Talk:Language/Iranian-persian/Culture/Nowruz
The reason that you should learn Persian[edit source]
Persian is a language almost as beautiful as its region of origin. Unique, poetic and influential, Persian opens the door to one of the most distinctive Middle Eastern cultures.
Learning Persian won't just enhance your travels within the Persian-speaking world and its global diaspora, as it has done for me. Persian has remained unchanged for centuries, so unlike in many other languages, you can experience world-famous Persian literature in the exact language it was written.
In this article, you’ll discover many more reasons to consider Persian for your next foreign language project – as well as few myths about its supposed difficulty. I'll also highlight a few of its features and quirks, and provide some starting points for learning Persian yourself.
One thing before we get started: you can chat away in a new language for at least 15 minutes with the "Fluent in 3 Months" method. All it takes is 90 days. Tap this link to find out more.
Myth 1: Hardly Anyone Speaks Persian Persian refers, logically, to the language of Persia. But Persia hasn’t officially existed since about 80 years ago, when the King of Persia, Reza Shah, demanded that his country be referred to henceforth as Iran.
So Persia and Iran were not two different places
But the old name of the language stuck. So the official language of Iran, to the English-speaking world, is still Persian. ”Iranian”, on the other hand, refers to the nationality of Iran’s people.
To complicate matters further, Persian is known as Farsi (فارسی) to its native speakers in Iran, Dari (دری) to those in Afghanistan, and Tajik (тоҷикӣ) to those in Tajikistan. That’s because these countries were once part of the Persian Empire, and have since developed their own dialects.
All you really need to know is that Persian is the language of modern-day Iran, as well as a fair bit of the surrounding area. It’s also spoken in communities the world over, and the majority of its 100 million or so native speakers call it ‘Farsi’.
Yes – 100 million native speakers. That’s about the same number of people who speak German.
Myth 2: Persian is Only Spoken in Iran You may believe that learning Persian would be pointless because of the limited opportunities to use it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As well as its widespread use in the Middle East, Persian is still used throughout the Iranian diaspora, which is enormous. Practically every major city in the Western world has a strong Iranian community thanks to waves of migration during the 20th century.
in the UK, for example, you can wander around West London and pick out Iranian grocery stores, restaurants, jewellers, travel agents and barbers. There are also strong communities in Paris, Vancouver, Sydney, and New York. Los Angeles and Toronto are such hotspots that they’ve earned the nicknames ‘Tehrangeles’ and ‘Tehranto’ among Iranians.
This means that you’re unlikely to have to visit Iran itself to find native speakers to practice with… unless you really want to.
Myth 3: Iran is Really Dangerous Many people (especially in the US) believe that Iran is a part of the world to be feared and avoided. This is a misguided view, as many have discovered on numerous extended visits to the country.
In fact, it’s inspired some people to make a film in order to show Iran in precisely the opposite light, as a place full of incredible landscapes, diverse cultures and hospitable people.
After learning a few introductions and some basic grammar and vocabulary, you spend two months of language immersion travelling alone in Iran. You can meet native speakers by Couchsurfing in the cities, hitch-hiking between them. You also cramm new vocabulary by using Anki flashcards in every spare moment.
The people you will meet will be so warm that you would never be left alone .
Good Reasons To Learn Persian Travel is not the only reason to learn a language, of course. There’s also art, literature, music, film, and more. Persian cultural expression over the centuries has given birth to some of the most famous philosophical literature and romantic poetry ever written in any language.
Rumi, Saadi, Hafez, Ferdowsi, and Omar Khayyam are ancient Persian writers who command respect among the English speaking world, as well as being revered by modern-day Iranians. Many Iranians of can quote you any number of verses by rote. Imagine the pleasure of being able to read the work of these writers in its original language. It’s especially pleasurable because Persian is a fluid language that lends itself well to artistic expression.
In Persian, unlike English, today’s literary form of the language hasn’t changed for centuries. A modern speaker can still read and understand an original text written a thousand years ago. Samin2021 (talk) 13:23, 10 April 2021 (CEST)