One of the first thing beginners often tackle is the Persian alphabet, which is case-free and has 32 letters. Persian also borrows quite a few modern terms, especially those that refer to technology, from English. For instance, there is no gender in Persian, and if you know some Arabic, the script and a large portion of the vocabulary will be familiar. However, there are also some particulars of the Persian language that can make it simpler for language learners. Furthermore, the grammatical structure of Persian is typically subject-object-verb which can be an adjustment for those who are not native speakers.

There are some phonemes or sounds in Persian, like /خ/ and /ق/, that don’t exist in English. Like any language, Persian has similarities to other languages that make it approachable and familiar, but it also has differences that can be a challenge for English speakers. One of the first questions language learners often ask is if speaking Farsi is difficult. That’s why Farsi lessons from Rosetta Stone focus on providing an immersive learning environment that creates connections and stimulates deeper learning.

Speaking Farsi in real-world conversations that don’t follow a script requires learners to understand the language, not just the words. With over twenty-five years of building successful language learning programs, Rosetta Stone sees learning Persian as a journey. Many important Persian works of literature and poetry date back to the era of old and middle Persian, including those of the famous mystic Rūmī, whose 13th-century couplets had a profound influence on the Muslim world. Academics classify the Persian language into three separate periods- Old Persian, Middle Persian, and New Persian. There are a significant number of borrowed Persian language words that come from Arabic, and the language has undergone several major changes over the last few centuries. The Farsi language is written right to left using the Persian alphabet, which was modified from Arabic script. There are approximately 110 million Persian speakers worldwide, and Persian is an official language in Iran, a co-official language in Afghanistan alongside Pashto, and the official language of Tajikistan.

The Persian language is known as Farsi (فارسی) to native speakers in Iran, Dari (دری) in Afghanistan, and Tajik (тоҷикӣ) in Tajikistan. What was previously known as Persia is now modern-day Iran, but the rest of the world still refers to the spoken language of the regions that encompass the former Persian Empire as Persian.

Persian is the language of Persia, which is a place that hasn’t officially existed for at least 80 years. Confused about whether you should be learning Persian or Farsi? You’ve come to the right place.

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