 10 to 15 percent of the population of Uzbekistan, |
| Negar: ازبکستان (ozbakestaan). |
| Michael: Within each of these countries, there are local varieties known as Iranian Persian, Dari Persian, and Tajiki Persian: |
| Negar: فارسی ایران (faarsi-ye iraan), فارسی دری (faarsi-ye dari), فارسی تاجیکی (faarsi-ye taajiki). |
| Michael: Despite the pronunciation and vocabulary differences, the native speakers of these three can communicate and understand each other. |
| Michael: For example, for the word "hospital," we have |
| Negar: بیمارستان (bimaarestaan) |
| Michael: in Iranian Persian, |
| Negar: کسلخانه (kasel-khaana) |
| Michael: in Tajiki Persian, and |
| Negar: شفاخانه (shafaa-khaane) |
| Michael: in Dari Persian. |
| These three words may look so different, but, since we have the required vocabulary in Iranian Persian, Dari Persian, and Tajiki Persian, they could be easily understood. |
| In all three, we have |
| Negar: بیمار (bimaar), |
| Michael: which means "sick" |
| Negar: ستان- (-setaan), |
| Michael: a suffix for place, so the word |
| Negar: بیمارستان (bimaarestaan) |
| Michael: in Iranian Persian is familiar for Dari and Tajik speakers. Similarly, we have |
| Negar: کسل (kasel), |
| Michael: which also means "sick" or "bored." |
| Michael: Please note that this word is pronounced |
| Negar: کِسِل (kesel) |
| Michael: in Iranian Persian. |
| Negar: خانه (khaana) or with Iranian Persian pronunciation (khaane), |
| Michael: which means "home." Hence, the Tajik word |
| Negar: کسلخانه (kasel-khaana) |
| Michael: is easy to understand for Iranian and Dari Persian speakers. Also, regarding the Dari word |
| Negar: شفاخانه (shafaa-khaane), |
| Michael: we have |
| Negar: شفا (shafaa), |
| Michael: which means "cure," and, as we already said |
| Negar: خانه (khaane), |
| Michael: which means "home" in Iranian and Tajik Persian, so the natives could easily understand the meaning. |
| Michael: Persian is spoken worldwide by more than 120 million people as their mother tongue or as a second language, while the majority of speakers live in East Asia |
| Negar: شرق آسیا (sharq-e aasiaa) |
| Michael: and the Middle East, |
| Negar: خاورمیانه (khaavar-e miaane) |
| Michael: Large groups of Persian speakers, or Farsi speakers, as the language is also commonly referred to out-of-country, reside in Europe and the United States as well. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Let's talk a little about the history of this language. |
| The Persian language is a branch of Indo-Iranian languages, |
| Negar: زبان های هندوایرانی (zabaan-haa-ye hend-o-iraani) |
| Michael: From a historical point of view, the Persian language is divided into Old Persian, Middle Persian, and Modern Persian. Old Persian was spoken by the Parsa people, Indo-European nomadic people who lived in Iran from 1000 BCE. They ruled Iran between 559–330 BCE. This language was the official language of the Persian Empire |
| Negar: امپراتوری ایران (emperaatoori-ye iraan) |
| Michael: ... and was spoken from the border of Russia in the north to the southern border of this empire with Egypt, from India in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Negar: خداحافظ (khodaahaafez) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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